Christ’s Suffering – What and Why

Good afternoon, brethren. To show you that the people who create our smartphones don’t yet keep the Holy Days, I received a voice-dictated text from my wife yesterday about the “nice-to-be-much observed” in the “days of unloving bread.” I told her it’s not that bad bread. I actually like it.

If you’re like me, brethren, you were surprised to learn that Genesis one was not the earliest Scripture in the Bible. The earliest scripture in terms of chronological time in God’s plan. You were probably surprised just like I was to find that that was in the book of John, of all places, and that’s where we’re going to start today. John chapter one. As we set up this message, John one.

Here we see something. We see a time long before the time laid out in Genesis. John one, one. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” The Word, of course, became Jesus Christ but, “...the Word was with God and the Word was God.” They’re a family. Elohim, the Godhead. “The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life.”

Just focus on the beginning of verse four there. “In Him was life.” You had these two beings who always existed of supreme intelligence, supreme capacity. They could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted to, always in complete harmony, complete agreement, completely fulfilled, had need of nothing. In Him was life. Eternal life. Superabundant life.

Yet, as we saw last night, the Word was willing to give that up. Why would He give it all up? Why? Amazing. It could go from the pinnacle of life to taking on the likeness of a man and dying. John chapter fifteen. Still in John here. In Him was life. The ultimate life.

And that same being, that Word, who speaks to us throughout the Bible, said in John fifteen, thirteen. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” As we heard last night, we’re His friends. Ultimately, He wants everyone to be His friend. He wants all people. The Father and Christ want all people to come to a knowledge of the truth and pursue what we’re pursuing.

But He said greater love has no man than this, than that he lay down his life for his friends, and He indeed laid it down. He gave up that amazing existence. Love there is agape. Love, affection, benevolence. He gave it all up. An amazing gesture. Gesture doesn’t begin to do it justice, but an amazing act of love. It is the New Testament Passover today.

It’s still the fourteenth, and we are going to talk about what Christ endured and arguably even more importantly, why He endured it. What He endured and why he endured it. Now, this is a massive subject and no one sermon could do it justice. But this is the day where it’s fitting to consider what Christ did for us, just as we did last night. So that’s how we’re going to use our time this afternoon. And for those who hear this in the field scheduled for after the holidays, this is a subject that’s at the very core of Christianity and fitting to consider at any time.

So it’s not as though it can only, of course, be talked about on Abib fourteen. Because what Christ did for us is really the portal into all things that we’re pursuing as Christians. It makes possible all that we’re pursuing as Christians. And we’ll get into that. But if I do my job today, a very simple goal here, if I do my job, you’ll walk away... we’ll walk away with two very easy to review lists, two lists, long lists.

The first is what Christ endured. We’ll go through a long shotgun pattern style list, just bing, bing, bing, bing, bing of what Christ endured. And then we’ll spend more time on why He endured those things, why He endured them all. Two lists. Now, these aren’t how-to lists or anything like that. They’re just designed to magnify what was done for us. To elevate our minds. To inspire us. To make us realize what these beings did for us. To elevate our thinking.

To leaven our minds with what God wants us to pursue, if I can use that term during these days. Fill our minds with gratitude, with an understanding of what they were willing to do on our behalf. So first list here, around this time, our time, Christ would still be on the stake. He wouldn’t yet have been taken down prior to the night to be much observed so that He could stay in the grave for three days and three nights as was prophesied. This is the day to consider these things, brethren.

And it would behoove us to do so. So what I recommend doing for the first list of what he endure is just maybe write down a couple of words and I’ll give a verse reference. You’re welcome to turn to these, but I’m going to move through this section relatively fast. And again, I hope that just afterward we can take our notes and we can scan a page, and just see all that this being was willing to go through on our behalf.

We’ll do more turning in the latter list, and we’ll of course write those down too. But these are more designed to make us realize in a concentrated form all that he went through. And we heard a lot about it last night, but when you really break down every single item, not that I can get to every single item, it’s overwhelming. First thing, rejection and loneliness.

Rejection and loneliness. And if you want to write down a verse for that, Isaiah fifty-three, three. We were in Isaiah last night, but says, “He is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He enjoyed that time with the Father for eternity, yet He came here to be rejected and lonely.

