Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll
The Life of Jesus Christ
(Luke 1:31) And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
1. Sex - He was born of a virgin - We’re all adults, we know what that means.
The virgin birth is the cornerstone of our faith- if you cannot believe this, then what?
If you can’t believe in the Virgin Birth, then how can you believe He walked on water? If you can’t believe He walked on water, then how can you believe He healed the sick? If you can’t believe He healed the sick, how can you believe He died on a cross? If you can’t believe He died, how can you believe He rose again? If you can’t believe He rose again…. well
Born of a virgin made Him sinless - only a pure sacrifice could take away ours sins
Sin is passed from father to child
When Adam sinned, he lost his walk with God and put a barrier between man and God. In the Old Testament temple there was a heavy veil or curtain separating the temple from the Holy of Holies where the presence of God dwelt and only the High Priest could pass thru that veil and enter the presence of God, and even then he had offer a sin sacrifice to cover any sin he had committed. You see God was so opposed to sin that if anyone entered His presence with sin in his heart he would die, so anytime the Priest entered he had to have bells around his ankles and a rope around his waist, his assistant would stand outside the veil and listen for the bells to stop, the rope was so his body could be pulled out after he died. But Christ came to remove that barrier between God and man.
2. Drugs - he drug the cross all the way up Calvary
(Isaiah 53:5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
He was brusied for our transgressions - He was wounded, literally, He was pierced thru
He was betrayed by one of His own -
Luke 22:47-48
And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
Judas betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver - about $25 dollars. Judas sold his place next to the Master for 25 bucks - how much are you selling yours for?
He was scourged
according to custom, the Romans would scourge a condemned criminal before he was put to death. They used a short whip made of two or three leather ropes connected to a handle. They were knotted with a number of small pieces of metal, stone, or pieces of bone. It would quickly remove the skin.
Sometimes they would use a whip that contained a hook at the end and was given the name "scorpion." The condemned was made to stoop or bend over which would make deeper lashes from the shoulders to the waist. According to Jewish law the condemned was to receive 39 lashes (Deut. 25:3) But He was scourged by the Romans and they had no limit to the number of blows. Deep lacerations, torn flesh, exposed muscles and excessive bleeding would leave the condemned "half-dead." In fact, the condemned often died or passed out from shock due to the pain and blood loss.
He was beaten - Isaiah 52:14 says His was so marred or disfigured from the beatings that He was no longer recognizable
He was humiliated - stripped naked, spit on, slapped, and mocked
He had a crown of thorns jammed down onto His head - thorns were often used as kindling for fires
He was crucified, have you ever thought about what that entailed??
After the flogging, the condemned was often forced to carry his own crossbar to the execution site. The crossbar could easily weigh 100 pounds. In the case of Jesus, the record shows that He may have carried His over 600 feet. In His weakened and tormented state, it is no wonder the Bible says that Jesus needed help to stay on His feet. Once the condemned arrived at the execution site, the crossbar was put on the ground and spikes about 7 inches long and 3/8 of an inch in diameter were driven into the wrists. The spikes would hit the area of the median nerve, causing shocks of pain up the arms to the shoulders and neck. Already standing at the crucifixion site would be the 7-foot-tall post, In the center of the post was a crude seat to “support” for the condemned. The crossbar was then lifted up onto the post, and the condemned’s body was awkwardly turned on the seat so that the feet could be nailed to the post. At this point, there was tremendous strain put on the wrists, arms and shoulders, often resulting in a dislocation of the shoulder and elbow joints. The position of the nailed body held the condemned’s rib cage in a fixed position, which made it extremely difficult to exhale, and impossible to take a full breath. Having suffered from the scourging, the beatings and the walk with the 100-pound crossbar Jesus was described as extremely weak and dehydrated. He was probably losing significant amounts of blood. As time passed, the loss of blood and lack of oxygen would cause severe cramps, spasmodic contractions and probably unconsciousness.
Ultimately, the cause of death in crucifixion was suffocation. To breathe, the victim was forced to push up on his feet to allow for inflation of the lungs. As the body weakened and pain in the feet and legs became unbearable, the victim was forced to trade breathing for pain and exhaustion. Eventually, becoming so exhausted that he could no longer push up to take a breath. Due to the shallow breathing, the condemned’s lungs would begin to collapse. Due to the loss of blood from the scourging, the condemned probably formed a respiratory acidosis, resulting in an increased strain on the heart, which caused His heart to beat faster to compensate. Fluid would build up in the lungs. Under the stress of hypoxia and acidosis, the heart would eventually fail. There are several different theories on the actual cause of death for Jesus. One theory is that there was a filling of the pericardium with fluid, which put a fatal strain on the heart’s ability to pump blood. Another theory states that Jesus died of cardiac rupture. Another theory is that Jesus’ death was primarily due to shock, exhaustion, asphyxia and perhaps acute heart failure. Regardless of the actual medical cause of death, the historical record is very clear -- Jesus suffered numerous hours of horrible and sustained torture on the cross of Calvary. It took 6 hours for Him to die.
