Yesterday’s sermon at church was inspiring and I asked permission to share it with you.
“Often you hear me refer to Charles Spurgeon, Matthew Henry, Billy Graham. While my natural desire in preaching is to write down some notes and comment as I feel led, that is not what I am going to do this Sunday. I would instead I like to use the style of Spurgeon, Henry, and Graham and read to you the sermon that was laid on my heart. This is a step out of my comfort zone, as reading out loud is not my strong suit, nor is staying on a single thought. Therefore, this is all the more reason to write out the sermon, to put in succinct order the thoughts on a subject that is vital to our faith.
Of course, the topic of today’s sermon is the Cross and the Resurrection. The very center of our Christian faith. How can one claim to be a Christian without the Cross and the Resurrection, of forgiveness without the hope of being forgiven? For just as 1 Peter 1:21 states:
21…who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him the glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
The Resurrection gives us faith and hope in God. Yet without the Cross we have no payment for our sins. As Deuteronomy 21:23 says of a man deserving of death:
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.
Paul goes on to explain in Gal. 3:13 that Christ (Jesus) became a curse for us.
13 Christ 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’)
Christ was not deserving of death, but we, as sinners, are. Christ paid for our sins by the Cross, taking on our curse that we may have eternal life.
Ponder with me the Cross that Christ bore for you and me. What is the Cross? This wooden structure, placed just out of town, a symbol of Roman authority. The execution means of which only the vilest of men would die on. I wonder, was the Cross really was symbol of Roman authority or if the Cross should be taken as a symbol of justice? In the sense where someone, who has committed such an act deserving of death, would pay for their actions. It could be debated, that the man who premeditatedly murdered a fellow person may deserve a death sentence or life imprisonment. We would call this punishment: justice. While the punishment would not bring back the victim, there would be some sort of closure or payment for the crime. A sense of justice would prevail and those victims of the crime would say that the prosecuted “received what was due to them.”
Now with this mindset we look to the Cross. A place where the crimes committed against God were paid for and justice was made. For as the word says of the believer in Romans 3.
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Christ was the only one who did not have sin so he was the only one who could be the perfect sacrifice as stated in Hebrews 9.
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Christ’s perfect sacrifice is the only way to have a pure conscience, for the old covenant would only cover sins, but not pay for them. The sinner still was a sinner, but with a covering of a type of payment, that being the blood of goats and lambs. Make no mistake, there is a difference between the covering of a temporary sacrifice and a full payment of an eternal debt.
If my child fell on hard times and was not able to pay their house payment, I might be able to cover a payment or two, but this would be a far stretch of paying the debt off in full. The bank would come knocking, expecting a full payment when the covering ran out. The Old Testament law was such a covering. The sin offering was a payment to cover the debt, but not paid-in-full, the required amount to be paid. As the author of Hebrews states about the sin sacrifice, it was to be made once a year for the unintentional sins of the congregation. This was just a covering for the year. Not the payment in full. For this reason the Cross of Christ must be at the center of the our Christian faith. There had to be a payment of blood,
14 For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life.
And let us not forget that 23 … the wages of sin is death
Therefore, because the wages of sin is life blood, only the shedding of innocent blood would replace that of the corrupted sinner. And so, we see Christ the “just sin sacrifice” and the “justifier of our faith.”
As we ponder the Cross and the Redemption made for you and me, let us ask the question “Why the Cross?” Could not Christ have died by stoning or other means? The answer is: no. The offering for sin was to be bound and the blood to be poured out unto an altar. Just as we see in the picture God gave us with the offering of Isaac.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Just as Isaac was bound at the alter so was our Savior bound to the Cross, a form of an altar according to Hebrews 13. The sin offering bound to the alter, just as our sins bind us unto death. There could be no other means of death for Christ, because the blood had to be poured out on an altar. Christ did this while laying bleeding as he was secured to the Cross and even moreover as the blood and water flowed from the spear entering his side. Thus, fulfilling the prophecy written in Isa 53:5 :
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.
Furthermore, Jesus had to die on a Cross, because it was foretold this would be the manner of death which he would die.
Psalms 22:16 ‘For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—‘
And also Zech 12:10
10 ‘And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.‘
To the Christian, the Cross is a symbol of mercy and the love of Jesus Christ. A symbol of where the debt was paid that we could not pay. As Hebrews says:
14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
The Old Testament sin covering replaced by the New Testament payment. For on the altar of the Cross Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, poured his mercy and love out for the wretched sinner. Giving access to you and me into the Most Holy Place.
We have talked about the altar of the Cross, but lets now look to the hope in the empty tomb. As previously stated, the Cross brings the means for payment of sin and the Resurrection brings faith and hope to those justified by the Cross. As Paul writes:
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep
Christ’s resurrection brings us hope that we will be with him. For in the Resurrection Jesus proves his deity. Just as Hosea prophesied.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
The Resurrection of Jesus paves the way that we may have the hope of eternal life with him. For if there was no Resurrection, there would be no evidence of his deity. Thus, Jesus’ teaching would be likened to other “prophets”, who passed away. Jesus is not a prophet, but the Christ. His resurrection proves his deity, just as Jesus says about his own ability to raise himself up, is the confirmation that he is Christ. John 10:17
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
If Jesus has the authority to raise himself up from the dead how much more does he have to raise us up, his creation? Christ’s ability to raise himself up should bring the Christian hope for the eternal life promised by our Lord which comes through the altar of the Cross.
Christ’s resurrection brings the hope of being a new creation. The acceptance of the payment given at the cross gives birth to a new creation that is brought to full fruition upon earthly death, in which we will be raised as a finished creation of Christ. As Paul writes in Colossians:
3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your[a] life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
The Cross of Christ and his resurrection should bring the Christian to a place where we seek those things which are above. Because our sin was paid for we have assurance of that payment by the Resurrection. For as the writer of Hebrews says:
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
This curtain being talked about is the curtain that separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. It is the veil that was ripped when Jesus died. This is why the Cross and Resurrection is so pivotal to our Christian faith. For by the Cross we gained access to the presence of God through our Lord, The Perfect Sacrifice. We have the hope of eternal life in seeing our Lord raised from the dead. We have the hope of being made new, of not only finding our hearts of stone being replaced with hearts of flesh, but the sinful man dead and the soul alive with Christ.
Therefore, oh man of God, rise up! Walk in the newness of the Resurrection of Christ. Put off the old man and be made new. Let the garment of salvation envelope you as it is bought at the most costly price but given more freely than any gift has ever or will ever be given. Isa 61:10 :
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.“
Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank You for Your Word which gives us such clear insight into Your death on the Cross and Your burial and the Resurrection! Lord, if it be that any who may have yet to know You feel these words are the key to opening a relationship with You, please encourage them to seek to be cleansed by Your payment for their sins and to find hope and faith in Your resurrection. Lord Jesus, please reach those who have yet to know You with this truth and let the world be made aware of the truth of Your salvation through the blood You shed upon the Cross and the joy of assurance that there is eternity to look forward to, for those who would believe on Your name and accept the gift of salvation. Thank You, Jesus! Amen.
patientlyhopeful 
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