Today we are answering a foundational question of the Christian Faith, “What Did Jesus Do?”
2000 years ago was the point in time that God came to earth as a man who went by the name of Jesus. Jesus was real, he would have looked like anybody else born on earth. He went through the same difficulties and heartache like the rest of us, and he also was able to experience joy and laughter like the rest of us.
One strong difference between Jesus and the rest of mankind is the issue of purity. To be pure means to be undefiled, without any spot or blemish. The Bible tells us that because of our sin, which are the actions and the words that we take that are just plain wrong, we are impure. Jesus never did anything wrong though, he never sinned, he allowed for no spot or blemish to come into his life.
Because of the purity of Jesus Christ he stands out in history as the only person ever to go through life without a single sin.
This is important because Jesus was a man who lived to die. He was put to death by the fiercest form of execution that has ever been devised by man. Crucifixion put Jesus through intense pain, suffocation, dehydration, and also public shame.
So why did Jesus die on the Cross. What was his goal? Why would anybody, much less the son of God, allow themselves to be tortured and killed that way?
The answer is explained to us in the Bible, in the book of Romans, chapter 5 and verses 8-11
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment. 10 For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.
Romans 5:6-11 (NLT)
I want to sum the verse up by saying this,
Jesus took your punishment, released you from the penalty of sin and sent you with a mission in life.
What did Jesus Do? Jesus took your punishment.
You and I have a deep need to be clean. Our impulse is to try to wash our hands of sin, we wipe the effects off our exterior so that it looks like we never did anything wrong.
King David tried this approach to cover up his adulterous affair with the beautiful Bathsheba. He did every thing in his power to hide his sin from man and present himself as clean.
But what David found to be impossible, and what you will find to be impossible is that you cannot clean your conscience by simply washing your hands.
Shakespeare illustrated this point in his play, Macbeth. In the play, the character Macbeth kills his cousin Duncan in secret, and the people pronounce Macbeth King. But there is blood on his hands that only he and his wife, Lady Macbeth know about.
She tells him how to get rid of the blood, “A little water clears us of this deed.” And he washes his hands and presents himself as clean and innocent before the people.
But there is a heavy conscience that hangs over the Macbeth family. This guilt is hanging over them and well the rest of the country elevates them to high position, the truth of their sin weighs them down.
Lady Macbeth begins to go insane. She has dream after dream about the blood of King Duncan on her hands. She sees the blood and she screams at it, and she washes them, and washes them and scrubs them and hopes beyond hope that somehow she can reconcile this sin with water and soap.
But you know, and I know, that soap and water cannot clean the stain of sin. It doesn’t matter how hard you scrub, it doesn’t matter what words you say, it doesn’t matter the people you impress or the position that they put you in, that stain remains and it weighs your conscience down with a burden that is too heavy for even the strongest of men to bear.
What Did Jesus Do? Jesus took your punishment so that you could be washed of your sins.
Lady MacBeth would have given everything to get a clean conscience again. Jesus Christ gave up his very life so that a clean conscience could be made available to every man, woman and Child.
Jesus said, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matt 11:28 (NRSV)
The heavy burden, that’s called sin. The rest is a clean conscience.
How are you today? Are there stains of sin that you cannot remove? Have you washed yourself so that you are fooling everyone, but at the same time your conscience remains violated?
Then come to Jesus, give him your burden, ask for forgiveness and you will be clean. Washed clean, scrubbed clean, spotless white clean, with a renewed mind and a new heart. You will be clean.
What Did Jesus Do, He took your punishment so that you could be made clean.
There is the story of Two brothers who were playing on the sandbanks by the river. One ran after another up a large mound of sand. Unfortunately, the mound was not solid, and their weight caused them to sink in quickly. When the boys did not return home for dinner, the family and neighbors organized a search. They found the younger brother unconscious, with his head and shoulders sticking out above the sand. When they cleared the sand to his waist, he awakened. The searchers asked, "Where is your brother?" The child replied, "I’m standing on his shoulders" With the sacrifice of his own life, the older brother lifted the younger to safety.
The Sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross and taking our punishment, was much more than him just giving his life though. Jesus, pure and and sinless Jesus, experienced the trauma, the grief and the horror that you and I know as the consequences of sin.
Do you remember how it felt to be cheated on. That heartache was on the cross with Jesus.
Do you remember the shame of having your lie exposed, that shame was on the cross with Jesus.
Do you remember the pain, of having sin rip your family in two. That pain was on the cross with Jesus.
And I could go on, because the consequences and the guilt and the shame of sin are huge, and Jesus took the sin of the world on his shoulders when he sacrificed his life for us on the cross.
In fact, the Bible says that He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Cor 5:21 (NASB)
What Did Jesus Do? Jesus released you from the penalty of sin through Justification
Because of the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross – We can be made clean, but that is not all that was accomplished on the cross.
Not only was our punishment taken by Jesus, but we have been justified as well. What does justified mean?
