Understand that, in this message, it will be very difficult to
separate the Church from the individual Christian.
A. If I should use one, know that it could also apply
to the other, as well.
What I hope to make clear, at this point, is the fact that
Christ went through everything that He did for us.
A. I know that we have heard and repeated this, but
let me try to restate it.
1. I should have been whipped.
2. I should have been spit upon.
3. I should have stood before a howling mob.
4. I should have been traded for a murderer.
5. I should have carried the cross up that hill.
6. I should have been stripped naked.
7. I should have been hung on the cross.
8. I should have been in torments and thirsted.
9. I should have died...died once physically...
died a second death in hell.
Isaiah 53:3-5 - 3 He is despised and rejected
by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from Him; He was despised, and we did not
esteem Him. {Webster - Esteem - To value
highly; have great regard for; prize; respect}
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried
our sorrows; Yet we esteemed HIM stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted. BUT He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our iniquities; {Webster -
Iniquity - Lack of righteousness or justice;
wickedness; sin} The chastisement for our
peace was upon Him,{Webster -
Chastisement - Punishment; beating} (We
only could have peace and be reconciled to
God by Christ’s torture and crucifixion)
And by His stripes we are healed.
** The long and the short of it is this...Jesus Christ stood
in our place and took everything that was intended for
us.
1. Only because He was God could He overcome the
curse of death which was intended for us.
a. He experienced our hell and brought us back
from its brink.
This is a season for thankfulness.
A. We are thankful for many wonderful things that we
have or experience.
1. Family
2. Jobs
3. Homes
4. Cars........etc., etc., etc., etc..
a. It is good to be thankful for all of these
things.
1.) This should be an ongoing thanks-
giving...throughout the year.
But what of the most important things of all.
A. Wouldn’t you know it...you can’t even see them.
1. Eternal life
2. Cleansing of our sins.
3. Adoption into the family of God.
4. Joint heirs with Jesus....etc., etc., etc., etc.,......
We need to be most thankful for the one who has made all
of these things a reality...a personal reality.
A. I know that I couldn’t have faced what Christ
faced for me.
1. What He did for us was completely beyond
our capabilities.
a. In other words, without Christ and what
He did for us, we would be hopelessly
lost to damnation.
1.) Only He was the perfect and sinless
sacrifice that could pay for our sins.
2.) Only He, as God, could purchase
the Church and make it His Body.
3.) Only He could face the horrors of
the cross...not just the physical
torment, but the spiritual torment
that came at the cross.
I. Christ left a treasure that we cannot even imagine.
Phil. 2:5-7 - 5Let this mind be in you which was also in
Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form of God, did not
consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made
Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant,
and coming in the likeness of men.
I Cor. 2:9 - 9But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those
who love Him.”
** If this is a promise to us of the wonders that we shall
behold...understand that it was from these wonders
that Christ voluntarily came forth.
A. Philippians, chapter two tells us that Christ was
EQUAL WITH THE FATHER.
1. But what it further states, is that He was
willing to give up this equality with the father.
2. That He was willing to give up His God
nature.
3. That He was willing to give up His home and
way of life that He had enjoyed for eternity.
a. And that the only thing that He counted
worth doing all of this for was YOU.
B. This wasn’t “little sonny boy” that the Father
created for this sole purpose.
1. People become confused about all of this.
a. The Father “begat” the Son in the
physical or fleshly form.
1.) In other words Mary was made to
conceive and Jesus was born
through her womb just as any other
human being was born.
ILLUSTRATION: This is totally wrong, but it may be able
to help us think in human...limited...physical terms. Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost decided what was needed for the
redemption of mankind. Son volunteered to go. Son
unzipped His God suit, hopped into the “laundry shoot”
and came out in Mary’s womb. The next time anyone was
to see the Son, He would be a little baby, in a manger.
C. This was the God of all eternity.
1. He is the creator of everything.
a. In Genesis 1:1, when God said...”Let
there be light”...it was Jesus, the Son.
