Good Friday

Announcements

I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that starting this Sunday and every Sunday after that, our Sunday morning worship services will be held at the Moshannon Valley YMCA (113 N. 14th St., Philipsburg, PA 16866).

When you get there, please be aware that the front entrance isn’t handicap accessible, but the rear entrance to the main building is—and actually, I would recommend that everyone park in the rear parking lot because it’s actually closer to the room that we’re utilizing.

When you get there, you’ll see two large, blue a-frame signs near the entrances that you can come in. Natalie and I will be waiting at each entrance to point you in the direction that you need to go.

And just a reminder, the YMCA is requesting that we do wear masks in their building, as that’s a state requirement for them.

My prayer is that with a larger facility, we’ll continue to grow.

One more reminder before we pray and we start worshiping together—starting Wednesday, April 7th at 7pm, we’re going to start having a virtual Bible Study & Prayer. This will be done via Zoom, which is a free app that you can download.

For the time being, this service will be virtual, but the eventual goal is to do this in-person; but until we are able to do so, we’ll do it online.

If you have questions about Zoom and how to utilize the program, please don’t hesitate to speak with Natalie sometime today or Sunday. In addition, if you provide your email address to her, we can actually send you a link each week that you can use to join us in the app, which may be easier for you.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Behold Our God

Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery

Scripture Reading

Today is Good Friday, which is the Friday before Easter that’s typically set aside for Christians to reflect on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is a day that is meant to be characteristically somber and it is meant to be a day in which the individual thinks through the crucifixion itself. To help us do that this evening, I do want to actually read the Gospel account of the crucifixion and I want us to do that in the form of Scripture Reading before we jump into the sermon for this evening.

Before we jump into the sermon, we’re going to take a few moments to read the Gospel account of Jesus’ crucifixion from the book of Mark, but I’m actually not preaching from Mark, I’m preaching from Romans 5-6 because Romans 5-6 is Paul’s explanation of the spiritual ramifications of the crucifixion of Jesus and what it means for Christians today.

Let’s read about the crucifixion in Mark 15:21-39.

Mark 15:21–39 ESV

21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. 33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Sermon

This evening’s sermon is meant to cause us to reflect on the crucifixion, but like I’ve said prior to this point, my intent is not for us to focus so much on the physical aspects of the crucifixion, but rather the spiritual aspects of the crucifixion. A lot of times, when we reflect on the crucifixion, we focus on the tremendous torture that our Lord and Savior dealt with not only on the cross but also the torture leading up to his death. And don’t get me wrong, there is a purpose for that type of reflection but I think that when we focus intently on the physical aspects of the crucifixion, we tend to forget the spiritual purpose of the crucifixion.

We tend to focus so much on what happened, that we forget to reflect on why the crucifixion happened. And while it is important for us to know what happened—that Jesus was led to Golgotha after being whipped and scourged and that Jesus was hanged between two thieves, ridiculed, and tortured; why it happened is just as important.

The Gospels all give reasons for the Jewish leadership to want Jesus dead—(1) the claims that Jesus made, (2) the deeds that Jesus did, (3) he threatened their religious system, (4) he threatened their way of life; but ultimately, the crucifixion didn’t occur for those reasons, there was a spiritual reason for Jesus’ crucifixion and I can’t think of any better passage to study than a passage that Paul wrote to the Romans concerning the spiritual ramifications of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Paul in the book of Romans is writing to a church with a mixed population—and a lot of times in the New Testament when there was a mixed church with Jewish and Gentile believers, the common issue was that the Jewish people would look down on the Gentile believers. Paul thus, starts this letter to the Roman church explaining that regardless of your social or economic standing, regardless of your Jewish heritage or lack thereof, God’s wrath is upon anyone who is unrighteous. He then writes of how the Jewish people thought they were better off because of their knowledge and understanding of God’s Law, but the issue is that even with God’s Law, the Jewish people were still just as unrighteous, so the knowledge of God’s Law really just proved that the Jewish people were just as unrighteous as the Gentile people and thus, they weren’t any better off.

