Death, Defeated Pt.5

Introduction

Most embarrassing moment…

In car with my mom…I wanted to become one with the floor board of my mom’s 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

And look here’s the thing, that’s just one, of sort of funny, or cute story of embarrassment to look back on, like it was junior high and in hind sight how stupid is it to be embarrassed about shoes, right? But here’s what’s also true, I’ve got some other more humiliating and shameful moments in life that I’d rather not share with you right now, because we’re in church on a Sunday morning.

But just know this, as I have funny, embarrassing moments in my life, I also have shameful moments, where I got caught in sin, and had to own up to being a sinner.

And those moments carry a different kind of humiliation don’t they?

I imagine you have some most funny, embarrassing moments in your life too.

Tension

I also imagine that, like me, you’ve done some things that you wouldn’t want anyone in this room to know about.

Or maybe, maybe you’re one of the few that was raised in a family that taught you how to be really good at filtering your outward behavior and so maybe you’ve actually never done anything outwardly that you wouldn’t want anyone to know about, but you’ve had some thoughts that you wouldn’t want anyone to know about, and you’ve had some desires in your heart that you wouldn’t want anyone to know about.

And those thoughts, or desires, or actions carry a different kind of humiliation don’t they?

Like when the darkness that exists inside of you gets exposed either by getting caught, or exposed by the light of God’s Truth, there’s a certain guilt and shame that comes along with that isn’t there?

And in those moments, when we get exposed, even it’s our thoughts or desires in our relationship with God, what is our temptation?

Our temptation in moments of humiliation, or in moments of immense shame is to hide, it’s to find some way to attempt to cover ourselves, or we get defensive, or we make excuses for our behavior.

Maybe, like Adam and Eve in the garden we try to shift the blame. We try to make someone else responsible for our shortcomings, or our mistakes, or for our sins.

The woman You gave me God, she gave me the fruit. Or as the Eve says, Satan, he deceived me.

And what do we do?

It’s not my fault. I grew up in an unstable home.

It’s not my fault. I had an abusive father.

It’s not my fault. My mom ran off with some other man.

It’s not my fault. Fill in the blank with whatever was difficult about your upbringing, or your first marriage, or that place you worked that had a toxic environment.

Truth

As we continue our journey towards the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ this morning, in our 5th part of the Death, Defeated series, we’re sort of just going to barely inch towards Jesus’ death this morning. I’ve got to save some stuff for Resurrection Sunday next week, but we are going to look at a bit of Jesus’ crucifixion this morning.

We’re going to be in Matthew 27, picking up right where we left off last week..and then we’re going to switch over to Luke 23.

Pray…

Matthew 27:32–44 NKJV

32 Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. 33 And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull,

Golgotha - Aramaic which means place of the skull - keep in mind God’s promise in Genesis 3:15

Genesis 3:15 NKJV

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

Matthew 27:32–44 NKJV

34 they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.

Psalm 69:21 Fulfillment.

Matthew 27:32–44 NKJV

35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”

Traditionally we know that Jesus would have had 4 articles of clothing. Like everyone else he would’ve had sandals on his feet. Then he would have had some sort of belt, either a rope or sash or maybe even a leather belt. And those two items were likely either taken by the soldiers previous to this point, if you remember when Jesus was in the praetorium, as he was mocked in the King’s game (or the cohort’s charade) he was stripped of His own clothing and clothed in a purple robe as a mockery. It’s also possible that Jesus was allowed to put all of His garments back on, but now as He’s being crucified, He’s stripped once again of all His clothing.

And here’s the main two parts of His clothing. And here’s why this is important, 1. For our understanding of what’s happening in this moment, but also 2. In our understanding of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:40, which we’ll look at in just a second.

So the main two parts of Jesus’ clothing would have been His outer garment, and His inner garment.

In the greek language the inner garment was called a -chitōn kee-ton) It was loose fitting garment that would’ve reached down to the knees. You might think of it as a long t-shirt.

Then the outer garment was called a - himation (he-mat-ee-on). This would’ve been a rectangular mantle or cloak, we would probably do well to think of it as a shawl. If Jesus followed Jewish customs, which I think is possible if not probable, then it would’ve been a talith.

