Josh Benner

Tag: gospel

  • Jesus and eternal life – studying John 3:16-21

    Jesus and eternal life – studying John 3:16-21

    The result of belief 

    In John 3:16, Jesus says: 

    God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

    One of the things that this verse teaches is that belief in the son is necessary. Our society really struggles with that idea. 

    I know that 75% of Americans identify as Christians but when you talk to people about their beliefs, far too many people seem to think that Jesus is this really good guy and that most of us are pretty good too and we’re going to get the benefit of heaven because we’re good and he’s good and wants to bless us. 

    That’s not the gospel. 

    The gospel is that Jesus is good. You’re not. He died in your place. Believe in him as your Lord. 

    Eternal life is reserved for the one who believes in Jesus.

    John refers to eternal life more than any other writer in the New Testament. We saw it referenced in our passage last week when Jesus was talking about his crucifixion. 

    John 3:14-15:

    And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 

    It is through his death and resurrection that we have eternal life. 

    Couple more noteworthy examples of Jesus talking of eternal life. John 5:24: 

    Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. 

    We are spared eternal death when we turn to Jesus. 

    In John 10, Jesus talks of himself as the good shepherd and talks of eternal life when he says: 

    27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

    There he is, among other things, talking about the relationship he invites us into. 

    The eternal life which Jesus offers to all who believe in him is both a future promise but a present reality. 

    It’s not that those who believe in Jesus are eligible for eternal life or may get eternal life. 

    But the person who believes and trusts in Jesus as Lord and savior HAS eternal life. 

    And that assurance is there because it is in the work of Christ that the gift of eternal life is given. 

    It’s an eternal promise which also bears present-day results in the life of a believer. 

    That’s actually how the passage ends in verse 21. 

    whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” 

    Not sent to condemn

    Continuing to speak about the salvation which comes through Jesus. 

    Verse 17: 

    For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 

    Verse 17 is not saying that there is no condemnation ever. It’s saying that condemnation was not the purpose for Jesus coming into the world. 

    Jesus came into the world to bring salvation. And that salvation comes through his life, death, and resurrection. 

    Part of what I love about this passage is how simple it all is. 

    Some passages are difficult to understand and are enhanced by a lot of digging into historical context. Some passages are best explained when comparing them to numerous other Biblical passages. 

    These verses are simple enough to understand just through honestly reading them for what they say. 

    God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

    What do you believe in? 

    Is it that Jesus is the Son of God and through him and him alone we have eternal life? Or do you believe in something else? Is your faith in Jesus? Or is it in yourself? 

    We’ve seen the love of God. We’ve seen the result of believing in Jesus. 

    We close this passage with a warning of the consequences of unbelief in Jesus.

    The consequences of unbelief

    John 3:18:

    Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already

    We again are reminded of the catalyst for eternal life. Believing in Jesus. No matter what you do, what you say, how you live, none of that gives you standing before a Holy God. 

    It’s believing in Jesus. Whoever does not believe in Jesus is condemned because there is no other way to God. 

    Jesus did not come to bring condemnation, but you are already condemned and dead in your sins without him. 

    That’s your starting point. 

    So we can either turn to Christ and find life or we can reject Jesus and still be dead. 

    If we could earn our way to God, then God would not have needed to send his son. 

    This passage is not saying “believe what you want.” It’s not saying you’re pretty good.

    It’s saying the opposite. John 3:19-20:

    19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

    Those two verses sum up the human condition apart from Christ. It confronts us with reality. We are dead apart from Christ. 

    We either believe that or we don’t. We either believe Jesus is the way or we don’t. 

    What do you believe? Jesus is the light, the truth, the goodness, the salvation which has come into the world. And in a dark world, a world of sin and death, Jesus shines. 

    People loved darkness rather than the light. 

    This is why the world needs Jesus. Because we love our sin more than we love the righteousness of God. 

    A lot of sins make us feel good in the moment. 

    Being drunk can feel good at the moment. Looking at things you shouldn’t look at online feels good at the moment. Gossip feels good at the moment. Selfishness and doing whatever you want to do feels good at the moment. 

    A lot of sinful behaviors feel good. Don’t look at me like you don’t look at me like you have no idea what I’m talking about. 

