Here we are again at the Crossroads. Christianity Explained is designed for the person who knows nothing about Jesus or his Gospel.
Papatoetoe has an estimated 2.8% of its population in Church on a Sunday. Could you or I explain to the nearly 98% non-Christians in Papatoetoe (that’s 49 out of 50 people you see in the street) the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that helped them to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and gave them reason to change what they do on a Sunday morning? This course will equip you for the task.
In study one we established that the belief that Jesus is the Son of God is one of the 3 essential foundations to being a Christian. Knowing Jesus is the Son of God is life changing;
1. Jesus’ has great authority as God’s Son. He is the supreme Master in God’s world.
2. Jesus has all authority as a teacher, over sickness, over nature, over evil spirits, over death and to forgive sins which only God can do is a claim that He is divine.
3. Jesus also has authority over you and me and will decide our eternal future. This means we need to come to a decision about him.
CS Lewis famously said;
You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.
Now we turn to the 2nd leg in our illustration, the Cross. The Cross is at the centre of the Christian faith. An understanding and belief in the power of Christ’s death on the Cross is the 2nd of the 3 foundations to being a Christian.
Let’s read from the Gospel of Mark of Jesus’s final moments at the Cross of Calvary. Mark wants to convey to you how dark this moment was.
Mark 15:22-23
And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.
Golgotha & Calvary are the same place. They both mean 'place of the skull', one in Aramaic, the other in Latin. But the word Golgotha conveys the darkness better than Calvary doesn’t it?
Have you ever been to a place that gives you the creeps? They say that Dachau where the Germans murdered the Jews in concentration camps is an eerily cold place.
All the demons in Hell were celebrating the darkest of moments in human history when we crucified the Son of God.
Mark 15:23
Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it.
Myrrh mixed with wine was widely used in many ancient cultures to produce pleasurable feelings and as an anti-inflammatory and painkiller. But Jesus refused the drugs.
Mark 15:24
And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.
A crucifixion was very shameful as well as torturous. The soldiers removed Jesus’s clothes. All four New Testament gospels record he was stripped of his clothing at the cross. John includes the detail that Jesus was stripped not only of his outer garment but also his undergarment – his chiton, or tunic. Then the soldiers gambled for his clothes in front of him, how the Devil laughed.
Mark 15:25
Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.
It was 9am in the morning when they crucified Jesus. It was too early for any but a few of his true supporters to know that he had been sentenced to death.
This was not the peaceful death scene that Jesus deserved but one of darkness and anguish.
Mark 15:26
And the inscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS.
The Romans mocked the Jews that this is what they had done to their King, their Messiah. They were effectively proclaiming that the Caesar and the gods of Rome were greater than the God of Israel.
Mark 15:27-28
With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.”
This scripture is taken from Isaiah 53:12
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53 was written more than 600 years before Christ was born and is called the forbidden chapter. The reason for this is that up until Christ came, the Jewish sages and rabbis agreed that Isaiah 53 was a prophecy about the Messiah. But once the Gospel started to spread, it began to cause problems within Judaism because of the clear resemblance to Jesus as the Messiah. So they say it is about Israel instead or jump from Isaiah 52 to Isaiah 54, skipping Isaiah 53 altogether. Read it for yourself and you be the judge of whom it is about.
Mark 15:29-32
And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.
Mockers say that they will believe if God will do this or that but they are not genuine, they are lying. God will not respond to a mocker who is essentially hostile in his unbelief and pride, but he always responds to true and humble faith. You’ll hear the mocker when you’re at your weakest, they are cowards. They mock because they think that they are safe to do so.
But God the Father turned Jesus’s weakest moment into his greatest triumph, laying the foundation stone of the Church.
The Cross became the most recognised symbol of the Christian faith. Every true Church lifts up the Cross as a message to the World. PCC does not own this building, if we did we would have the Cross up on the roof so everyone walking by could see it. Instead we have the Cross prominently up on the stage for all to see. The absence of the Cross is also an easy way to spot a false church. The so called church called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not have a Cross on their steeples. Observe carefully, it could save your soul.
I read this week of a UK study on more than 900 new churches established by 11 dioceses in the past 10 years, that none of them used the word "church plant" or "church." Instead they preferred the language of "worship" as their main descriptor for new church projects. Seven of the dioceses used "community," and only two used "congregation," according to the Reverend Dr. Will Foulger. The Church of England appears to be ashamed of the Cross of Christ. In nature, the fruit of a tree can look like an edible kind but be poisonous. So called churches without the Cross are the poisonous variety. Watch out !
