OPEN: How many of you have noticed that there’s a Presidential election coming up? (This met with a certain amount of laughter). Just a few weeks ago, the Republican Party - and then the Democratic Party - had their political conventions where they officially nominated their candidate.
There was a great deal of planning went into each gatherings.
There was a lot of pomp and ceremony. Balloons, confetti and music. The stadiums were chosen with great care. And with a rare exception or two… everything was scripted.
Each event was carefully orchestrated to give the impression of professionalism.
Each event was staged to show their candidate as being the most attractive, the most likable, the most electable.
It would have been truly a disaster to have invested all that money and effort into their conventions only to come away having their candidate being perceived as someone who was:
· Un-attractive
· Un-presidential
· And generally unlikable.
But that was what Jesus was. Isaiah 53 tells us:
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Isaiah 53:2b-3
Now, there are those who believe that this passage is implying that Jesus was to be physically unattractive. And that may have been the case. But I’m more inclined to believe that Isaiah was referring to the point in Christ’s ministry where people viewed Him as undesirable.
The fact of the matter is: Jesus would never have been elected President of the USA. He just wouldn’t be popular enough. He wasn’t popular in the days of His ministry in Judea, and He wouldn’t be popular enough now.
Now, that wasn’t ALWAYS true. After Jesus fed the 5000 with 5 small barley loaves and 2 fish… John 6:15 tell us: “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.”
And when Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time before His crucifixion… the crowds had the same idea: Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!" Mark 11:8-10
These people saw Jesus as perfect earthly leader. He was a man of power and decisiveness. He could feed thousands with just a small amount of food. He could heal the sick with the touch of His hand, and raise the dead with the command of His voice.
Not only was the perfect earthly leader of a nation, He was the just the man to help Israel overthrow the hated Roman empire and place Israel as a nation to be reckoned with.
But just few days after this “Palm Sunday” event… just about everybody hated Jesus. And the crowds cried out “Crucify Him! Crucify Him”
Why the change?
Why were those who were so excited about Him just days before now calling for His death?
Well, part of the change was because He didn’t give people what they wanted. Instead, Jesus insisted on telling people things that they NEEDED to hear. Things that they DIDN’T want to hear.
And what was that message?
It was the same message then as it is today: You (and I) are sinners.
And you can see that message all the way through Isaiah 53
· He was pierced for OUR TRANSGRESSIONS
· Crushed for OUR INIQUITIES
· He came to bear OUR SINS
· He was punished to bring us peace.
Isaiah 53:6 sums it up by saying “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
You and I are sinners.
We’ve chosen to go our own way.
Like Sheep… we’ve all gone astray.
We have chosen to go OUR own way – not God’s way
And because we chose to seek our own path rather than His, God says our hearts are filled with iniquity. The word for iniquity here is “crookedness” or “warpedness”. We’ve chosen our own way so long that God says we’ve developed a warpedness in our character.
And because of that warpedness, we don’t think the way we ought to think. And so we end up not acting the way we ought to act.
And this is not the first time Scripture has made this indictment against us.
In Job 15:14 it says "What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?” (It’s inconceivable!)
David wrote: “… no one living is righteous before you.” Psalm 143:2
And Solomon’s wrote “There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.” Ecclesiastes 7:20
That’s all true.
But it’s not particularly popular.
Jesus was NOT popular in His final days.
He would not be easily electable as a Savior by people.
Because Jesus declared: you have a problem (and so do I) - we’re ALL sinners.
Now, there are people who have a problem with that problem. And their problem is that they have a problem accepting the idea that they’ve got a problem.
Just about everybody thinks that they are “pretty nice people”.
We’re not BAD folks (JUST ASK US!)
Are you bad people? (everyone answered “no”)
Of course you’re not.
And neither am I.
I’m not a bad people either!
Now, granted, once in a while we do some bad things.
But if we do DO something that’s wrong… we’ve got a good REASON why we did it.
ILLUS: I recently talked with a young man once who had lost his job.
Why did he lose his job?
Because he “adjusted his timecard”… he padded his hours.
His reasoning: They weren’t paying him what he was worth so he deserved the extra pay. He acknowledged that what he’d done was wrong… but he couldn’t get past idea he was justified. After all they weren’t being fair with him, so why should he be honest with them?
Just like him - if we do DO something that’s wrong, we’ve got a good reason why we did it. And even if that reason that we have doesn’t seem especially convincing to us… well, we’re nice enough people that we’ll be able to work off the bad things by doing a bunch of good things, hoping that our good deeds will outweigh our bad deeds.
That’s why, when people are asked if they’re going to heaven, most will reply:
“Well, I hope I’ve been good enough to get into heaven.”
What do they mean by saying that? They mean:
“I’m a nice person.
I’m NOT REALLY a sinner.
I can work off all my bad deeds if you give me just enough time.”
What they’re saying is: “I think I can be good enough to be good enough to get into heaven.
I don’t REALLY need a Savior.
I don’t really need anybody to take care of my sins, I can do it myself.
I don’t need Jesus.”
Now, they wouldn’t really SAY that… but that’s essentially what they mean.
These people would not elect Jesus to be the Lord of their lives.
They don’t need Him.
He’s not really attractive to them in that way.
He may be an “attachment” to their lives… but He is not their source of hope for salvation.
Jesus said: We have a problem.
You (and I) are sinners and we need a Savior.
Until people realize they have a problem… they’re not going to look for a Savior.
That’s why Jesus’ preaching didn’t appeal to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the self-righteous of His day. He exposed them for what they were. He revealed the sinful foundation of their thinking. And they hated Him for it.
But Jesus did appeal to those who realized they had a problem.