Yet when He was on the cross, you were on His mind!!
Even after all that was done to Him, He still had forgiveness in His heart
He said Father Forgive them for they know not what they do…
He was forsaken
- By His disciples - when He went to the garden to pray 11 of the disciples were with Him, when He was arrested the Bible says in Mark 14:50
And they all forsook Him and fled
-By his friends - Peter - denied Him 3 times
Peter, was one of Jesus’ closest friends. He had said he would follow Jesus to the end, that he was ready to die for Him and Jesus told him that this very night Peter would deny Him 3 times.
Luke 22:55-62
(55) And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.
(56) But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, this man was also with him.
(57) And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not. (that’s 1)
(58) And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. (that’s 2)
(59) And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilean.
(60) And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
(61) And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
(62) And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.
By His Father - Mark 15:34 - Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
The only hope for mankind was in the resurrection, but to get to there He first had to die. Imagine how hard it would be for God to allow His son to die
He hung there and died for you, He didn’t have suffer all of this, all He had to do was say the word and God would have sent 12 legion of Angels to take Him down. A legion of was about 6000 soldiers. Do you think if He would have called for those Angels they would have came peacefully? What do you think would have happened when those 72,000 Angels arrived? We’re not talking about chubby little harp playing angels. Almost every time in scripture when an Angel appeared it caused great fear. Time and time again the person to which the angel appeared was told to fear not. No these were not cute little Cupid angels.
The Bible describes these types of angels :
They had the likeness of a man
They had four faces and four sets of wings
The face of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle
Their legs were straight with the feet of a calf
They were the color of polished bronze
They had the hands of a man under their wings
They could go in any direction without turning
But He didn’t come down, He stayed on that cross and bled and died for you!
He took the penalty for our sins -
(Romans 6:23) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life. Christ paid the sin debt for you. He who was without sin took your sin upon Himself and He died that day, hanging on that cross. He bled, He suffered and He died….. For you!
Remember that veil we talked about earlier that separated man from the presence of God? Mark 15: 37-38 says: And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Christ’s death opened the presence of God to you and me. No longer do you need a priest to go before God, with the crucifixion you now have full access to God. You don’t need a church, you don’t need a preacher, you don’t need an altar… you have all you need to approach God. All you need to do is to humble yourself before God and with a broken heart repent of you sins. But you may say, I’m not a sinner, I’m a good person. The bible says in Romans 3:23 For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The bible says that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And 1 John 1:9 says If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that means He will not forgive just some of your sins but ALL of them. And once He forgives them….. He forgets them. He will never hold your past over you head. The bible teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.
3. Rock and Roll - The rock was rolled away! The stone was not rolled away to let Him out, it was rolled away to let us in!
Luke 24:1-6
(1) Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
(2) And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
(3) And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
(4) And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
(5) And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
(6) He is not here, but is risen:
In another account of the resurrection, the Gospel of John says in vs. 7:
And the napkin, that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but folded together in a place by itself.
Is that important? Is that significant? Absolutely!
In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.
Now if the master was done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I’m done". But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, "I’m not finished yet." The folded napkin meant, "I’m coming back!"
I thank God for that folded napkin because it says “ I’m not done, I’m coming back!!!”
You can visit the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia and you’ll find the body of Mohammad
You can visit the Shandong Province of China and you’ll find the body of Confucius
You can visit New Delhi, India and you’ll find the body of Mahatma Gandhi
You can visit the city of Jerusalem and you’ll find a tomb, but it wil be empty. Because one bright morning some 2000 yrs ago, my savior got up and walked out of that tomb carrying the keys to death, hell and the grave. He walked among the ppl for 40 days and then He was taken up in the clouds. And now He sits at the right hand of the Father making intersession for me.
If we were dumb, He’d sent a teacher
If we were sick, He’d sent a healer
If we were lost, He’d sent a guide
If we were damned, He’d sent a Savior
We were all of this - and God sent us a teacher, He sent us a healer, He sent us a guide and He sent us a Savior…. He sent us His Son, He sent us Jesus Christ.
To teach us the way
To heal us of our sin
To guide us home
To save us for all eternity
John 3:17 - For God sent not His son into this world to condemn the world but that through Him the world might be saved.
Jesus Christ gave His life on that old rugged cross to offer you the gift of Salvation. Salvation is a gift to all man, but it’s not automatic. You have to accept that gift. We are not born into Christianity, it’s not something passed down from your parents. Salvation is a personal issue. It’s between you and God, no one can pray you into Heaven, no one can accept Christ for you. If you can’t remember a time when you asked Christ into your heart then you’re not saved. I’m not saying you have to remember the date and exact time you accepted Christ, but if you can’t remember a time when the Holy Ghost convicted you of your sin and you asked Christ into your heart then you need to come to this altar today. If you’re 99.9% sure you’re saved then you’re 100% lost. If you’re not sure, you can come and we’ll make sure. Please don’t leave this building with any doubt in your heart. If you’re tired of running, tired of trying, or just plain tired, Jesus said come unto me and I will give you rest. Don’t you think it’s time to stop running.