    That’s why the world loves them. The Bible is the realest book that’s ever been written. 

    And in Hebrews 11:25, it talks about the “fleeting pleasures of sin.” 

    It’s not calling sin good. But it is saying that sin is often pleasurable. At least for a season. At least for a little while. If sin didn’t feel good, then the world wouldn’t love it so much. It wouldn’t be a problem. Nobody grudgingly sins. Nobody sins like it’s a chore that you have to do. “Ok, I guess I’ll say this really nasty thing about my coworker.” Nobody has to work at being prideful. 

    No kid had to be taught to sin. It comes naturally. 

    Eve wasn’t tempted with something she thought was bad. It was the promise of knowledge. David didn’t see Bathsheeba and think “oh what an ugly woman.” The world loves sin. 

    Some of those things might be different for different people. But make no mistake. We love sin. Again, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that that’s a good thing.It’s a horrible thing. It’s why we are condemned and separated from God. By the grace of God, there is redemption. 

    But the world hates the light of the gospel, because the light exposes sin. 

    The world is dead in sin. That’s the bad news.

    But there is good news. 

    Borrowing a quote from Kent Hughes in his commentary on John that I’ve slightly modified. 

    God. The greatest being.

    So loved. The greatest act. 

    The world. The greatest company.

    That he gave. The greatest act. 

    His only Son. The greatest gift. 

    That whoever believes. The greatest offer.

    In him. The greatest savior. 

    Shall not perish. The greatest promise.

    But have. The greatest certainty.

    Eternal life. The greatest hope.

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  • Sermon: Something New – John 20:10-18

    The risen Christ is a paradigm shift for the world. In this passage, we are pointed to the revolutionary newness of what comes with the risen Christ. In this passage, we look at the atonement, holiness and glory which were needed to approach the Lord and how all of that has been achieved through the cross. We also see a new ways to relate to Christ in light of the resurrection.

    Sermon manuscript

  • The love of God and john 3:16

    The love of God and john 3:16

     “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

    –John 3:16: 

    It’s one of the best known and most beloved verses in the Bible. Still a verse that remains a part of popular culture. 

    In the 1970s and 80s, it was a popular verse to be seen in the background of sporting events. Most notably, it was a man who traveled the country in a bright rainbow colored wig in the 1980s with a John 3:16 banner. At his height, he was traveling over 60,000 miles a year to different games. 

    More recently, football star Tim Tebow wrote John 3:16 in his eye paint for the 2009 national championship game. 

    The John 3:16 reference is found on the bottom of cups at the popular west coast restaurant chain Inn-N-Out burger, as well as at the bottom of shopping bags for the clothing retailer Forever 21. 

    With a Bible verse that’s so well-known, I think we can sometimes become tone deaf to it. 

    It’s a great verse because it tells the gospel as succinctly as any verse in the entire Bible. 

    God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

    It points us to the love of God. 

    But because of passages like this one, I think it’s easy for us as Christians to take the love of God for granted. 

    The idea of a loving God is not universal to world religions. In many religious systems, their gods are not loving, they’re not personal, they’re not perfect, and humanity basically has to do what it can to appease them. In most religions, the pressure is put on man to live up to a certain standard. 

    I’ve heard people argue that “all religions are basically the same.” 

    Have you ever heard that one? 

    I think that’s something that Americans say who have generally never studied other religions and who are basically making an arrogant assumption that all other religions have a similar worldview to Christianity. 

    Not the case.

    Because here in America, no matter if someone is a Christian or the most ardent atheist, we are influenced by Christian teachings and beliefs. It’s at the core of our nation’s founding. It influences our ethics, laws, literature. It influences our understanding of a seven day week, it influences how we see the world. 

    Because it’s so fundamental to America, it’s easy take certain Biblical teachings as self-evident assumptions. 

    It’s kind of like how when you grow up, there’s often a certain assumption in the normality of how you’re raised. It’s what you know. But you get older, and sometimes you realize that things that were always part of your life and which you always took for granted were actually not what everyone else experienced. 

    And in America, that happens with Christianity. And it happens with the idea of a loving God. 

    We hear a phrase like “God so loved the world” and are tempted to think “well…yeah.” 