Second point on the list, betrayal. He had it all, but he was willing to come among individuals, teach them. He had men who He was close to, who He travel from city to city with, who He placed great confidence in. Spent a great deal of time teaching, yet there was a betrayer amongst them. Could write down Mark fourteen, ten. “And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priest to betray him unto them.” Now here was God come down to earth and thirty pieces of silver was more enticing than learning from this great being. Betrayed by a friend. Temptation. It wasn’t just the temptation to give up at the end.

We know Christ was in all points tempted yet without sin. And it wasn’t as though, “Oh, if I sin, I can repent and move on.” He lived every day of His life knowing that if He sinned in one small way, it would be game over for you and I. He would no longer be that perfect savior who could be offered for all of our sins collectively. Hebrews four, fifteen is what you may want to write down beside that one.

How about false accusations? Again, we’re sprinting through this first section. False accusations. Mark fourteen, fifty-six, “Many bore false witness against him, but their witnesses agreed not together.” They couldn’t get their stories straight because they were liars. Gave all that up for this. Mockery. Matthew twenty-seven, twenty-nine. “And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and mocked him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews.”

Can you imagine being as powerful as Christ who could summon legions of angels and subjecting yourself to that willingly. Didn’t lose His temper, allowed it to happen for God’s greater purpose. Allowed it to happen for us. Mocked. We just saw it. Put a crown of thorns on his head, very vascular in the scalp. Tremendous pain, crucifixion, suffering for sins He didn’t commit.

Could write down First Peter two, twenty-two to twenty-four for that, “Who did no sin? Neither was guile found in his mouth. When he reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not but committed himself to him that judges righteously who his own self, bear our sins and his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed.”

How about hunger? Know those forty days in the wilderness in Matthew four, so that he could have the spiritual strength to resist the devil. Never had to go without as a God being, yet he chose to come down in hunger, in extreme trial. What about thirst? Same forty days, but also imagine going through the beatings, the scourgings, that crown of thorns, all that we heard about last night.

How thirsty you’d be at the end of that ordeal? And what does it say? And you could write down John nineteen, twenty-eight. Here, Jesus said, “I thirst.” And what was shoved in his face? Vinegar. If you’re thirsty, if you’re in need of hydration, vinegar is the last thing you want on your lips. Weariness. John four, six. He’d go from village to village teaching constantly thronged by the masses.

This is just one example. “Jesus therefore,” John four, six “...being wearied in his journey sat thus on the well.” And then the lady came and He talked to them, but he was a human. He tired out just like we did, yet he worked endlessly on our behalf. Homelessness. Matthew eight, twenty says, “The son of man has not where to lay his head.” Matthew eight, twenty. Homelessness. Foxes have holes, it says in Luke, but the Son of man doesn’t have a home. Summarizing there.

Grief. It said over there in Isaiah fifty-three as well, he was well acquainted, he was acquainted with grief. Pain. He was wounded for our transgressions.

Isaiah twenty-three, again, pain. Mob mentality injustice. Mob mentality injustice. Matthew twenty-seven, twenty, “The chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude.” They whipped up the crowd to attack this being who did nothing wrong. Hatred. John fifteen twenty-five, you can write down “They hated me without cause.” No reason.

Again, why on earth would a God being leave his position of supreme elevation to come down here and endure this at the hands of his creation?

Really an extraordinary statement about his mind, and we’ll get to that. He endured the envy of religious leaders who felt threatened. Matthew twenty-seven, eighteen, envy, “For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.” They saw Christ as stepping on their turf. They didn’t see him as the path to salvation. They saw him as an obstacle to power.

Conspiracy. You know, conspiracy theories abound today. Well, the ultimate conspiracy, excuse me, was when in Matthew twenty-six, three and four. Conspiracy. Matthew twenty-six, three and four, the chief priests conspired, “...they consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety.” They cooked up a plan, just like people cook up plans today. But this was a plan to kill a God being.