Rather it is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that makes someone a partaker of the righteousness of God and without faith, there really is no salvation. And in Romans 5:8-10, right before this evening’s passage, the Bible tells us that God showed us his love in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And now that we have been justified by his blood, we have been saved from the wrath of God. We have been reconciled to God by the death of the Son.

That’s a brief synopsis of everything leading up to where we are in Romans 5:12-6:4. Let’s read our passage for the evening, I’ll explain how we’ll break the passage down, and then we’ll jump into Scripture.

Romans 5:12–6:4 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

As we look at this passage, we’re going to break it into three parts: (1) we’re going to look at the issue of sin, where it came from, and how it was transferred to us. In addition, we’re going to see very clearly what the repercussion for sin is in that Death Came through Sin (5:12-14), (2) we’re going to look at the free gift given by the grace of Jesus Christ that brings justification or Salvation that comes through Grace (5:12-19), (3) we’ll take the last portion of the passage to reflect on how we should live in light of salvation—that grace should compel us to walk in newness of life (5:20-6:4). All of this should help us see the importance of the crucifixion, in that through Jesus’ crucifixion he accomplished what was necessary for our salvation.

Prayer for the Illumination of the Holy Spirit

Death came through Sin (5:12-14)

As Paul writes about this divide between Jewish and Gentile believers, he explains to the people in Rome that regardless of their ethnicity, they are in sin prior to believing in Jesus Christ. In Romans 3:9-11, Paul poses the question, “Are we Jews any better off?” And he responds to that question by saying, “No, not at all . . . both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,” and then he quotes from Psalm 14 by saying, “[no one] is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” Regardless of if the Jews and the Greeks know the Law of God, they all stand guilty and condemned for their sin, but it is faith in God and the belief in God’s redemption that brings salvation to both Jews and Greeks—if they believe, they can be saved.

If they believe, they can be justified—or declared righteous in the sight of God. And this is the statement that Paul starts chapter 5 with, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God” and since we have been justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ, we should rejoice in God because we’ve received reconciliation. It is this idea, that prior to salvation we’re in sin and unrighteousness that Paul is expounding on in our passage this morning. Paul is expounding on our position in the sight of God prior to salvation and after salvation.

Romans 5:12–14 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Paul is continuing this line of thinking by explaining a concept that we call original sin.

This concept of original sin is antithetical to the world’s idea of mankind is—in the 17th century, John Locke wrote in his book Essay Concerning Human Understanding the idea that the human mind starts at birth as a “blank slate” or a tabula rasa.

He explains that his belief was that a human baby had no predilection between right and wrong and as the child grew up, his environment would dictate what he believed to be right and wrong.

Sigmund Freud in the 19th century, took Locke’s idea and expanded it to the extent that he believed that humans lacked free will and were simply products of their upbringing.

So, if someone murders someone else as an adult, they’re just a product of their upbringing; if someone struggles with anger or depression, they’re just a product of their upbringing; if someone lives in poverty, they’re just a product of their upbringing.

The issue is that while the Bible does admit that environment can play a factor in how someone behaves, the Bible condemns the idea that we can explain away behavior simply because someone was raised a certain way—a prime example of that would be the Apostle Paul, who was raised to be a Pharisee of the Pharisees, but ultimately repented from his sin and turned to follow Jesus Christ.

In addition to this, John Locke, Sigmund Freud, and the tabula rasa concept neglect the truth of original sin. What is original sin?

Original sin is the concept that Paul is teaching in Romans 5:12-14 and it’s the truth that from birth we are all sinful. David writes about this in Psalm 51:5, when he says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” He isn’t saying that his mother commited sin when he was conceived, but rather because his mother was a sinner, he was born as a sinner. The NLT, says it like this, “I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.”

The concept of original sin teaches us that sin is passed down generation by generation, parent to child, individual to individual.

And Romans 5:12, tells us that this original sin that’s passed down to all of us came into the world through one man and the result of that one man’s sin was death.

As Paul will later write in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death” and that consequence for sin started with the very first sin that Adam and Eve commited together in the Garden of Eden.

And thus, the consequence of sin is passed down generation by generation, parent to child, individual to individual.

Death as a consequence of sin is passed down generation by generation, parent to child, individual to individual.