    Because we think we’re pretty good. Pretty loveable. Why wouldn’t God love us?

    Why would God love you? 

    A perfect and holy God. He can have whatever he wants. He is totally self-sufficient, self-sustained. He doesn’t need any favors. He isn’t bored or lonely. 

    Why would he love you? Who’s your dream person to meet? 

    That’s a frequent ice breaker question to ask. If you could meet any person and I’ll say it can’t be a relative. And it can’t be someone from the Bible. 

    Who’s your dream person to meet? Maybe it’s a famous pastor, or an athlete, a movie star, a writer, a musician, a president. Whoever it is. Imagine you actually got to meet that person. 

    That would be a pretty big deal. Right? Just to meet them. 

    Because it’s someone famous, someone influential, someone people know, someone the world loves. You wouldn’t expect them to know you. You certainly wouldn’t expect them to love you. 

    And those are just people. 

    We have such a habit of putting our celebrities up on a pedestal. Finite, fallible, fallen people. 

    But then you compare that to the infinite and almighty God. A God who spoke the universe into being by the power of his word. The God who sustains all of creation. 

    And he knows you. 

    Little ole you. 

    He’s righteous. Meanwhile, you don’t even live up to your own standards. You don’t even live as good a life as you know you could. And you certainly don’t live up to God’s standards.

    We sin so much that become numb to it and often don’t realize it. The times where we act selfishly or manipulate someone. We have a justification for it. The times we lie. The bad things we think about others. The times we disregard God. The times where we know what we should do, and actively decide not to.  

    But that God knows you. And he loves you. 

    God created humanity and he knew would sin. He made us anyway. 

    God made a covenant with Abraham and made a promise that he knew we would not deserve. He gave it anyway. 

    God sent his son into the world. Jesus was perfect, without sin, came to spread light in a dark world, and God knew the world would kill him. He sent him anyway. 

    God knew that you would be a sinner. But God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. He forgave you anyway. 

    Through Jesus and what he did on the cross. Nothing about this passage lifts up the goodness of man. This is entirely the goodness and love of God. 

    I wanna know what love is 

    Our era has twisted the meaning of love. The culture acts as though real love is accepting whatever someone wants to do. No matter if it’s sinful. No matter if it’s harmful. We call that love. I call it apathy. 

    Love is a righteous God who would forgive people and give them heaven, and spare them hell, even though they are unrighteous and unholy. 

    Romans 5:6-8:

    6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

    God so loved the world. 

    Even though it was fallen and sinful. 

    Even though people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

    God loves the world so much that he sent his son. 

    Abraham and the son

    In the Book of Genesis, God makes a great promise to Abraham. He’s promised him land, he’s promises him descendants, God promises that he will make of him a great nation. 

    But time goes by, Abraham and Sarah grow old and in their old age, they’ve never had a child, but God makes a promise that Sarah will still have a son. 

    Genesis 17:17 tells us that Abraham fell over laughing. She was so old that it was such an absurd promise. 

    But miraculously God gives them a son. Isaac. Ironically, the word Isaac in Hebrew means “he will laugh.” 

    God gave Abraham this promised son. 

    In Genesis 22, God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.

    An unimaginable, unfathomable thing to be asked. Parents would do anything to protect their kids. You love them. You’d give up your life for their life without hesitation. 

    But God tells Abraham to sacrifice his own son. 

    Abraham trusted in the Lord. 

    He took Isaac to the top of the mountain and was prepared to sacrifice his promised son when the Lord intervened at the last moment. 

    Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide.” (Genesis 22:12-14)

    The Lord provided another sacrifice in that story. He provided a ram. 

    But that was ultimately meant to point to a greater sacrifice which the Lord provided. 

    God would not ask Abraham to go through with the sacrifice of his son.  

    But God gave up his. 

    He gave his only son. 

    No other sacrifice was worthy, no other sacrifice could bear the weight of our sins, and atone for our sins. 

    But Jesus could. God so loved the world and the only way for that world to be forgiven was through Jesus. We see more about the work of Christ as this passage continues. 