1.) By mutual agreement the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost agreed to
the creation, but they also agreed
that it was the Son who would do
the actual creating.
John 1:1-5 - 1In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in
the beginning with God. 3All things were made through
Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5And
the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend it.
Col. 1:13-19 - 13He has delivered us from the power of
darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of
His love, 14in whom we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by Him
all things were created that are in heaven and that are on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created through
Him and for Him. 17And He is before all things, and in
Him all things consist. 18And He is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
19For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness
should dwell.
Heb. 1:2 - 2has in these last days spoken to us by His Son,
whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom
also He made the worlds.
Eph. 3:9 - 9and to make all see what is the fellowship of
the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been
hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.
** We will take note that the Father has given all the glory
and the preeminence to the Son.
1. But we will also notice that the Son is the Creator,
God.
D. It was not without plan and intent that Christ
would create the dirt, the many different kinds of
metallic ore, the trees, and mankind, himself.
1. Mankind would fashion the tree into a cross,
he would (with God’s guidance) learn how to
make nails from iron ore, and he would use
the dirt and stones of the ground to hold the
cross upon which our savior...the Creator,
God....would allow Himself to be hanged.
II. I am thankful that Christ allowed Himself to be
humiliated for me.
A. It is a humbling thing to know just exactly was
involved in this humiliation.
1. Once a person really does comprehend, he
could never be proud of anything again, in
his life.
B. The humiliation of becoming a man.
1. Remember, Christ is God and far superior to
men.
a. We don’t mind being a man, because we
are men...but would you want to become
a pig....live like a pig...try to talk to pigs..
and then die the worse death that a pig
would ever not want to face?
2. This whole aspect of Christ’s humility needs
to be understood in relative terms.
a. Christ was the creator, who would allow
Himself to become what He had made.
** Remember why, though.
1. God loved us so much that He was willing to
become a “pig” for us.
C. God allowed Himself to be tormented and tempted
....all His time on earth...by satan.
1. satan...whom Jesus knew.
2. satan...whom Jesus was to judge.
3. satan...an inferior part of what Christ had
created.
4. satan...the epitome of sin...which Christ, as
God, could not even look upon.
a. Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be
tempted by this filthy reptile....for us.
** Remember why though.
1. God loved us so much that He was willing to be
insulted and tormented and tempted by the filthiest
part of His own creation.
D. Jesus Christ, the Creator of all...allowed weak and
sinful man to put Him to death.
1. The God of eternity was allowed to die.
a. This at the hand of the very ones that He
was dieing for.
2. This was, by man and God’s reckoning, a
shameful and cursed way for a man to die.
a. The cross was a curse.
Gal. 3:13 - 13Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the
law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed
is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
Deut. 21:23 - 23“his body shall not remain overnight on
the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you
do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving
you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of
God.
b. The indignity of being stripped naked.
c. Hanging in such a prominent place.
E. The humiliation of a crowd of people who
proclaimed to be God’s followers and God’s
people and the insults and challenges that they
hurled at Jesus Christ throughout His torture and
crucifixion.
1. satan even to the end was working through
the people.
a. “If you are the Son of God”...”If you
are whom you say you are”...”He saved
others, but He can’t save Himself”...
1.) I believe that one of Jesus’ worst
temptations and His greatest
humiliation was recorded in:
Matt. 27:40 - 40and saying, “You who destroy the temple
and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son
of God, come down from the cross.”
** THE VERY GREATEST THING THAT I AM
THANKFUL FOR...IS THAT HE DID NOT COME
DOWN FROM THE CROSS!
CONCLUSION:
Of physical things and circumstances we may have many
things to be thankful for.
A. Indeed, we should be thankful for the good things
that God has blessed us with.
1. But far beyond the things that rust, rot, and
decay, we have an eternal thanksgiving.
Let us thank the Lord, God of above and glorify His son,
Jesus Christ who has purchased our salvation as such a
terrible cost.
A. And understand...nothing compelled Him to do
this, but His love for you and me.