Mark’s Gospel tells the story with some very important details for people to understand about the Cross
Mark 15:33-39
Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
The Crucifixion happened at Passover when there was the annual sacrifice made of lambs for the people’s sins as outlined in the law of Moses. This is why John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). But the Passover is always on a full moon, so when it says that it was dark from 12pm to 3pm, it shows that it could not have been an eclipse, that the darkness was supernatural and a supernatural act was taking place.
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Some people say that Jesus lost faith when he cried « Why have you forsaken me? ». But the cry is evidence of Jesus taking our guilt and punishment in his body on the Cross. If we reject Christ’s offering for us, then this will be our cry too.
VOLTAIRE – Famous French anti-Christian atheist last words were “…I am abandoned by God and man.” He said to his physician, Dr. Fochin: “I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months of life.” When he was told this was impossible, he said, “Then I shall die and go to hell!” His nurse said: “For all the money in Europe I wouldn’t want to see another unbeliever die! All night long he cried for forgiveness.”
Jesus suffered for the sins of you and I so we would not have to suffer in the same way as Voltaire did when we die.
Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, “Look, He is calling for Elijah!” Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.” And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”
The Centurion was in awe of all he witnessed that day, the supernatural darkness, the way Jesus died was not like any man he had executed before. A centurion is known for his bravery, for his readiness for battle, but this day shook him. He said in awe and fear « Truly this Man was the Son of God !»
Meanwhile, at the same time inside the city walls, the temple curtain was torn in two. This was also a supernatural event.
The temple had very tight regulations about who could enter;
1. The Gentiles were not allowed into the temple, they could only go as far as the outside court of the Gentiles
2. Israelite women could go inside the temple as far as the Court of the Women
3. Israelite men could go up the steps and into the Court of the Israelites.
4. Priests could go further into the Court of the Priest and up some more steps into the Holy Place
5. Then once per year, the High Priest with a rope and bell attached went beyond the curtain into the Holy of Holies to make a sacrifice. Only he was allowed to do it. The rope and bell had to be attached because the place was so filled with God’s presence that if he was unclean and died there, they could pull him out with the rope.
But when Jesus died on the Cross, at that moment the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom.
Who else but the High Priest would have have dared to tear the curtain. But the curtain was very thick so it wasn’t humanly possible. Only God could have done torn the curtain and that was proven by the fact it was torn from the top down.
This is very significant, because it shows that Jesus death on the
Cross was acceptable to God once and for all and no other High Priest would ever have to make an annual sacrifice ever again.
Since that moment nearly 2000 years ago the Holy of Holies is open to all believers who can enter into God’s presence because of the sacrifice Jesus made which is eternally acceptable to God.
That is why the Bible says about every believer in Christ;
1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Through Jesus death on the Cross, the Good News is that God and people are restored to friendship.
Every person born is a captive to their sin, to this World and to the Devil. The Devil is the Strongman who has us captive. We cannot escape his grasp. We cannot free ourselves from sin and the darkness of our coming death in our own strength. Jesus said;
Mark 8:36-37
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Jesus has paid the ransom for your soul when he died on the Cross. But you have to want to go free! Stockholm syndrome is a theory that tries to explain why hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors and don’t try to escape even when they have the chance. But Stockholm syndrome is a delusion, the Devil hates you in truth, but Jesus loves you, that’s why he died on the Cross for you. He paid the ransom for you with his life.
Many people have developed a bond with their captor, the Devil. But Jesus will set you free if you want him to! However, if you do not accept what Jesus has done for you, you are effectively saying to God, « I don’t want anyone to bear my sins - I’ll bear them myself » And so that person remains captive to the Devil and will bear their own sins on Judgement Day.
You may be at a Crossroads today. You might think that what you’ve done, God can never forgive you for. Jesus’s death on the Cross is very Good News for you. Think about it. Since Jesus is the Son of God and paid the price for your sins, then who can ever question God on that ever again. He has paid the price himself. But the Cross is only Good News if you will accept His offer of the forgiveness of your sins and follow Him. If you continue on your own way, you will find eventually that way is Death.
After the belief that Jesus is the Son of God, the acceptance of Jesus’s death on the Cross as payment for your sins is the 2nd leg on the stool of the 3 legged stool.
