Sermon Tone Analysis

ME:

Now that we’ve gotten snow, it seems appropriate that we would talk about the beach

If you know my wife, you know she loves the beach

This past summer, we were fortunate, her parents invited us to the Outer Banks

So we got to go to the beach

And she could just sit out on the beach and cook all day long and be as content as can be

I’m not that way, I need to be entertained somehow

So I bring fishing stuff and try fishing, unsuccessfully I might add

Because the waves were making that quite difficult

So instead of fighting the waves

I decide I’m going to ride the waves

Now I am not a surfer by any stretch of the imagination, so I don’t know all the technical aspects of the sport

But I’d like to consider myself an above average boogie boarder, for whatever that’s worth

And what I’ve learned when boogie boarding is to look out past the waves that are crashing against you to spot the big wave

It requires you to see it coming from far off

But when you spot it, it’s unmistakeable

You can see the current pulling the wave in

The water, starting low, just gradually grows and grows as it gets closer and closer

Then, just as the wave reaches it’s highest point

A tower of water breaks at the top

So that when that wave is at

and crashes down with a powerful and unstoppable force

Well, if salvation were a wave

It would be one of those massive waves, seen far off

It began forming as far back as , When God told the devil after sin entered into the world;

This verse is known as the protoevangelium

When Jesus began performing miracles by turning water into wine

The first gospel

Which was also the first reference to his hour

So this is where the wave of salvation started

Then the momentum of this wave continued to grow and grow through Abraham and Isaac, and Israel, and Moses, and the series of Kings like David, and the series of prophets like Elijah, and through John’s Gospel all the way to where we find ourselves this morning in

The wave is at it’s highest point

The top is breaking and it is crashing down as a powerful and unstoppable force

All of human history had been moving to this point

And when this wave breaks and crashes

It draws a line in human history

Even secular historians would acknowledge, that nothing in human history has had such an impact as the death of Jesus Christ on the cross

Everything before was moving toward it

and everything since looks back at it

And for the Christian, the cross is central to everything

everything we think and believe

everything we do and everything we are

The reason for this is not because God is good at marketing a logo

It is because the cross is where the Father sacrificed His Son to pay the penalty for our sin

It is where mankind was reconciled to God

Where sin and death were defeated

Where God extended peace at the cost of Christ’s life

It is impossible to overstate the impact of the cross

Let’s go before our Lord in prayer before we go any further this morning

WE:

In college, there was a Christian club called the truth study that made flyers that were meant to have a shock factor to them

It was a simple flyer that in bold letters said “God Killed Jesus”

I remember reading that and thinking

Did He? Did He really?

Is this an accurate flyer?

If not God, then who is responsible for the cross?

Because Jesus was murdered on the cross

So who did it?

Who murdered Jesus?

Was it the Romans?

They were the ones who utilized the inhumane method of death

They were the ones in charge during His murder

We will read this morning, it was one of their governors who ordered the death of Jesus

and next week we will read, it was Roman soldiers who hammered the nails in

Or, maybe it was the Jews?

I mean they are the one’s who brought Jesus to the Romans and were demanding the Romans to kill Him

That roman governor even tried to release Jesus but the Jews nearly rioted and started chanting to crucify him!

Historically speaking, sure, it may be easier to blame the Romans or the Jews

But the question was, who is responsible?

says;

We have all gone astray

It is our iniquity, our sin, that was poured out on Jesus

So, when we look at who is responsible

yes, the Romans sinned, they ordered His death and followed through with it

and yes the Jews sinned, they provoked the death of Jesus

and yes, we have all sinned, so it was our iniquity that was poured out on Christ

So all of us are partly responsbile

But John’s Gospel doesn’t really focus on the human responsibility

This has been a frequent theme throughout the entire Gospel

God’s sovereignty is highlighted much more

as we will see this morning, and the rest of this month, Jesus orchestrates every step of His death on the cross

Recall what He said back in ;

So it may seem like the Romans are responsible, or the Jews, or us for our sin

But Jesus planned every encounter and every event

to reveal that He is not a helpless victim, nor is He a stubborn Martyr

Instead, He is a Sovereign Sacrifice Down to Earth to save the world

So sure, if you wanna shock people, you can say “God Killed Jesus”

But John MacArthur says it so much better

“As God incarnate, Jesus was always in absolute control of all the events of His life.

That control extended even to the circumstances surrounding His death.

Far from being an accident, Jesus’ sacrificial death was the primary reason He took on human life in the first place; it is the pinnacle of redemptive history.”

First, let’s look at , asking if Jesus is a helpless victim?

If you have ever seen the film the Passion of the Christ

This is the scene where the film starts

Our chapter starts, after Jesus finished His prayer we looked at in chapter 17 last week

He leaves the upper room

The same room He dismissed Judas from back in chapter 13

and He goes to this garden, combining what the other gospels record

we know this is the Garden of Gethsemane

It might seem, perhaps Jesus is trying to hide with His disciples