Now Paul says something interesting in Vs. 13-14, because remember, he’s writing this passage while trying to explain that the Jewish and Gentile believers are both in sin prior to belief and to help them understand this, he explains that sin was in the world before the Jewish concept of the Law existed.

In Vs. 13, Paul says, “sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.”

In Paul’s statement here, it might cause us to bring up an important question. Paul states that “sin is not counted where there is no law,” which might make you question whether it is better or not to know the law of God. Would it be better that mankind never knew what God’s law was?

And the answer to that question is really found in the passage itself. Prior to Moses receiving the law, the world was still in sin and the consequence of that sin was still death.

Just because the law itself hadn’t been given in written form yet, doesn’t mean that the law in a general sense did not exist.

There was still sin and there was still right and wrong. How do we know this? When Cain kills Abel, God reacts to Cain in a manner consistent with how he reacts to sin. When God determines to flood the earth, the reason for the flood was due to the wickedness of mankind. When the Tower of Babel caused God to separate mankind, he did it due to their sin against him. All three of these events occured prior to God giving Moses a written copy of his Law.

The benefit to having God’s Law written and available for us to read is that we now know what constitutes as sin, which quickens our ability to repent and return to Jesus.

Sin was already in the world prior to the writing down of the law and because of the sin that was already abounding throughout the world, Vs 14, “Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam.”

Even without the Law being written down, the consequence of sin, which is death, still existed in conjunction with sin itself.

Because the sin itself was passed from Adam to his children and then to all following generations. Again, this is what we call original sin.

Paul ends Vs 14, with this phrase. That Adam, “was a type of the one who was to come.”

This phrase gives us some insight into the direction that Paul is steering this passage. By calling Adam a type it tells us that there’s something unique about Adam beyond just being the first created human being.

Paul calling Adam a type of the one who was to come tells us that there is something similar between Adam and someone else—who as we continue reading through Romans 5, we come to understand is Jesus Christ.

So the question then becomes, how is Adam a type of Christ and better yet, what exactly does the Bible mean when it calls Adam a type of Christ?

This is the only time that the Bible specifically calls someone a type of Christ, though many theologians have argued that Moses, Noah, David, Solomon, and several other important figures throughout the Bible are types of Christ. So, let’s get a good definition of the word type.

In our modern-use of the word type we typically think of someone or something being of a particular kind, class, or group. When speaking of differences of grapes, we might differentiate them by whether or not they have seeds or what color they happen to be and we would understand that depending on their color or whether or not they have seeds places them into different types.

This isn’t exactly what the Bible means when it calls Adam a type however and honestly, it would be a little confusing if that is what the Bible meant.

What the Bible means when it says that Adam is a type of Christ is that Adam is a foreshadow of the one who is to come.

Some examples of this type of foreshadowing in the Old Testament would be, again Moses, Noah, David, and Solomon—all of whom foreshadow different aspects of who Jesus is as the prophet, priest, and king. Another example of this type of foreshadowing would be when Jesus tells Nicodemus, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up”—comparing his crucifixion to that of the brazen serpent. The Passover lamb is a type of Christ in that it compares the sacrifice of the Passover lamb to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

When the Bible calls something a type of Christ, it’s doing so with the purpose of comparing and contrasting two different things.

Paul is comparing and contrasting Adam and Jesus and now you might be wondering how exactly are they being compared or how exactly are they being contrasted. And Paul has already started explaining the differences by explaining how sin came into the world through Adam. Whereas, Vs. 12 “sin came into the world through [Adam], and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned; life comes through Jesus Christ, which Paul goes onto expound on in Vs. 15-21.

Salvation comes through Grace (5:15-19)

Romans 5:15–19 ESV

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Whereas sin and death came upon the whole of mankind through the sin of Adam, grace and salvation comes through Jesus Christ for man.

Vs. 15-18, says that “the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s’ sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.” And in these four verses, Paul is expressing the contrast between the first Adam, who was a type of Christ and Jesus who is the Christ

He explains that the trespass, which is that original sin that’s passed down generation to generation brings judgment and condemnation to everyone.