In John’s gospel he gives us more insight into exactly how the soldiers divided Jesus’ garments.

John 19:23–24 NKJV

23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.

Because this inner garment is woven in one piece it’s a valuable article of clothing.

John 19:23–24 NKJV

24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.

So the insight we gain from John is these 4 soldiers take Jesus’ outer garment and they tear it into 4 pieces so it can be divided equally among them. But then because the tunic is a valuable article of clothing, even with Jesus’ blood on it, instead of tearing it they cast lots to see who will get to keep it. And understand this, these soldiers aren’t rich, if anything they’re lower middle class. And all they would have to do is soak the garment, and then possibly dye it to cover up any remaining blood stains.

In Matthew 5:40 Jesus taught this…

Matthew 5:40 NKJV

40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.

Understand what Jesus is saying here, if anyone sues you for your inner garment, give him your outer garment also.

Again, understand what happens to Jesus when He goes to the cross. Humanity sues Jesus over the guilt and shame of our sin. And He freely offers His inner and outer garments as payments.

(Mature content warning) But understand what’s really of importance here… What’s really important here is the reality that Jesus is stripped naked, which to you and me today is absolutely revolting and repulsive, as it should be. But understand this, our sin is absolutely revolting and repulsive to God.

(Slow down here.)

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, and they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the scripture says their eyes were opened and they knew that they were…what? Naked. And with this nakedness came what? Shame, and guilt, and fear.

When the Lord came to walk and talk with them in the cool of the day what did they do? They hid from God, even after they had attempted to cover their nakedness and guilt and shame with fig leaves, they still ran and hid from God! Why? In Genesis 3:10 Adam says, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

And ever since that moment, the result of sin has been that we, as human beings, can’t stand before a holy and righteous God without being completely and fully exposed as unholy and unrighteous sinners.

And that’s what our sin does to us isn’t it? It exposes us, we might as well be hanging on a cross completely and utterly nude, exposed as the sinners we are.

But understand what Jesus does for you and for me in this moment. He takes all of your nakedness, and all of my nakedness, all of the exposure of your sin and my sin, and your guilt and my guilt, and your shame and my shame upon Himself, by being fixed to that cross naked.

I needed to take some time there, and keep all that in mind as we move forward. Let’s pick back up with verse 36.

Matthew 27:32–44 NKJV

36 Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. 37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS

Which, understand, this is a statement of judgement. This is what this man is guilty of, claiming to be the King of the Jews. We’ll come back to that in a few minutes.

Matthew 27:32–44 NKJV

38 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. 39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

This is interesting. Understand this, this is Friday of Passover week. There are thousands of people coming in and out of Jerusalem. Tens of thousands. And as these people pass by, many of them, if not most of them, are at least somewhat familiar with Who Jesus is, and what He taught and what He said in His final days, and so they’re using His own teachings and statements to ridicule Him. “If you’re so powerful, if you’ve got the power to tear down and rebuild the temple, and if you’re a king like you claim to be, and if you truly are the Son of God, here’s what we think You would do, we think you’d get yourself down off that cross, so save yourself.

Matthew 27:32–44 NKJV

41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, 42 “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. 43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”

And here’s the thing, they had seen and heard Him heal hundreds if not thousands of people. At a minimum they’ve heard about the miracles Jesus had performed. But here’s what we know, Jesus had done more than enough to prove that He was indeed the Son of God. He healed the blind, the deaf, the mute, he healed lepers and the paralyzed, those with fevers, chronic bleeding, and withered limbs. He fed a crowd of who knows how many thousands (the scripture says there was 5,000 men, let alone women and children, on two different occasions He calmed storms, He walked on water in the midst of one of those storms, twice He caused miraculous numbers of fish to be caught, He payed temple taxes with a coin that was found in a fishes mouth (that must be nice), cursed a fig tree, turned water into wine, and as if all of that isn’t enough, He raised Lazarus who had been dead for 4 days from the dead.

Point being, nothing was going to be enough for them, because Jesus simply didn’t fit the mold they had created that they thought the messiah needed to fit into.

