He Gave Past The Hurt (Easter 2012)
Ill. A man went on vacation to the Holy Land with his wife and her mother.
While in Israel, the mother-in-law died from a heart attack.
The couple went to a local undertaker, who explained that they could either ship the body home which would cost more than $15,000.00,
or they could bury her right there in the Holy Land for only $1,500.00 The man said, "We’ll ship her home.
"Surprised, the undertaker responded, "Are you sure? That’s an awfully big expense, and we can do a very nice burial here.
"The man said, "Look, 2000 years ago they buried a guy here and three days later He rose from the dead. I just can’t take that chance."
I trust you have your bibles this morning, let’s turn to
John 3:16-18 Msg.
Todays message is entitled;
He Gave Past The Hurt!
16-18. "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
As I was thinking about preparing for Easter, the resurrection was at the forefront,
And all it accomplished for mankind, that far to many in the world aren’t even aware of, was at top of the list.
Everything that we enjoy today, every benefit we enjoy from God, we owe to Jesus finished work on Calvary. Amen!
Jesus resurrection was thee most powerful event ever to take place, in the history of the world.
It gave who-so-ever the ability to receive
*everlasting life,
*forgiveness of all sin,
*spiritual wholeness,
*healing,
*prosperity,
*health,
*wisdom,
*understanding,
*patience
and everything else in this life we would ever need to live this life we have been given, abundantly.
Hebrews 10:19-21 MSG.
19-21. So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place." Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The "curtain" into God’s presence is his body.
What had been taken away by the fall of man and the sin that took place in the garden of Eden,
Jesus had restored with the Love that flowed and still flows from Calvary. Thank You Jesus!
John 3:16 NKJ
16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 316, without a doubt is probably the most widely known verse from the bible in the world today.
And with good reason, because our God, is a merciful God and I don’t believe its no accident, that this powerful verse,
That could make the difference between, someone spending eternity in heaven or hell,
Would be so widespread and known around the globe, so that anyone could grab a hold of it, even if it was with their last breathe.
Even the thief on the cross, realized that it wasn’t to late, asked for forgiveness
and was forgiven his sins that very moment, and went to spend eternity with Jesus that very same day!
Ill. “I love John 3:16 because it is the gospel in a nutshell. It shares God’s great love for us, and our great need for him.”
-Mac Powell, Lead Singer of Third Day
“There it is in black and white. As simple and gentle as 1+1=2. For God so loved the world that He gave His only son and whoever believes in Him shall NOT perish, but shall have everlasting life. That’s it. Admission is free.”
-Delilah, Radio Host
“John 3:16. What an amazing scripture—God loved us while we were quite unlovable people. He reached out to us when we were unreachable. Knowing that we would fail Him, deny Him, and spurn this unconditional love, He still gave…unconditionally!”
-Don Moen, Singer/Songwriter
Knowing that we would fail Him, deny Him, and spurn this unconditional love, He still gave…unconditionally!”
Why? Because God loved us, God loved mankind,
Because God loved you, enough to give past the hurt!
It would be the only way, for the reconciliation He longed for with mankind,
So He would be able to share the Grace and Mercy and Goodness,
the world so desperately needed and still so desperately needs today!
God knew better than anyone, the price it was going to cost,
it was going to require His most valuable possession, His Beloved Son, His very own seed!
God knew better than anyone, about seedtime and harvest, after all it was and is, a principle He created!
He also knew, even though the cost would be great, the harvest that would come because of it, would be worth the sacrifice!
Psalm 126:5 NASB.
5. Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
Is it any wonder why all of heaven rejoices, when someone comes to salvation and another soul’s name, is written into the lambs book of life.
Luke 15:7 HCSB.
7. I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance.
That’s why God was willing to give past the hurt, the harvest of names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, cost Him greatly,
We who believe, are all part of the harvest that has come from the gift He gave,
We have become the seed, the seed that needs to continue to be sown into others lives,
1st Cor. 3:6-8 NKJ
6. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
7. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
8. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
We have also been chosen to be a part of the great harvest and celebration, that is yet to come,
because the Gift continues to give and continues to change lives. Praise God!
Jn 316, 26 of the most powerful words that changed the world forever,
let us now remember and read, about the event, that forever changed the world.
We pickup on the story after Jesus had already been betrayed by Judas and captured.
John 19 MSG.
1-3. So Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped. (NKJ says scourged Him.)
The soldiers, having braided a crown from thorns, set it on his head, threw a purple robe over him, and approached him with, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they greeted him with slaps in the face.
4-5. Pilate went back out again and said to them, "I present him to you, but I want you to know that I do not find him guilty of any crime." Just then Jesus came out wearing the thorn crown and purple robe.
Pilate announced, "Here he is: the Man."