Which simply means that as part of that original sin that’s passed down generation to generation, all mankind is guilty of of trespassing. Trespassing is a word that gives the connotation that all of the world is God’s and God’s alone and we’re guilty of breaking the law of the owner.

And because we area all guilty of breaking the law of the one who owns all things, judgment and condemnation is the just punishment for our trespasses.

It isn’t just God’s prerogative to judge and punish people for sins; and it isn’t just God’s right to judge and punish people for sins; it is to be expected, because if God didn’t judge and punish people for their sins, he would be an unjust and unrighteous God.

Because he is just and because he is righteous, it is to be expected that he would take sin seriously and pour out judgment against those who sin.

Just to be abundantly clear, the Bible is teaching us in this passage that because of the original sin passed down from Adam to us, we are born in sin and deserve the judgment and punishment that is owed for sin.

We are not born as blank slates, we are born bent towards sin, evil, and wickedness.

But the beauty of God’s grace and what Paul is really trying to drive home in this passage is in Romans 5:8, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

And the contrast that Paul is driving at in Vs. 12-21, is that because of Jesus’ death on the cross, the free gift, which is salvation “abounds for many.”

And the contrast that Paul is driving at in Vs. 12-21, is that even though something similar occurred in the manner through which sin came into the world and the manner through which salvation occured, is that despite the similarity, the key difference is in the results.

Adam’s initial sin that drove us all into trespasses and transgressions, results in judgment, condemnation, and ultimately in death; but Jesus’ sacrificial atoning on the cross, of which we’re celebrating this evening results in righteousness and life.

Vs. 17-18 says, Because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

The beauty of God’s grace and ultimately the major point of salvation is this, that prior to salvation, we are all guilty of sin and of rebelling against the one, true God; but the one, true God has given a free gift available to any and everyone, not just to save them from sin, but to bring them back into a relationship with him.

Through Adam’s sin, death reigned through all of mankind; but through Jesus’ sacrificial atonement on the cross, there is grace, righteousness, freedom from sin, and life.

Whereas Adam’s trespass led to the condemnation of all men, Jesus’ one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Adam is a type of Christ, because like Christ, he changed the direction of mankind. Unfortunately for Adam, he changed the direction of mankind for the worse and through his sin, he caused everyone to become sinners; but Jesus as the Christ, changes the direction of those who would believe in him and for those who choose to follow him, he causes them to be made righteous.

As Vs. 19 says, “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

One of the things that I kept saying leading up to this moment is that most of the time, when churches have Good Friday services, they focus on the physical death of Jesus Christ and there isn’t anything wrong with that.

Knowing how Jesus’ physically died on the cross can be a good thing, but the truth is that Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t about him dying on the cross. And much like the many miracles that we see in the Gospel according to John, the crucifixion isn’t necessarily the point of what’s happening.

Yes, Jesus died on a Roman cross after being tortured by the Roman government as an innocent man and if we dig into the medical details of how that happened, it would horrify us; but the point of the crucifixion wasn’t that Jesus died.

The point of the crucifixion is what Jesus did for us in a spiritual sense because of his death on that cross.

Adam through his disobedience made us all sinners. Put differently, Adam through his disobedience separates all of us from God.

Jesus through his obedience causes us to be right with God. Put differently, Jesus through his obedience brings those who believe into a relationship with God.

The spiritual aspect of the cross, is that prior to the cross we are spiritually in sin and should expect judgment and condemnation for our sinful state. The spiritual aspect of the cross, is that after the cross when we repent from our sins and call on the name of Jesus Christ, we are spiritually made righteous and given life.

I think you may have noticed that Paul utilizes several terms in this passage that we typically don’t utilize today outside of a religious setting, except in one specific place. Paul utilizes several terms that we typically see in a courtroom setting. Of course, he utilizes the term law to talk about God’s Law, but I’m talking about some of these other words:

Transgression

Trespass

Judgment

Condemnation

Justification

Righteousness

All seven words are utilized in the modern-day court room and Paul is applying the same words utilized in a court setting to us:

From birth, we have all transgressed (infringed or erred) from God’s Law. We have trespassed (committed unlawful acts) against God. God therefore has the right to judge us for those transgressions and trespasses, which (because we’re guilty) leads to condemnation.

