Grace Personified
Notes
Transcript
Luke 23:32-43
Luke 23:32-43
32 Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.
33 When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
35 The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine.
37 They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
38 A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?
41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Jesus Was Betrayed by Those Who Should Loved Him
Jesus Was Betrayed by Those Who Should Loved Him
To better understand today’s text first we need to review the events leading up to this point.
The first point to understand is that Jesus was betrayed by those who should have loved Him.
Scripture shows us that Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot who was one of His close followers and one the disciples. This was someone who saw firsthand the miracles Jesus performed and knew that He was sent from God. Yet Judas allowed the devil deceive him and then to enter him and consequently betrayed Jesus. Unfortunately, in life some of those closest to us in whom we trust are the very ones who will hurt us the most.
Jesus was also betrayed by most of the Jews at the passover celebration in Jerusalem who knew about the Messiah but instead of recognizing the Jesus as the Messiah, they shouted crucify Him.
This is even more outrageous considering that on Palm Sunday just 5 days earlier Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem as foretold by the Old Testament Prophet Zechariah.
9 Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.
We can see further detail of the event in Matthew 21:6-11
6 The two disciples did as Jesus commanded.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.
8 Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!”
10 The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.
11 And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Yet despite the fact that prophecy was being fulfilled and many miracles had taken place some of the Pharisees in the crowd objected as we can read in Luke 19:39-40
39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
Later that week on Thursday as many of us are familiar after the Lord’s Supper Jesus was betrayed and arrested in the garden of Gethsemane and put on a mockery of a trial at which time the Jewish leaders stirred up the crowds against Jesus so that they betrayed Him and demanded His crucifixion before Pilate.
Jesus was physically abused and tortured by the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers despite Pilate’s offer to let Jesus go the sin and unbelief of the crowd was unwavering as we can read in John 19:1-16
1 Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip.
2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him.
3 “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.
4 Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.”
5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!”
6 When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.”
7 The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever.
9 He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer.
10 “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”
11 Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
12 Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.”
13 When they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew, Gabbatha).
14 It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!”
15 “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!” “What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back.
16 Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away.
Jesus Personifies God’s Grace
Jesus Personifies God’s Grace
Jesus Christ is the personification of God’s grace and as we honor the sacrifice of Jesus by remembering what He did for us on the Cross, I am beyond humbled once again by the love He demonstrates to us in giving us that which we don’t deserve.
Here is the sinless, spotless, Lamb of God taking the full weight and punishment of sin for all mankind.
Jesus is God in the flesh, He does not need mankind but rather wants a relationship with us. In the beginning God made for us a paradise in the garden of Eden and due to the sin and rebellion of mankind we were removed but ever since then the Lord has been preparing a way which we could return to the Garden through His Son Jesus Christ.
The coming Messiah was prophesied numerous times in the Old Testament and Jesus clearly fulfilled them yet still some doubted then and some still doubt today.
Jesus was abused by the mockers in the crowd and the Roman soldiers. In addition there were and still are people who would not only not believe in Him, but also try to hurt His credibility and Ministry preventing others from being saved as well.
Yes, Jesus sees the worst of mankind but despite this fact, He still sees the beauty of His creation and desires that we repent and turn to Him.
Jesus also knew the pain and torture that was coming His way on the cross. We can see this in
42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
You see, Jesus had a choice of giving His life for the life of others. But the character of God is one of love and compassion and generosity.
We can see the grace and generosity of the Lord demonstrated in today’s text as in verse 34 Jesus asks the Father to forgive the soldiers because they don’t know what they are doing.
Then once again as the criminal on the cross next to Jesus rebukes the scoffers, admits that he has done wrong which is repentance and put his faith in Jesus by acknowledging Him as King is then granted salvation and the promise of heaven with Jesus.
You see brothers and sisters, God doesn’t need us, rather God wants us.
There are so many people today and many of us at some point in our life that are truly looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places. Others are so proud that they think there is nothing wrong with how they live and that God will just have to let them in to Heaven.
But the truth of the matter is this. In our natural, carnal selves we sin and our sin separates us from God. It doesn’t matter if you live a seemingly good life or if you are like the criminal hanging on the cross besides Jesus, we all have sinned and fall short of God’s standard of holiness.
But the good news today is that Jesus Christ loves the world so much that He humbled himself as a man, was beaten, abused, tortured and died just so that all who will put their faith and believe on Him will receive forgiveness for their sins and heaven will be their home.
There are many ways to honor and celebrate Jesus today and it is right to do them. So during this Easter Season and really all throughout the year, let us take the time to truly reflect on just how much God loves us that He would allow His only son a part of himself, our Lord Jesus Christ to pay the price of sin for us so that if we would trust, believe and live for Him, that we too could have the right to be called children of God.
Prayer
Prayer
God we love you and praise you. We worship you and honor you as the one and only God of the all creation. We want to thank you for paying the price for our sins on Cavalry’s Cross. We pray Lord Jesus that many more people would have the opportunity to get to know you and be saved. We love you Lord God and thank You for all of Your goodness and mercy. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.