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  • Jesus, Nicodemus, and the bronze serpent. Studying John 3:9-15

    Jesus, Nicodemus, and the bronze serpent. Studying John 3:9-15

    In John 3, Jesus is approached by a pharisee named Nicodemus who is intrigued about his ministry. Jesus controls the conversation and talks to Nicodemus of being born again and born of water and the Spirit. Nicodemus is perplexed by this. 

    Verses 9-10, Nicodemus is still dumbfounded by what Jesus has said. 

    9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?

     Nicodemus is the expert. He should understand what Jesus has said. He should pick up on the Old Testament references to water and the Spirit. It is a grace to the people of God that the Lord gives believers the Spirit. 

    Jesus continues speaking in verse 11. 

    11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 

    Jesus has come to give a heavenly testimony. He has come to the world to reveal God. 

    12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 

    Jesus is the eternal God of creation who has been in heaven. He can therefore speak with authority on what is necessary for admittance into the Kingdom of Heaven. He has revealed to Nicodemus that he must be born again, born of the Spirit. Nicodemus doesn’t even understand that. So how will he understand the heavenly things of God? 

    Sovereign Citizens 

    There’s a small movement in America, perhaps some of you have heard of it: called Sovereign Citizens. Sovereign Citizens are a group of people who question the legitimacy of our government, don’t believe in paying taxes, and don’t believe that they’re accountable to our legal system. 

    I was once watching an episode of Live PD and someone had gotten pulled over. From what I remember, she didn’t have any truly serious violations but had broken a couple of traffic laws and also did not have a valid driver’s license. 

    She kept declaring that she was a sovereign citizen. 

    Kept being difficult. 

    Keeps talking about how she’s a sovereign citizen. 

    Ends up getting arrested. 

    My point with that illustration is that just because a person might say the law doesn’t apply to them doesn’t make it so. Because you still have to suffer the consequences for your actions and choices. 

    When it comes to the faith, people want to invent their own gospel. People want to believe that they’re good enough, that they can get to God on their own. People want to live Godless lives apart from Christ and assume that they will have merit or an inherent worthiness of heavenly blessings. 

    Just because we say “I’m a sovereign citizen” doesn’t make us sovereign. 

    The Lord is sovereign. 

    And Jesus speaks with heavenly authority in this passage. 

    No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

    In John 3, we see the divine command to be born again, the divine authority by which Jesus can give that command. And in the last two verses of this section, we end with a picture of the gospel. So far, this passage hasn’t really talked about the role of Jesus. 

    It is by the Spirit that we are born again but it is through the work of Christ that we are able to be born again. It is Jesus who has died so we can be redeemed. 

    Remember that Jesus is talking to an expert of the Law and the Old Testament. Jesus is going to make a statement about himself based in an Old Testament event. 

    14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 

    Jesus is making a reference to the Book of Numbers, 21st chapter. 

    In that chapter, the Israelites have been in their desert wanderings for 40 years. Most of the first generation has died off. Throughout their time in the wilderness, Israel has fallen into sin and grumbling. 

    God has brought them to the edge of the land and they continue to complain. God has sustained them for a generation and they ask why they’ve been brought into the wilderness to die. They’ve been given food but call it loathsome. They’re saying that they hate what God has given them. 

    And as a righteous and divine judgment, God brings a plague of poisonous snakes upon the people. Not just for that, but for a whole history of their rebellion and grumbling. 

    The people turn to Moses and ask Moses to intercede on their behalf. 

    Numbers 21:7: 

    And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 

    God will give Moses instructions on what he must do. 

    8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. 

    Jesus looks to this event in the Old Testament and he shows it as pointing to himself. 

    As the bronze serpent was lifted upon the the pole, Jesus also will be lifted up. 

    Five times in the Gospel of John, Jesus refers to being lifted up. It always refers to the crucifixion, where Jesus is literally lifted up on the cross. 

    Again. Keep in mind that so far in this passage, Jesus talked of a need to be born again AND of the role of the Spirit in being born again. 

    But he points to the source of eternal life being Jesus himself who is lifted up. 

    Perhaps it seems like an odd connection that the Lord is making in comparing himself to the serpent of Numbers 21. 

    Several reasons why that story is a good picture of the gospel:

    The bronze serpent and the gospel

    In a person being healed because of looking at the snake, it took what they were doing out of their hands.