But what Paul is saying, is that Jesus took our condemnation upon himself on that cross—the one who didn’t transgress the Law, the one who didn’t trespass against God, took the place for all who did.

And through the perfect, sinless sacrifice of Jesus Christ on that cross, we who sinned and should be held accountable for our sins, can repent from our sins, call on Jesus’ name and receive the free gift of God. Because of the perfect, sinless sacrifice of Jesus Christ on that cross, we have moved away from condemnation and we have been justified or put differently Jesus has declared us righteous in the sight of God.

Knowing that this is what is spiritually occurring during Jesus’ crucifixion, gives us insight to some of the words that Jesus says while dying on the cross. Our Scripture reading this evening was from Mark 15, and from Vs. 33-34 and 37-38, gives us insight into the spiritual battle that took place.

“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “”My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Have you ever wondered why these are the words that Jesus cries out during his death on the cross? If you have, you’ve probably only considered it from a physical aspect, that Jesus is crying out in physical pain and torment, but here’s the issue with that—if Jesus was crying out because of physical pain and torment, why wouldn’t he have cried out after be scourged and whipped? Why wouldn’t he have cried this out when the nails were driven in his wrists and feet? Why wouldn’t he have cried this out during any of the rest of the physical pain that he suffered?

Let’s look at this from a spiritual perspective:

The Bible repeatedly tells us that the Trinity is one being in three person—meaning that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. Jesus specifically says this in John 10:30, that “[he] and the Father are one.”

And as one being, the Trinity makes decisions together in a manner that we simply cannot understand as finite human beings.

A lot of times when we think of Jesus, we think of him in his earthly form—as in, we think of him as the person that we meet in the Gospels, we think of Jesus how he was during his 33 years on earth.

But we must remember, that Jesus, like God and the Holy Spirit has existed since before time began. John 1 and Colossians 1 tells us that Jesus existed prior to creation and that he was the one who actually created all things.

Revelation shows us that Jesus continues to exist even after the end of time along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus tells us In John 5, that he only does whatever the Father does because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

If you’re thinking with this in mind and you’re considering that Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father are one being that have existed together since before the beginning of time in unity, making the same decisions, as one; and then you consider the cross as Jesus is being sacrificed.

The moment when all of mankind’s sin is pressed upon the perfect, sinless sacrifice would be the moment in which Jesus experiences separation from God for the first and only time.

Which is clearly confounding and a mystery as to how it could happen, but the weight of sin and the wrath of God being poured out on Jesus are compelling reasons for Jesus to cry out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

How exactly it works, again is a mystery to us in our finiteness and yet, that seems to be what’s happening in this passage.

John MacArthur, “In this unique and strange miracle, Jesus was crying out in anguish because of the separation He now experienced from His heavenly Father for the first and only time in all of eternity. It is the only time of which we have record that Jesus did not address God as Father. Because the Son had taken sin upon Himself, the Father turned His back. That mystery is so great and imponderable that it is not surprising that Martin Luther is said to have gone into seclusion for a long time trying to understand it and came away as confused as when he began. In some way and by some means, in the secrets of divine sovereignty and omnipotence, the God-Man was separated from God for a brief time at Calvary, as the furious wrath of the Father was poured out on the sinless Son, who in matchless grace became sin for those who believe in Him.”

In Vs. 37-38, the Bible tells us that “Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”

As Jesus dies on the cross, the curtain within the temple that separated the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence dwelt tore from top to bottom.

The curtain or the as the KJV calls it, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies was thick piece of fabric that was made intentionally thick and ornate.

Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian states that Herod had increased the height of the temple to 40 cubits, a cubit was about the length of a man’s forearm, which roughly means that the temple was about 60 feet high.

The veil was the same height and Josephus also tells us that the veil was four inches thick with Exodus telling us that the veil was made of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen.

The size and thickness of the veil makes it so much more miraculous that the veil would tear in two and it brings up the question, “What does the tearing of the temple veil mean?”

Jesus’ death on the cross brings mankind who (as Paul says) transgressed the law and trespassed against the Creator and is in sin the ability to be made righteous and thus the tearing of the temple’s veil is symbolic of the free gift given by God to those who would believe to be justified and to be allowed into the presence of God.