7. The Jews answered, "We have a law, and by that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God."
8-9. When Pilate heard this, he became even more scared. He went back into the palace and said to Jesus, "Where did you come from?"
Jesus gave no answer.
10. Pilate said, "You won’t talk? Don’t you know that I have the authority to pardon you, and the authority to—crucify you?"
11. Jesus said, "You haven’t a shred of authority over me except what has been given you from heaven. That’s why the one who betrayed me to you has committed a far greater fault."
12. At this, Pilate tried his best to pardon him, but the Jews shouted him down: "If you pardon this man, you’re no friend of Caesar’s. Anyone setting himself up as ’king’ defies Caesar."
13-14. When Pilate heard those words, he led Jesus outside. He sat down at the judgment seat in the area designated Stone Court (in Hebrew, Gabbatha). It was the preparation day for Passover. The hour was noon. Pilate said to the Jews, "Here is your king."
15. They shouted back, "Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!"
Pilate said, "I am to crucify your king?"
The high priests answered, "We have no king except Caesar."
16-19. Pilate caved in to their demand. He turned him over to be crucified.
The Crucifixion
They took Jesus away. Carrying his cross, Jesus went out to the place called Skull Hill (the name in Hebrew is Golgotha), where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, Jesus in the middle. Pilate wrote a sign and had it placed on the cross. It read:
jesus the nazarene
the king of the jews.
20-21. Many of the Jews read the sign because the place where Jesus was crucified was right next to the city. It was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. The Jewish high priests objected. "Don’t write," they said to Pilate, "’The King of the Jews.’ Make it, ’This man said, "I am the King of the Jews."’"
22. Pilate said, "What I’ve written, I’ve written."
23-24. When they crucified him, the Roman soldiers took his clothes and divided them up four ways, to each soldier a fourth. But his robe was seamless, a single piece of weaving, so they said to each other, "Let’s not tear it up. Let’s throw dice to see who gets it." This confirmed the Scripture that said, "They divided up my clothes among them and threw dice for my coat." (The soldiers validated the Scriptures!)
24-27. While the soldiers were looking after themselves, Jesus’ mother, his aunt, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood at the foot of the cross. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her. He said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that moment the disciple accepted her as his own mother.
28. Jesus, seeing that everything had been completed so that the Scripture record might also be complete, then said, "I’m thirsty."
29-30. A jug of sour wine was standing by. Someone put a sponge soaked with the wine on a javelin and lifted it to his mouth. After he took the wine, Jesus said, "It’s done . . . complete." Bowing his head, he offered up his spirit.
At that moment, God’s Gift to the world, had went beyond the hurt!
Jesus had finished what He had started, He had traded places with you and I.
He took the punishment of all our sins and transgressions, so we could have the righteousness of God, through Him.
Romans 8:3-4 MSG
3-4. God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.
John 20:1-21 MSG.
Resurrection!
1-2. Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, "They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him."
3-10. Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.
11-13. But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. They said to her, "Woman, why do you weep?"
13-14. "They took my Master," she said, "and I don’t know where they put him." After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him.
15. Jesus spoke to her, "Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?"
She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, "Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him."
16. Jesus said, "Mary."
Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" meaning "Teacher!"
17. Jesus said, "Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ’I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’"
18. Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: "I saw the Master!" And she told them everything he said to her.
To Believe
19-20. Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." Then he showed them his hands and side.
20-21. The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you."
God’s gift was Jesus and the Grace Changing message of the Gospel that He brought with Him to extend to all!
The reason we are all here today, is because God gave, so that who-so-ever would believe,
would receive the gift of eternal life and be able to go to heaven and live with Him forever.
Turn to your neighbor and tell them, I’m a who-so-ever! Thank You Jesus!
Ephesians 1:7-14 MSG.
7-10. Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
11-12. It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
13-14. It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
Are you living the glorious life God has given you and wants you to live?
Are you sharing the amazing story of Jn. 316 and the glorious life that God has available for others?
When a farmer plants a seed, the harvest from that seed,
becomes the seed to be sown again for a greater harvest.
We have become that seed, we have become part of the harvest
and we must continue to plant and sow into others lives for a greater harvest, until Jesus comes again.
That’s what its all about, that’s what Jesus last instructions were before ascending back to heaven.
Matt. 28:18-20 NKJ.
18. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20. teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Tell the whole world, was the instructions!
Think of how impossible that must have sounded to the disciples there that day.
It seems a little daunting at times, a bit overwhelming still today and He knew it might seem that way,
that’s why He said, (and I like the way the message bible says it best) don’t worry
“I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”
We are more than well equipped for the task at hand, Jesus is our abundant provision for whatever the task or need!
“God thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making.
He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.”
We are a part of God’s long range plans, we are a part of the history being written still today, about the Kingdom of God.
What will History say about you?
Tell everyone you can about Jesus, let history say “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”