    It was entirely the work of God. 

    So too we see this in the gospel. It is not based on us, or how good we are. We are totally helpless to heal ourselves from the disease of sin. It is looking to the cross, to looking at what Jesus has done, to trusting Jesus by faith that we can have salvation. 

    Second. The serpent doesn’t make sense. Why a golden snake? The world is confounded by the gospel and the message of grace, the idea that we can be freely forgiven based on what someone else has done. 

    1 Corinthians 1:18:

    the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

    The world is offended by the message of salvation by grace. 

    We want to save ourselves. We want to see how we measure up and to feel good about how good we are. 

    The gospel is that you cannot earn it. You look to what Jesus has done. 

    Third. The Israelites were grumbling and complaining and blaspheming against God, and yet God saves them. 

    Jesus came into a world where people condemned him, plotted against him, betrayed him, and killed him. 

    While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

    Fourth. Moses literally lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole. 

    And Jesus was literally lifted up on the cross. 

    Fifth. For the Israelites who were afflicted by the serpent’s bite, life was found by looking to the bronze serpent. For us today, eternal life is found by looking to Jesus. 

    We’re infected with the venom of sin. And it’s a killer. There is nothing we can do on our own to take out that poison. The only antidote is found in looking to Jesus.

    It is he who went to the cross for salvation. 

    In referring to the Numbers passage, Jesus is telling Nicodemus the gospel. It is Christ who will be lifted up for sinners. 

    And to have a heavenly hope, we must believe in what the Lord has done. We believe in Jesus and we are given the Holy Spirit to transform our lives from the inside out. 

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  • The cross of Christ shows us the cost of sin

    The cross of Christ shows us the cost of sin

    We have a sinfully low view of sin. We cannot overestimate the weight of sin when we see the cost of sin on the cross. 

    None of us lives up even to our own moral standards. Do you ever get mad and you regret it? Ever yell at someone and wish you hadn’t? Ever look at something and feel shame for it? Ever tell a lie or bend the truth and wish you could have it back? Ever manipulate people to get your own way? Ever do something where you know deep down it’s not what you should have done? Of course you have. We don’t live up to our own standards. And if we can’t do that, how on earth do we live up to the standards of a holy God? We don’t and we can’t. 

    We have nothing to go to God with on our own and say “you have to accept me. You have to love me. You have to let me into heaven.” On what grounds? 

    We sin. And it’s not just “well nobody is perfect.” But that we sin. We rebel against God. In our thoughts, in our hearts, in our actions, in our inactions. Our view of sin is so low that we think we can master it on our own. Our view of sin is so low that we think we can do enough good to outweigh our sin. 

    Then why the cross at all? Why did Jesus die? The world likes to judge God. Likes to say what he should do if he really were loving. That he’d just wipe the slate clean. That that would be love. We like to tell God what love is. Because we have a sinfully low view of sin. Because the reality is that God SHOWS US what love is. On the cross. That’s what love is. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friend (John 15:13). 

    Jesus shows us what love is when he lays down his life for you. When he endures the penalty of your sin for you. When he bears the wrath of God for you. And again that’s a message that many find offensive. That many hate. But that again shows our sinfulness when we try to judge God. We try to tell the God who made us what really would be just or holy or good. We can’t earn God but he freely gives himself. On the cross. 

    We might debate sin. Just how big of a deal it really is. Just how much it really matters. But Jesus shows us how big of a deal sin is on the cross. He shows us how imperfect we are on the cross, how sinful we are on the cross. Because he bears the weight of our sins. 

    We have a sinfully low view of sin. We cannot overestimate the weight of sin when we look at the price Jesus paid for sin. Jesus didn’t die for you because your sins weren’t that bad. He did it because of the holiness of God and our inability to live up to that. But rather than to just have us languish with no hope, he gave us hope. On the cross. 

    Jesus is God. And because he’s God, he was a worthy sacrifice for our sins. For all of eternity, Jesus is God. God came into the world. The word became flesh and dwelled among us (John 1:14). Born of a virgin at his incarnation, Jesus is fully man. And because he’s fully man, he is like us in our human nature. He lived the holy life we could not. The sinless life we could not. And he died for you. 