What Paul is saying and what we see in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion is that all of mankind is condemned because of sin, but God loved us all enough to do what we couldn’t by sending his Son, the perfect, sinless sacrifice to die on the cross as our substitutionary atonement for our sins. It is the death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection, the fact that Jesus took our sins upon himself that allows us the privilege of experiencing grace and peace with God (if we accept the Gospel; accept the truth, repent of our sins and call on his name).

Now here’s the thing, Jesus doesn’t save us just to prevent us from experiencing condemnation for our sins. The ultimate point of salvation isn’t just so that we don’t have to be held accountable for our sins, the ultimate point of our salvation is so that we can live in a relationship with God. Salvation isn’t a “get out of jail free” card, it’s God offering us grace and mercy that we don’t deserve, in order for us to repent from sin, call on his name, and then seek Him. And Paul continues in this line of thinking through Vs. 20 into Chapter 6.

Grace Compels us to Walk in the Newness of Life (5:20-6:4)

Romans 5:20–6:4 ESV

20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Paul in the continuation of his theological treatise closes off this section about the Law and transitions to a different topic, but as he transitions he gives just a little bit of practical application for the Romans. Paul says that “the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

What Paul is essentially saying is that through the knowledge of the Law came more realization of sin—in other words, as the Law of God was taught and preached throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites were confronted by their sin.

This is actually one of the main purposes of the Law and it is one of the benefits of the Law even to this day. As Christians, one of the reasons we still read, study, and meditate on the Old Testament is because God utilizes the Law to convict us of our sins.

And according to Paul, the Law increased sin but because of the increase in sin, grace is more abundant with the purpose of grace reigning through righteousness leading to eternal life.

Knowledge of sin, brings conviction, and God’s grace allows the repentance of sin and the belief in Jesus as a free gift that justifies the individual person and makes him right in the sight of God, which leads to eternal life.

Now, you might have one question, because you might think, “If sin brings about more grace, shouldn’t we just continue sinning?” And Paul has an answer to that in our last few verses. Chapter 6:1-4, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” And this last portion will lead us into our application:

Paul recognizes that knowing that sin can lead to more grace, explains that just because sin allows for the opportunity of grace, doesn’t mean that we should continue sinning.

Again, salvation isn’t a “get out of jail free” card, and this line of thinking that I can keeping sinning just because I won’t be condemned for it, reflects that line of thinking. Salvation isn’t just about avoiding the consequence of your sin, it’s about developing a relationship with God.

Paul says in Vs. 2, “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” And this is where Paul really gets to the crux of his argument concerning the Law and the believer.

The Law exists to help bring about knowledge of sin so that people would be convicted of their sin, repent from them, and call on the name of Jesus Christ for salvation.

But just because the Law brings knowledge of sin in order that grace can bring people to righteousness and to eternal life in Christ, doesn’t mean that we should continue sinning.

In fact, Paul makes the argument that if we are truly saved—if we’ve recognized that we had transgressed and trespassed and were on the path towards judgment and condemnation and that we truly repented from that life. If we truly have called out to Jesus and believed in him for our salvation, then we’ve actually died to sin and thus, we shouldn’t still live in sin.

And honestly, as the author of Hebrews says it in Hebrews 10:26-27, “If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth,” there is a “certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation.” And what the author of Hebrews is saying in Hebrews 10 is that if we find ourselves deliberately still sinning after salvation; if we find ourselves continuing to live as we did prior to claiming to believe in Jesus Christ, then we need to question whether or not we actually do believe in Jesus.

As Paul says, if you’ve truly believed, you are now dead to sin. How can you still live in it?

Charles Spurgeon, “The idea that the grace of God should lead us to licentiousness is utterly loathsome to every Christian man. We cannot endure it. The notion that the doctrines of grace give license to sin, comes from the devil, and we scout it with a detestation more deep than words can express.”

This doesn’t mean that we will never sin again, but it does mean that sin doesn’t entangle you and snare you anymore. Sin should not define your manner of living. We will all continue struggling with sin on this side of eternity, the difference is that if we’re made new, we aren’t just wallowing in our sins—we’re openly admitting sins, repenting from them, and returning to Jesus.