In our every day language we would talk about justified in the context of having enough motive to do a deed.
• You might say that the police officer was JUSTIFIED in firing his weapon.
• You could say that your anger was JUSTIFIED against another person.
• An irate driver might think that a certain finger gesture was JUSTIFIED because of the way that he was treated on the road.
But when God talks about JUSTIFICATION, he is talking about the eternal state of your soul.
Justification is when a guilty person is acquitted of there sins. They go free with no record. No one can ever accuse them again of the sin because they were proven innocent, and now they are declared Just.
But in the courts of heaven:
• You can’t justify the sins that you have committed through good works.
• You can’t justify your error by paying any amount of money.
• You can’t justify your guilt by a smooth tongue.
God alone has the power to justify. God alone has the power to say:
• that man is justified,
• that lady is declared righteous,
• that boy is no longer a sinner
• that girl will have her name written in the lambs book of life
Have you sinned, YES, but God alone can declare you to be justified BECAUSE of what Jesus did by dying on the cross.
It is not as if God is pretending that you never sinned. He is not saying, “Hey, you sinned but I love you. I’m just going to look the other way and you and I can be friends again.”
You are justified, but you are justified at a price, your guilt was paid for by way of a ransom.
Romans 5:8-11 (NLT)
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.
10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.
11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
The reason why you are justified, is because Christ died for your sins. The reason why God calls you righteous is because a sacrifice was made on your behalf, a price was paid that you could never pay on your own, it is an act of love that you can never repay, it is a part of God’s mercy that you will never deserve.
But it doesn’t matter to God that you don’t deserve his forgiveness, it didn’t matter to Jesus that you could never repay him for his sacrifice.
God loves you so much, that he sent his son to die for you, so that God the Father could call you JUSTIFIED. A JUST MAN, a JUST WOMAN, A JUST BOY and a JUST GIRL.
It is the miracle of all miracles, that a sinner like me could have his sins and his guilt paid for by the very one that he sinned against. It is a miracle that I never could earn, but I do have to have faith for this miracle to take place.
Romans 5:1 (NRSV)
1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
What did Jesus Do? He released you from the penalty of sin.
When you ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins you request is heard in the courts of heaven. And the Bible promises that you will be forgiven.
And not only are you forgiven, but there is also no condemnation.
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1 (NASB)
What Did Jesus Do? Jesus took your punishment, released you from the penalty of sin and sent you with a mission in life.
Jesus died on the cross, was buried and then 3 days later was raised to life again by the power of the Holy Spirit, showing to the world that he did indeed have power over sin, death and Satan.
He walked the earth for 40 days after his resurrection before he was taken by God up into heaven. During those 40 days he made this statement to his disciples.
19 That evening, on the first day of the week, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! "Peace be with you," he said. 20 As he spoke, he held out his hands for them to see, and he showed them his side. They were filled with joy when they saw their Lord! 21 He spoke to them again and said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you
John 20:19-23 (NLT)
The truth that once you become a follower of Jesus this direction comes to you as well. Jesus sends all of his followers with a mission to go and connect people to God.
In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus says explains this mission further,
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Matt 28:19-20 (NLT)
Why does our church have an open door policy where anyone can attend? Why do we advertise our services in the paper and on the internet? Why do we make touch cards that you can use to give others the information about the Church? Why do we stress and recommend so highly bringing others with you to Church?
It is because of Jesus Christ and the mission that he has put on His Church and His followers. It is Jesus himself who sends us out into the world to spread the good news.
The Spirit of Jesus is on us, he sends us out to preach good news to the poor. Jesus sends us to proclaim that those who are held captive will be released, and that the blind will see and that the downtrodden will be free of the chains that hold them back in life. Jesus sends us to let everyone know that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.
He sends us because the mission that was on Jesus’ life was to be the savior of the world, and now the mission that is on the Church and on Christian’s lives everywhere is to connect people to the Savior of the World and to his Church through our lives our words and our deeds.
What did Jesus Do?
Jesus took your punishment and washed you clean of guilt and shame.
Jesus paid your penalty for sin and justified you in the courts of heaven.
Jesus sent you to go and connect others to Jesus and His Church.
There was a man in the Bible who was so touched by the joy, the character and the love of 2 men that he asked them, “Sirs, What must I do to be saved?”
And they replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
And they went on to share the story of Jesus Christ with the man, just like I have shared with you today what Jesus has done.
That man made a decision that very night to make Jesus the Lord of his life, and the rest of his family made that decision along with him. And the Bible says that because of what Jesus did in his life he and his family rejoiced greatly.
Jesus has already died on the cross, he has already taken your punishment for sinning and he has already taken the penalty from your sins. But if you want to be washed clean and if you want to be called just in the courts of heaven, you must make Jesus the King of your Life.
Pray this prayer with me, Jesus, I make you the King of my life. I believe in you. I believe that you died, taking the punishment for my sins, I repent of the wrong in my life and I ask to be made clean. Thank you for your saving power in my life, Amen.