    Jesus goes to the cross and in going to the cross, he doesn’t simply die for us. He’s tortured for us. It’s not like our day and age where methods of execution are designed to be relatively painless. Crucifixion was designed to humiliate and maximize the torture and pain. It was designed to prolong suffering. After being flogged to within an inch of your life, a person would have to carry the top part of the cross beam, which weighed upwards of 125 pounds to the place of his or her death. Nails would have been driven through the wrists and feet. Just imagine the agony of that. And the cross beam would be hoisted up with the condemned person attached. Struggling to breathe, their body sagging down on the weight of their legs. Then pushing up somewhat to get more oxygen. And repeating this horrid cycle until a person died from asphyxiation or exposure to the elements. 

    But there we have God on earth. Dying in the most agonizing way. The most humiliating way. In a public way. But it was for the sins of the world. It was so we could be forgiven. Because as he was nailed to the cross, so was our sin.  We have a sinfully low view of sin. That that was the price to be paid for it. God on earth dying for it. But he did it willingly. Not because he had to. But because of his love for you. That’s what love is. 

    Jesus never leaves us, he never forsakes us. His disciples let him down. Three times they fell asleep in the garden. Three times Peter denies Jesus. Judas leads the party who arrests Jesus. Judas walked with the Lord for three years. And betrayed him. Jesus is brought before the Jewish ruling council. They’re not out for the truth, they’re trying to find any charges that will stick. They take his words out of context and bring him before Pilate, saying he should be crucified.  Pilate is an earthly authority, the governor. Pilate knows he can find no fault in Jesus. He sees the innocence of Jesus. Pilate symbolically tries to cleanse himself: he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” 

    In the face of intense pressure, Pilate can’t bring himself to do the right thing. He offers up an option. Pilate has a custom of annually releasing one prisoner. There is Barabbas who is a killer and an instigator of insurrection. Or they can have Jesus who is totally innocent. And they select Barabbas. The Roman guards later mock Jesus. They make a crown of thorns, they hand him a reed as a makeshift scepter, they put a robe on him. They bow down and say “Hail, king of the Jews.” But again they play into the irony. Because Jesus IS the king. He’s the king of kings. While he’s on the cross, the mocking continues. Jesus is crucified with two men who are guilty. And they too join in the mocking. The guilty mocking an innocent man. Dying people mocking the Lord. Crucified men who can’t even show humility for another man who is dying the same gruesome death. 

    The priests, scribes, and elders continue mocking Jesus, beginning in 27:42, “he saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.” 

    It’s because Jesus didn’t come down from the cross that we CAN believe in him. Because Jesus died on that cross that day. The mocking continues in 27:43 “he trusts in God, let God deliver him now, if he desires him.” Again they miss the point. God did not spare his son so that he could spare you. The followers of Jesus, the betrayer of Jesus, the ruling Jewish authorities, the ruling Roman authorities. All contributing in various ways to Jesus’ death. 

    This isn’t the isolated failing of one person. It’s not a lone wolf assassin who takes out Jesus. If that had been the case, maybe we could chalk it up to one bad egg. But in the passion narrative, it’s everyone. Everyone’s failures and sins lead to the cross. But even in spite of that, God is working it for his own glory. In spite of that, God had planned throughout all eternity to actually use that evil and wickedness for our salvation. Because even though it was sin and evil that brought Jesus to the cross, it’s because Jesus went to the cross that he was able to die to sin for all who believe in him.  

    We see the sinfulness of humanity in Christ’s passion. We can’t downplay the sinfulness of humanity when Jesus came into our world and we killed him. The righteous and holy God who made the world came into the world and we crucified him. We can’t downplay the severity of our sinfulness with that one. The most atrocious way that humanity has ever conceived of to end a person’s life, crucifixion is what is used against the righteous savior of the world. But in spite of all of that, we again see the grace of the Lord on the cross. Because Jesus bore infinite wrath for sin. 

    There is infinite grace when we turn to him. There is no sin he is unable to forgive. It’s not that he died and can forgive every sin, but he can’t forgive that one, or this one, or what you did, or what you’re struggling with. Infinite wrath because of our sin. But infinite mercy on the cross because of his grace.

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    Originally published May 1, 2018