And here’s what I want you to do with me for just a second. I just want you to imagine being Jesus in this moment.

So, there you are, beaten, bloodied, battered, having had the very little worldly possessions that you did have stripped off and taken from you by the men who put you on the cross, and you’re hanging there completely exposed for all to see,…and yet…you’re the single most powerful entity in the entire universe, the very One Who spoke the universe into existence, and yet there you hang, being ridiculed and mocked and shamed by your own creation.

What I’m saying is, is that if I’m Jesus in this moment, it ain’t happenin’! I’m not staying on that cross in this moment.

Enough is enough!

And when I’m come down off that cross I’m coming down with a fury the world has never seen! You follow me? But that’s obviously why I’m a sinner in need of salvation and Jesus is the Christ, the One Who provided salvation.

BTW if you’ve never understood Hebrews 12:2

Hebrews 12:2 NKJV

2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Finisher - It is finished…tetelestai

Endured - didn’t give up

Despised the shame - didn’t run and hide, he took upon Himself and therefore despised it on our behalf.

We’ll read verse 44 then we’ll flip back to Luke 23.

Matthew 27:32–44 NKJV

44 Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.

Luke 23:33–43 NKJV

33 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

As Golgotha is the Aramaic term for “place of the skull”, Calvary is the Latin term, which is interesting, I’ll come back to that in a few minutes.

Is God not making an emphatic statement to Satan and to the world that this is where Satan gets his head crushed!?

Of course we’re familiar with the three crosses on the hill of calvary.

Luke 23:33–43 NKJV

34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.

This is really one of the two big things I want you to get this morning.

We understand the context, right? Jesus, the Christ is hanging on the cross, beaten, battered, bloodied, and naked. He’s been constantly berated, and ridiculed, mocked, and shamed, and the words that come out of His mouth towards all the people that have done this to Him, that have put Him in this position, that have spoken all of these blasphemies towards Him, is…

“Father (He actually prays in this moment), and listen, this is Jesus’ heart towards all of these people who have beaten, mocked, spit on, and shamed Him, “Forgive them!”

Let me ask you a question this morning: Do you understand God’s love for you?

You could’ve been one of the people who put Jesus in this position, and the only thing He would’ve wanted for you is for you to receive the forgiveness that He was making possible through His death, burial, and resurrection. Because that’s how much God loves you.

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! That’s Romans 5:8 BTW.

Luke 23:33–43 NKJV

35 And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.” 36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”

The mocking and the shaming continues.

Then look at this in verse 38.

Luke 23:33–43 NKJV

38 And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS

And this begs a question doesn’t it? Why would they put, what was to them, an accusation in all three languages? Well they would’ve done it so everyone would know what this Jesus was guilty of. The Greeks, the Romans (whose primary language was Latin) and the Jews.

But the other question it begs is, why would God, in His sovereignty have this written in all three languages? And what’s remarkable is that the answer is the same, so everyone would know that this Jesus was the King of the Jews, the Christ, the chosen One Who was promised in Genesis 3:15 to crush the head of His enemy, Satan.

Luke 23:33–43 NKJV

39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”

The mocking and ridiculing continue, even from this criminal who is rightfully hanging on a cross.

But look at verse 40…

Luke 23:33–43 NKJV

40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”

Luke 23:33–43 NKJV

42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

And listen man, I don’t how squared away this guys theology was. I don’t know how great his understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was in this moment.

You’d have a pretty hard time convincing me that he’s be able to articulate what means to believe in Jesus in this moment. You’d also have a pretty hard time convincing me that his guy ever did anything to deserve forgiveness and salvation from God. He willingly admits that he deserves to be where he is hanging next to Jesus on the cross.

But look at what Jesus says to him in verse 43…and somebody needs to amen as soon as I get to the end of this verse.

Application

Luke 23:33–43 NKJV

43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Amen, come on!

Let me ask you a question church: Who can be saved?

If this criminal who is justly hanging on a cross because of his crimes, can enter into Paradise with Jesus on the very day Jesus dies. If this criminal can be saved ANYONE can be saved.