The prostitutes and the tax collectors and the sinners… they KNEW THEY weren’t righteous enough to make it to heaven. They desperately needed the answers Jesus supplied. So, when Jesus came and offered them forgiveness of sins and a new life they realized He could help them.
They DIDN’T CARE if He was physically attractive or well dressed.
They didn’t care if anybody else liked Him.
They had a problem… and Jesus could fix it.
ILLUS: If my car breaks down and I need to take it in to be fixed I don’t care how good looking my mechanic is. I don’t care how attractive his body shop is. I don’t care how clean his restroom is.
All I care is: can he fix my car?
If I am diagnosed with a disease and I have to go the hospital I don’t care how attractive my doctor is. I don’t care how good his bedside manner is. I don’t care how comfortable my hospital bed is.
All I care is: can they help me. Can they fix me?
ILLUS: Now that brings me to a warning for us.
For the past 40 years or so, this congregation has met in this building.
Would you say it is an elegant church building? (no)
Would you say that it is majestic? (No)
We don’t have an overlyl beautiful facility. It doesn’t look like a “normal” church building. It’s nice, it’s functional. But you folks don’t come here because of the building. You come because of Jesus… and that’s a GOOD thing.
There are people who go to church… for the building.
If it’s not elegant, if it’s not cushy, if it’s not majestic - they’re not interested.
Because, they love the building more than they love Jesus.
We had a man come visit for a couple of Sundays and didn’t come back. His reason: we didn’t have a “normal” church building. I wouldn’t have said this, but I do remember thinking… “don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” If he wasn’t here to worship Jesus, we didn’t need him.
In a few weeks, we’re going to be looking at some blueprints of a new building. There’s been a lot of hard work going into the plans you’ll see, and I can tell you – it’s a good looking building. But my warning is this: Don’t get caught up in worrying if it’s pretty enough/elegant enough/majestic enough. Better Christians than you and I have gotten so focused on how their building looks that they’ve forgotten why we have such buildings: to worship Jesus, and to minister to the lost.
People who elect Jesus as their Savior do so because they KNOW they’ve got a problem.
They KNOW they can’t be good enough to be good enough!
They KNOW they can’t be nice enough to work off their sins!
They know that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God
God knew that too.
So, in Isaiah 59 we’re told that God looked down at our situation, and He saw how miserable our lives were because of our sins and…
“… he was appalled that there was no-one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. Isaiah 59:15-17
God could find no-one to intervene!
God could find no-one that could fix the problem!
So… He did it Himself.
He put on righteousness as His breastplate.
Salvation as His helmet.
He wrapped himself in zeal like a cloak… AND
God became flesh and dwelt amongst us.
God stepped down out of heaven and took on human form.
That’s why, when Jesus was born, He was to be called Immanuel.
Do you know what Immanuel means?
Immanuel means “God with Us” Matthew 1:23
God became flesh and dwelt amongst us.
God stepped down out of heaven to
· To take up our infirmities
· To carry our sorrows
· To be pierced for our transgressions
· To be crushed for our iniquities
· And to be punished - in order to bring us peace
The law required that everyone who sinned should die.
You and I are sinners… SO we deserved to die.
But God didn’t like that potential destiny for us, and so He stepped down out of heaven and He died in our place.
That’s why Philippians 2:5-8 says “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
But, why God do it that way?
Why would God have to step up and allow Himself to die for my sins?
Couldn’t He have sent someone else?
Well, apparently not. Follow my reasoning here on this: If ALL of us are sinners, and I can’t do enough good things to earn MY OWN salvation - how on earth could I… or any other mortal man/ woman save YOU? They can’t even save themselves!!!
It can’t be done.
So, why didn’t He send an angel?
Well, I suppose He could have, but that would have robbed John 3:16 of its power.
If God hadn’t stepped down from heaven to take away our sins, it would read:
“For God so loved the world that He sent SOMEONE ELSE”
God looked down from heaven and saw there was no-one who could intervene on our behalf
So He did.
And God was uniquely qualified to make the sacrifice for our sins.
The Law declared that only a perfect, undefiled sacrifice would serve to remove sins. And God is the ONLY one who is completely righteous, pure and holy – the perfect and only acceptable sacrifice.
And His was the only sacrifice powerful enough to pay for the sins of ALL mankind.
And more than that… it mattered to God what happened to us.
You and I are created in His image… in His likeness.
We are His special and beloved creation.
And He cared what happened to us.
CLOSE: In one of his books the late James Black tells of a dream he had. In this dream he moved among the old temples of ancient Greece. And near one of them he met a priest and began to talk to him.
Pointing to some people approaching the temple, the dreamer said to the priest:
"I suppose these people honor and love their god."
"Honor?" said the priest. "Love? What do you mean? They fear him because he may destroy them, but love . . . ."
"Even now," said the dreamer, "I shudder at the very memory of my dream, for with a harsh, coarse, horrible cackle of laughter the priest said: ’Whoever loved a god?’ ’’
"But," said the dreamer, "don’t these people seek to know the will or the god?”
"Will," said the priest. "He does not work by will, but by whim, by caprice. He may smite with illness, curse with barrenness, blight with disaster. No one can know the mind of a god. One may only appease his anger. The gods are not interested in men, though for their sport they sometimes plague them.”
And that is how many in this world have looked at God.
They’ve seen Him as a capricious, uncaring, cruel deity who doesn’t really care if we live or die. All that kind of God wants to do is show His vengence.
But the Bible says that’s not true.
“God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son, that whosoever might believe in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.”
“… he was appalled that there was no-one to intervene…” so He did it Himself.
One poet put it this way: "He paid a debt He did not owe.
I owed a debt I could not pay.
I needed someone to wash my sins away.
And now I sing a brand new song; Amazing Grace!’
Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay."
