Don’t Waste the Cross
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
INTRO
Have you ever let something go to waste?
Food you forgot about…
leftovers in the fridge…
Time you can’t get back…
scrolling when you should’ve been sleeping…
watching something that ended up being a waste…
We all know what it’s like to waste something valuable..
But have you ever thought about that, in light of what Jesus has done for you?
TENSION
TENSION
Here’s the reality:
We often don’t live in the full reality of what Jesus has done for us
Instead, we trade it for what the world offers
So for the next three weeks as we look at the cross, the grave, and the resurrection
we’re asking one question:
Are we wasting what Jesus accomplished?
Tonight, we start with the cross
TRUTH
TRUTH
Instead of going straight to the cross, we’re going 700 years before it
to a prophecy written by Isaiah
Israel is in sin and exile…
they are hopeless if left to themselves
But God promises a coming salvation
not just for Israel… but for the world.
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the herald,
who proclaims peace,
who brings news of good things,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Good news is coming
God is stepping into their hopeless situation
He’s about to bring salvation
In fact, God is rolling up His sleeves
The Lord has displayed his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations;
all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
God is beginning the work of salvation that will not just effect Israel but all the nations of the earth
But how are the people supposed to respond to this salvation when it happens?
Leave, leave, go out from there!
Do not touch anything unclean;
go out from her, purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
For you will not leave in a hurry,
and you will not have to take flight;
because the Lord is going before you,
and the God of Israel is your rear guard.
When this salvation comes?
God says..
Leave
Walk away from sin
walk out of exile
and live in the freedom God gives
Not running in fear…but walking in victory
But How? What will this salvation look like? How will it come about?
Before going into details Isaiah gives us a Chatgpt summary
See, my servant will be successful;
he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Just as many were appalled at you—
his appearance was so disfigured
that he did not look like a man,
and his form did not resemble a human being—
God says: “My servant will be exalted… but first, He will suffer beyond recognition.
and yet somehow… through that suffering…salvation will come
But Isaiah doesn’t just give us the Chatgpt summary… he begins to go into detail as to what this servants life will look like and how he will accomplish this salvation
Yet before giving us all the details he seems to have a personal moment in which he pauses to contemplate a question
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Isaiah asks: “who is going to believe this?”
this way of salvation is so crazy
so foolish
why?
Because the coming Savior doesn’t look like one
Don’t believe me?
let me tell you about this savior servant
He grew up before him like a young plant
and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form
or majesty that we should look at him,
no appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.
He was like someone people turned away from;
he was despised, and we didn’t value him.
This savior is not going to be impressive… He’s going to look like it too
not going to stand out in a crowd
not going to be the town crush all the girls are after
In fact, he is going to be the opposite of desired and loved
He is going to be despised, rejected, and someone people turn away from
there are going to be people who even say he has no value
Yet despite what the people say about him this is what he is going to do…
Yet he himself bore our sicknesses,
and he carried our pains;
but we in turn regarded him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
Despite that… He is going to bear his peoples sickness, pain, and grief
He’s not just going to experience it but bear other peoples as if it’s his own
their pain
their sickness
their grief
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.
oh yeah and
He is going to get pierced because of other peoples running from God
He is going to be crushed because of other peoples sins
He is going to be punished so that other people can have peace
He is going to be wounded so that other people can be healed
All the while… here is what these other people are like
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.
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.
All this is happening to him while these other people have gone astray living in our sin
knowing this is the condition of those whom he is being punished for
he never opens his mouth
never complains
never defends himself
never puts a stop to it
The result?
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.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
but he was with a rich man at his death,
because he had done no violence
and had not spoken deceitfully.
He dies because of the rebellion of those he came to save
killed with sinners
buried with the rich
Once again Isaiah ask such an important question… who would consider his fate?
who would ever think this is the way salvation would be accomplished
who would come up with a plan like this?
God would
Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely.
When you make him a guilt offering,
he will see his seed, he will prolong his days,
and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.
Here we see that it was always God’s plan
It was God’s will for his servant to be crushed
it was God’s will for his servant to die
It was God’s will for his servant to live again (prolong his days)
It was always God’s plan and it pleases Him to accomplish it
What does the plan result in?
After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied.
By his knowledge,
my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will carry their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him the many as a portion,
and he will receive the mighty as spoil,
because he willingly submitted to death,
and was counted among the rebels;
yet he bore the sin of many
and interceded for the rebels.
