OPEN: A few years ago, a lawyer from Kenya named Dola Indidis filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice at the Hague (also called the ICJ). His goal? To overturn the conviction and death sentence of Jesus Christ. He said “I filed the case because it’s my duty to uphold the dignity of Jesus and I have gone to the ICJ to seek justice for the man from Nazareth” (https://swampland.time.com/2013/08/04/kenyan-man-tries-to-overturn-the-death-sentence-of-jesus-christ/)
Now, this could all be a publicity stunt… but it does raise the question: If he could get this legal challenge heard by the ICJ, is it possible that the court could find Jesus Guilty? Did He deserve to die? Was His death even necessary? And if it wasn’t necessary… should we seek justice for Jesus?
Well… let’s take those questions one at a time. 1st - Was Jesus guilty? And the answer (of course) is… “NO!”. Speaking about Jesus, Peter wrote: He committed NO SIN, neither was deceit found in his mouth. (1 Peter 2:22); The Apostle John tells us You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is NO SIN. 1 John 3:5; After betraying Jesus, Judas admitted "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood" Matthew 27:4; Seeing how Jesus died, “The centurion (at the cross) … praised God, saying, “Certainly, this man was innocent!" Luke 23:47; And even Pilate declared: “… I find no guilt in him." John 19:4.
The books of the New Testament are unanimous, declaring that Jesus was innocent; He was without sin; there was no guilt in Him. Now, why’s that important? Well, Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death”, so if Jesus had sinned, then He would have DESERVED death, because the wages of sin is death. Thus, He could not have died in our place - He would have died simply because He had sinned.
But in fact, Jesus had NOT sinned, because if He had sinned - if He had not been NOT been innocent, if He’d NOT been blameless - then He couldn’t have become our substitute. He couldn’t have died in our place.
You see the repeated teaching throughout the Old Testament was: A sacrifice (a lamb, a bull, or a goat) had to be without a single blemish or a broken bone. In fact, if a priest cut open the lamb/bull/goat and found that the liver was diseased… that sacrifice was rejected. An imperfect, diseased or stained offering for sin was useless. That’s why 1 Peter 1:18–19 tells us that “it is not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed . . . but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect”. No other sacrifice was acceptable.
Only a perfect, sinless sacrifice would cover our sins. The Apostle Paul wrote that God “made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, SO THAT in (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God.” II Corinthians 5:21
If Jesus had NOT been sinless, then we would NOT have been made “RIGHT” because we would not have become RIGHT-EOUS.
Now, why do I tell you that? Why stress that Jesus was sinless? Well, because not every person who calls themselves a Christian believes that Jesus was sinless. According to a survey in 2004 (Tyndale Publishing) approximately 52% of the “Christians” they interviewed, either believed that Jesus had SINNED, or weren't sure if He hadn't. In other words: more than half of those who claimed to be a Christian had trouble believing Jesus was not a sinner! Now if you’re going to depend upon the blood of Jesus to save you… YOU CAN’T DO THAT! You MUST believe that Jesus was sinless, because if He sinned He couldn’t have died for you! So Jesus was without guilt and He didn’t deserve to die!!! (PAUSE)
But He did! Jesus died! Seven hundred years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem it was prophesied by Isaiah that the Messiah would suffer and die for YOUR sins… and MINE. He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities (Is 53:5); He was cut off out of the land of the living – He would die! … (Is 53:8); He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.” (Is 53:12)
Jesus died in bad company (in the presence of sinners) so that WE (also being bad company) could be forgiven our sins. The question is” why did He have to die in bad company? Why does it say He was to be “numbered with the transgressors? Isaiah 53:12 says “… he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.”
Well, the answer is found in the 2nd half of that verse: (vs. 12). “He was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the TRANSGRESSORS.” What’s a TRANSGRESSOR? A transgressor is someone who has transgressed (or violated) the Law of God. That would be US!
Romans 3:23 We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We are all transgressors. Isaiah 53 describes us this way “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way. (Isaiah 53:6) We (the sheep) had gotten comfortable with our sin, and we’ve all… gone astray!!
ILLUS: Visualize it this way. I heard a man talk about one of the problems in older church buildings. Since he mentioned this… I’ve seen it myself. You’d walk into the church bathroom and see old cobwebs in the corners, there’d be dust on the window sills, and stains on the carpets. And nobody bothered to clean the carpet, dust the windows or take down the cobwebs. The church members had gotten so they didn’t notice them anymore. They’d become comfortable with the cobwebs, the dust and the stains. Visitors might notice… but not regular members because they’d gotten used to those things being there. Sin is like that. People get “comfortable” with their sins. They just don’t ‘notice’ the cobwebs/dust/stains on their souls anymore - but they’re there in your soul, and in mine - and we need the blood of Jesus to clean them away.
So Jesus was numbered with the transgressors. The sinful people. Because that’s who He came to die for to clean up our lives & heal us. Jesus said “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17
Now, just to drive that reality home, Jesus died between two transgressors. Luke 23:32-33 tells us “Two others – criminals - were also led away to be executed with (Jesus). When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified (Jesus) there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.” (HCSB version) Jesus was crucified between – two – sinful – men. He died in bad company.