Rather than continuing to live in sin, Vs. 4, “we [should] walk in newness of life.” What does it mean to walk in newness of life?

This means that when you come to know Jesus Christ, you are made new and you are given new life.

And through the process of progressive sanctification, the Holy Spirit is working within you to transform the way you think and the way you behave and act. Paul tells the Colossians and the Ephesians to walk worthy of the Lord and to walk worthy of the call.

To walk in newness of life, means to think differently:

Paul as he transitions from a theology-heavy treatise to more application in Romans 12, says this, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

When he writes to the Philippians, he tells them to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report. That if there is any virtue or praise, they should set their minds on it.

Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says to “Seek first his kingdom, and his righteousness.” In order to seek his kingdom first, you have to set your mind on that kingdom.

But newness of life doesn’t stop at how we think, it results in how we act. This isn’t exhaustive, but it means that our daily lives should match our inward conviction (Colossians 1):

We should exhibit good fruit,

We should be increasing in the knowledge of God

We should be using the power of God to joyfully and patiently endure and persevere,

And we should be giving thanks to the Father for what He has done.

To walk in newness of life means to stop walking like we’re still in sin, to think like Jesus thinks, to act like Jesus acts, and to love what Jesus loves.

Which leads me to our application for this evening:

Application

This whole evening has been dedicated to reminding ourselves of the death and burial of Jesus Christ, which I’m sure you noticed is a little difficult to do without talking about Jesus’ resurrection from the grave. As we studied through Romans 5:12-6:4, we emphasized the spiritual change that occurs within us because of the death of Jesus as our substitutionary atonement—that he changes us from being unrighteous, condemned, transgressors of the Law to being righteous and justified in Jesus Christ. There is a spiritual change that occurs when we repent from sin and believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. We are no longer chained in our sins, we’re free to walk in newness of life. Good Friday and our time over this weekend reflecting on Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection ought to cause us to reflect inwardly and then act outwardly:

The fact that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection changes us from being unrighteous, condemned, transgressors to being justified in Jesus Christ is only true if you’ve actually repented from your sins, called on the name of Jesus, and believed in him to save you.

Which means that if you haven’t done this, if you haven’t repented, called on the name of Jesus, and believed in him, you’re still unrighteous, condemned, and a transgressor to God’s Law.

So really, my application point for you is to take seriously what Paul has said in Romans 5-6. If you aren’t a believer in Jesus Christ, you are an unrighteous, condemned, transgressor of the Law.

But because God loves you, he sent Jesus to take on your sin and die on the cross in order to offer you the free gift of salvation through his grace.

You just need to repent and believe.

If you have done this—if you have repented from your sins, called on the name of Jesus, and believed in him then this is application for you. As you spend this weekend reflecting on Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection:

Make sure that you spend plenty of time simply giving thanks for what God has done and praising Jesus for taking your place. Take time this weekend to simply cry out to God and praise him for doing what you simply couldn’t do.

As you reflect on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, take time this weekend to take stock of your spiritual life.

Give thanks for where you currently are spiritually—the Christian walk through life is a journey, there will be times of ups and downs, so first off start by giving thanks that you are where you are currently. But don’t stop there,

Admit your spiritual shortcomings—because the Christian walk through life is a journey, we will spend this entire life growing, which means that there are definitely things that we all need to work on, there are sins that we need to repent from, there are fruits of the Spirit that we need to grow in. Repent from your spiritual shortcomings and seek to grow in grace and in truth and then:

Continue to walk in newness of life.

Finally, use this weekend as an opportunity to tell others about what Jesus has done for you.

Celebrate your salvation through Jesus Christ

Give thanks that he accomplished what you couldn’t do

And then tell other people what He has done for you in hopes that they too, can experience newness of life.

Put simply, (1) give thanks to God this weekend, praise Jesus for his death, burial, and resurrection; (2) take stock of your spiritual life--repent of your shortcomings, and continue to walk in newness of life; and (3) tell others what Jesus has done so that they can also experience newness of life.

Pastoral Prayer