Listen to me church, apart from believing in Jesus Christ what could this guy possibly do to earn his salvation? What could he possibly do to earn favor from God? He is stuck on a cross where he is going to die, actually he’s going to have his legs broken so he’ll die before the Jewish Sabbath would begin at sunset that day.

What can he possibly do to be saved?

The answer is—nothing.

He can’t get down and clean his life up. He can’t go make things right with the people he had wronged. He can’t attend church. He can’t serve. He can’t give. He can’t prove anything.

All he can do…is turn and look at Jesus and say, “Lord, remember me when you enter into Your kingdom.”

And you know what? That’s enough.

Not because of him…not because of anything he can do because he can’t do anything except hang on a cross. but because of Who he’s looking at.

And here’s what I need you to see this morning—

This man didn’t get saved because he lived a good life. He didn’t get saved because he had time to fix ANYTHING. He didn’t get saved because he understood ANYTHING, except that Jesus was the Christ.

He got saved because in a moment of complete exposure… he stopped making excuses, he took ownership of his sin, and he turned to Jesus in faith.

And that’s the difference between the two criminals.

One kept mocking. One got honest and real with the Lord.

One stayed hardened. One humbled himself.

One died in his sin. The other died believing in Jesus Christ for salvation.

And here’s the truth, listen to me church:

You and I are a lot more like that criminal than we’d like to admit.

We may not be hanging on a cross for our crimes, but we are just as guilty before a holy, and righteous, and just God.

And just like him—

We don’t clean ourselves up and then come to Jesus.

We come to Jesus…because like this criminal we aren’t capable of cleaning ourselves up.

So let me ask you this…

What are you doing with your sin?

Are you hiding it? Are you blaming someone else for it? Are you trying to cover it yourself by doing something as stupid as sewing fig leaves together?

Or…

Are you turning to Jesus?

Because listen—

If God can save that man… in that moment… in that condition…

He can save you.

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter how far you’ve gone. It doesn’t matter how ashamed you are.

The cross proves this: It proves this, that the Gospel is not for those who can get their act together, and get their lives cleaned up.

The Gospel is for those who understand that they can only stand before a holy and righteous God exposed as sinners who need salvation to be freely gifted to them through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Closing

Here’s my last question for you this morning church, because here’s what I think, or at least I hope.

I think you get this. I think you get it for yourself. I think, that if you’re sitting in here this morning, you’ve likely believed in God’s forgiveness for yourself.

And so my last question for this morning is this: Do you believe the Gospel is available to all people?

Listen to me church. Next Sunday is Easter Sunday. It’s the day that we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And listen, I don’t know exactly what next Sunday is going to look like, but here’s what I believe. I believe there are some people out there that God wants to save.

And 100% believe that He’s already moving and working in their lives to bring them unto salvation. And so maybe the question for us is, will we go out and get them here?

We got some things this morning…

We’ve got some folks that are going to join the church…you guys come on down.

Jordan and Jessica Slayter. And they’ve got Sophia, Mia, Braydon - across the top. Sebastian, Luna, and Evangeline - across the bottom.

The Slayters are coming an a transfer of letter.

And then we’ve got,

Clint Dickens and his daughter Harper.

Clint is also coming on a transfer of letter.

And then we have Alex and Annabelle Mize.

Alex will be coming on a transfer of letter.

And Annabelle will be coming on baptism, as an act of obedience to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So here’s what we’re going to to do.

We’re going to vote to receive all of these folks as members of our church.

And then we’re going to worship the Lord because, How worthy is our God to be praised?

Then we’re going to baptize Annabelle, and then we’ll go home!

As we worship the Lord this morning and prepare for a baptism, 3 quick questions:

Is there anything you need to repent of. Is there anything you need to turn away from so you can have a closer relationship with God?

Is there anything you need to believe? Is there any area of your life where God is asking you to have more faith?

Is there anything you need to obedient to? Is there anything the Lord is calling you to do for the sake of His glory and His kingdom?

I’ve got to go up there, ya’ll know what to do when the service is over, come shake these people’s hands and welcome them to our church!