As the day wore on “one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at Him: ‘Aren’t You the Messiah? Save Yourself and us!’ But the other (sinner) answered…: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly, because we’re getting what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” (HCSB version)
Did you catch that? This sinful man understood what was happening. He KNEW his life was a mess; he KNEW that HE was getting what he deserved, and he KNEW where he was going… hell
But now here’s the important part: this man believed Jesus could heal his brokenness. He said to Jesus “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And Jesus told him, “I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise.”
You see, there’s something about being in Jesus’ presence that changes people. I don’t understand it… but I’ve seen it happen. Lots of folks already know there are things that are wrong in their lives and sometimes all we need to do is tell them about Jesus and tell them what He’s done for us.
ILLUS: That’s why we have Revivals here, like the one on April 12th through 14th. We’re having Troy Northrop coming and speaking to us about the need for Jesus in our lives. All you have to do is get people here who need to hear about Jesus… and let Jesus do the rest.
At the first congregation I served there was a man named Lynn who would show sporadically when his family would invite him to worship. He seemed like a nice guy... but he really wasn't. He later told me he worked for the CIA in Vietnam and his job was something they called "wet works." His missions were to go behind enemy lines and assassinate people. Later, when he got home, he hung with very rough crowd that we wouldn't want to meet in a lighted alley... let alone a dark one. But then, one day he came to our Revival. He'd been to others in the past, but this time something clicked. He came forward and was baptized into Christ... and from that day on he was a man on fire for Jesus and he never quit. THAT'S WHY WE STRESS THAT you invite people to this Revival. Maybe they'll hear something about Jesus that never thought of before and their whole lives could change.
So, let’s review: Jesus didn’t… deserve … to die! But His death was necessary.
So, here’s the last question: Should we seek JUSTICE for Jesus? That’s what the lawyer from Kenya was seeking for Christ. Well, that’s actually NOT the right question to ask because Jesus wasn’t really the one on trial that day, and that’s what frustrated Pilate. Pilate asked “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you realize I have power to free you or to crucify you?” And Jesus replied, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”
In other words – this was the plan. Jesus was saying: “I was born to die… and this is the moment.” Jesus had total control of whether Pilate would condemn Him or not. That’s why Jesus wasn’t the one on trial - it was our sins that were on trial. You see the cross really wasn’t about Jesus being JUDGED; the cross was about our sins being judged… and put to death. God nailed your sins to that wood. That’s why – when you became a Christian – you become dead to sin - because all your sins died on that cross.
Romans 6:2- 6 “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.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that OUR OLD SELF WAS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
That’s why Isaiah declared that Jesus “bore OUR griefs and carried OUR sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for OUR transgressions; he was crushed for OUR iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5
CLOSE: One last thought - it seems odd a lawyer trying to defend Jesus. Why is that odd? It’s odd because we have a much better lawyer representing us. In I John 2:1 John calls our lawyer our “advocate with the Father.”
I read about a man telling about dream he said he’d had. The first thing he said remembered was sitting on a bench in the waiting room of what he thought to be a court house. “The doors opened and I was instructed to come in and have a seat by the defense table. As I looked around I saw the “prosecutor.” He was a villainous looking man who seemed sneer as he stared at me. He definitely was the most evil person I have ever seen. I sat down and looked to my left and there sat my lawyer, a kind and gentle looking man - and He seemed familiar to me. The corner door flew open and there appeared the judge in full flowing robes. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him as he walked to His seat and said “Let us begin.”
The prosecutor rose and said, “My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this man belongs in hell.” And he proceeded to tell of the lies that I told, the things that I stole, and how I’d mistreated others in the past. He told of other horrible perversions that were once in my life. He told of sins that even I had completely forgotten about. And the more he spoke, the further down in my seat I sank. But as upset as I was at Satan for telling all these things about me, I was equally upset at my representative who sat there silently not offering any form of defense at all. I mean… I know I’d been guilty of those things but I had done some good in my life – couldn’t that at least balance out part of the harm I’ve done? Finally, Satan finished and turned and pointed at me, “This man belongs in hell, he is guilty of all that I have charged and there is not a person who can prove otherwise."
Then it was my turn and my lawyer first asked if he might approach the bench. In spite of Satan’s strong objections… the judge allowed it. And as my lawyer rose and started walking forward I finally was able to see him in all HIS splendor and majesty. I realized why he seemed so familiar. This was Jesus representing me. He stopped at the bench and softly said … “Hi Dad,” Then he turned to address the court. “Satan is correct in saying that this man had sinned, and I won’t deny any of these allegations. And yes, the wages of sin is death, and this man deserves to be punished. But I died on the cross so that that man might have eternal life and he has accepted me as his Savior by believing in me, repenting of his sin and by allowing himself to be buried in the waters of baptism. So he is Mine. He belongs to Me! His name is written in the book of life and no one can snatch him from me. This man is not to be given justice… but rather mercy.”
There was a pause… and then the judge slammed down His gavel… and said: “This man is guilty… but the penalty for his sins have been paid in full. This man has been set free! CASE DISMISSED.” I turned to Jesus and asked Him… “Have you ever lost a case?” And He smiled and said, “No. Everyone that has come to me and asked me to represent them has received the same verdict … PAID IN FULL.”
INVITATION.