The results are two fold
The Savior
becasue He submitted Himself to death then He will be raise again and be made victorious
in which He will give the spoils or rewards of His victory to His people (those who follow him)
He will now reign victorious and spend his time interceding for his people
World
the righteous servant who dies for the unrighteous can now justify the unrighteous before God
the servant carries the sins of his people away
And what we must remember is that
Israel was looking forward to this servant
We’re not
We’re looking back
We know who this is
His name is Jesus
Jesus was Rejected
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Jesus was Silent
While he was being accused by the chief priests and elders, he didn’t answer.
Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how much they are testifying against you?” But he didn’t answer him on even one charge, so that the governor was quite amazed.
Jesus was Pierced
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.
Jesus was Crucified with the Wicked
When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
Jesus was Buried with the Rich
When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body. Then Pilate ordered that it be released. So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen, and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb.
Jesus was our Sin Bearer
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
This isn’t coincidence…
This is fulfillment
Jesus is the suffering servant
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
So if all of this is true…
If Jesus really is the suffering servant…
If He really was crushed for your sin…
If He really has set you free…
Then the question becomes:
How should we respond?
God already told His people how to respond:
Leave, leave, go out from there!
Do not touch anything unclean;
go out from her, purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
God already told His people how to respond:
Leave.
Walk away from sin
Walk out of exile
Live in freedom
and don’t go back
And this same idea shows up again in the New Testament
But before we read it… I need you to hear this clearly:
This passage is not primarily about dating or marriage
That’s how it gets used a lot…
But Paul isn’t talking to people about who they should date
He’s talking to a church…
that keeps letting the culture around them shape how they live and what they believe
The Corinthian church had been saved…
but they kept going back to the very things Jesus had freed them from
Sound familiar?
Do not be yoked together with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said:
I will dwell
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
Paul is saying:
Why are you trying to mix two completely different lives?
You’ve been made new…
but you’re still trying to hold onto the old
You’ve been brought into light…
but you keep walking back into darkness
You’ve been set free…
but you keep going back to chains
Therefore, come out from among them
and be separate, says the Lord;
do not touch any unclean thing,
and I will welcome you.
Do you hear that?
That’s Isaiah 52
Paul is literally pointing back to the same command:
Leave
Be separate
Don’t go back
Why?
Because the salvation Isaiah promised…has now come through Jesus
And I will be a Father to you,
and you will be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.
You’re not who you used to be anymore
You’re not in exile anymore
You’re not a slave to sin anymore
You’re not separated from God anymore
You are sons and daughters
So why go back?
Remember what He did to make you sons and daughters…
Jesus was crushed…
so you could be free.
Pierced…
so you could be healed.
Rejected…
so you could be accepted.
So don’t waste it...
Don’t waste the cross
Don’t waste His suffering
by going back to the sin He died to free you from
Don’t waste His sacrifice
by trading it for what the world offers.
Don’t waste what Jesus purchased
by living like nothing has changed
He didn’t go to the cross
so you could stay stuck
He didn’t suffer
so you could stay enslaved
He didn’t die
so you could keep running back to the very things that put Him there
BOTTOM LINE: Don’t waste what Jesus died to give you
BOTTOM LINE: Don’t waste what Jesus died to give you
CLOSING
CLOSING
That said I want to end with something really important
Because when I say, “Don’t waste the cross”…
I need to be clear about what I don’t mean
Jesus’ work on the cross… will never actually be wasted
It is perfect
It is complete
It is fully accomplished
When Jesus died, He didn’t make salvation possible…
He secured it
He actually paid for sin
He actually purchased a people
He actually accomplished redemption
And everyone who truly trusts in Him will be saved
Not might be
Not could be
Will be
Because the cross doesn’t fail
So when I say, “Don’t waste the cross”…
I don’t mean you have the power to undo what Jesus did
You don’t
What I mean is this:
Don’t live like it doesn’t matter.
Don’t ignore it
Don’t drift from it
Don’t go back to the very sin He died to free you from
GOSPEL
GOSPEL
And for some of you in here you’re not following Jesus at all
You’ve heard about Him…
you know about Him…
but you’ve never actually trusted Him
The call of the Bible is simple:
Repent and believe.
Turn from your sin and trust in Jesus
Not in yourself
Not in being a good person
Trust in what He did on the cross for you
And here’s the good news:
If you come to Him He will not turn you away
Your sin is not too much
Your past is not too far gone
Jesus was crushed for that
The cross will not be wasted.
The question is: will you trust in it… and live in it?
