Sermon.967
From the pulpit of Bayview Baptist Church, Columbia, SC
"The Invisible Nails"
Jesus’ greatest work wasn’t the work He did in His carpenter shop.
His greatest work wasn’t even when He performed great miracles of healing.
His greatest work was accomplished in just a few hours on Calvary when He died for our sins.
We know now that Jesus could have come down from the cross.
The nails driven into His hands and feet by the Roman soldiers couldn’t hold Him on the cross, but that day He chose the nails.
In fact, there were some invisible nails that kept Jesus on the cross.
The first of these invisible nails was the nail of love.
In the midst of a world filled with hatred and bitterness, God allowed His only Son to volunteer to be born.
God became flesh and He dwelt among us.
Although He lived and worked among us for 33 years of His life, His ultimate goal was Calvary for He said, “for this reason I was born…” (John 18:37).
The world has never again seen such a manifestation of selfless love that Jesus demonstrated for us at Calvary.
For at the cross, Jesus laid down His most basic right, the right to life itself!
It was the nail of love that held Jesus to the cross!
Jesus, carrying the burden of our sins upon Himself, went to the cross for us that God the Father would judge no condemnation upon us.
This is a selfless love that should prompt us today to live for the One who died for us.
The second invisible nail that kept Jesus on the cross was the nail of His loyalty.
All of His life, Jesus lived in the shadow of the cross, saying in fulfillment of divine purpose for His life, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14, 15 N.I.V translation).
His loyalty to God the Father became His purpose in life, and Jesus accepted the cross because of that loyalty.
Today, we need to experience loyalty for Christ within our hearts.
That kind of loyalty would cause us to take a stand for Christ and for His Gospel.
Jesus Himself said, “If any one would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
If we would be loyal to Christ, we would be willing to accept how He would have us to live and the morality of our entire nation would give us strength.
Remember, it was the invisible nail of loyalty that kept Jesus on the cross.
The third invisible nail that held Jesus to the cross was the nail of our sin.
Hundreds of years before Christ chose to become flesh, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah wrote, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God…He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4, 5).
If Adam and Eve had never sinned, and you and I had never sinned, there would have been no need for the cross.
But sin entered our world and the cross was the symbol of man’s cross-purposes with God.
It was the invisible nail of our sin that held Jesus to the cross.
It was not only the sin of Adam and Eve, the sin of the Roman soldiers, but it was your sin and my sin, and the sin of every person who will ever live in the future that held Jesus to the cross.
Today, Calvary separates the entire world into two classes of people, the saved people and the lost people.
The sole purpose of Christ’s life was that He might die on the cross as the perfect Lamb of God in the shedding of His blood as a substitute in your place and in my place.
You and I must accept Jesus’ death upon the cross as our substitute, for there is no other way.
There’s a popular book today by Max Lucado entitled, "He Chose The Nails."
Yes, Jesus chose the metal nails of the Roman soldiers, but it was the invisible nails that held Him to the cross.
The invisible nails of love.
The invisible nails of loyalty.
And the invisible nails of our sin.
Today we have a personal invitation from Jesus.
That invitation is to join Him behind the veil in the Most Holy of Holies.
For the Most Holy of Holies is the place where Jesus resides within your heart.
Would you be so loyal to Christ that you take Him up upon His invitation?
Heavenly Father, if there is one here today reading this sermon who has not yet come into a personal saving relationship with you, I pray this miracle of salvation be present in his or her heart and you, dear God, would take up residence in the holy temple of his or her heart. Amen.
Rev. Jimmy Davis
BayviewBaptist@aol.com
5300 Two Notch Road
Columbia, SC 29204
Telephone # 803-754-8690