Denial by Peter, sleeplessness, sweating blood. Sweating blood. Luke twenty-two, forty-four, “…his sweat was as it were great drops of blood.” What agony. How anguished must he have felt knowing, “If I don’t do this perfectly, everyone who’s ever lived and those who will ever live,” including us in this room, “won’t have a chance at eternal life.”

What a tremendous weight of responsibility. What prayers he must have prayed there in the garden that caused perspiration that looked like great drops of blood? Astonishing. Exceeding sorrow. Matthew twenty-six, thirty-eight, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death…”

Capture. John eighteen twelve, the band took Jesus and they tied him. They bound him. He was spit on. Matthew twenty-six, sixty-seven. They spit not just on him, but in his face. One of the greatest insults, just spit in someone’s face. He was blindfolded. Luke twenty-two, sixty-four, “...they blindfolded him.”

He was slapped. Matthew twenty-six, sixty-seven, “...others smote him with the palms of their hands,” just across the face. Beaten. Luke twenty-two, sixty-three, “And the men held that Jesus mocked him and smote him.” He was stripped. Matthew twenty-seven, twenty-eight, “And they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe.” Next verse, twenty-nine, he was mocked once again. False accusation. We saw He suffered a rigged trial. Matthew twenty-six, fifty-nine. Sought all these false witnesses. The chief priests and elders sought out false witnesses. He had to carry the very stake that He was crucified on.

John nineteen, seven. And it became too much with all of the physical beating He had endured, so He collapsed under its weight. Someone else had to carry it for Him, Matthew twenty-seven, thirty-two there. Crucifixion was a low way of dying, reserved for criminals and people on the fringes of society. He had to bear that shame. It says in Hebrews twelve, two, “...He endured the cross, despising the shame...” Insults from the criminals, at least one of the criminals beside Him.

Who would lower themselves to go through this? Why? Incredible. Mocked by the soldiers who pierced Him. Deserted by His disciples. Matthew twenty-six, fifty-six, “...then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.” His closest friends, those He’d spent years with, some of whom He’d grown up with. In His hour of need, they just fled. He was constantly misunderstood, over and over again.

People couldn’t understand what He was saying. Some of that had to do with the veil that was on their eyes, but they just couldn’t comprehend what He was talking about, or they just flat didn’t believe God. Constantly lies were told about Him, Mark fourteen, fifty-six. Lies were told about him. Many bore false witness against Him.

Also Matthew twenty-six, sixty there. He had to bear the weight of humanity’s sin.

Isaiah fifty-three, six, “...the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” When we sin, we don’t feel particularly good. We repent. We ask God for forgiveness. We try to move past that feeling of guilt. Imagine bearing everybody’s sin for eternity. What it must have felt like. Feeling forsaken by the other being in the Godhead. Matthew twenty-seven, forty-six. On the stake, He cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

If this list seems long, it’s long by design and God gives it to us by design.

And there’s really no way to go through each of these points other than in shotgun fashion in one message. And again, this is the day to do it. So it’s a little unorthodox to just go point by point by point as fast as we can. But in this first list, it’s the only way to get through these. There’s so many, so many of them, so many horrible things he endured. No one took pity. Psalm sixty-nine, twenty. “I looked for some to take pity, but there was not.” He was treated as a criminal.

Mark fifteen, twenty-seven, “And with Him, they crucify two thieves.” Counted among the transgressors. He was accused of blasphemy. Matthew twenty-six, sixty-five. “He’s spoken blasphemy,” They said extreme anguish in agony. It says in Luke twenty-two, forty-four, “In agony, he prayed more earnestly.” John twenty, twenty-five, He had to be nailed to the stake. Nails driven through his hands. “Except, I shall see in his hands,” Thomas said, “the print of the nails,” in John twenty, twenty-five, showing us that he was indeed nailed to the stake.

Suffocation on the cross. Because if you really understand that instrument of torture, you can’t breathe based on the way your feet are pinned up and the pressure on your rib cage. Watching loved ones grieve. I’d never really thought of this before, but John nineteen, twenty-five, watching loved ones grieve, says, “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother...”

Imagine looking down and seeing your mother’s face while you’re up on the stake. That would dramatically intensify the pain and pressure of what you’re undergoing. Seeing others suffering. No one takes pity. We saw earlier. I actually didn’t explore the context of that enough. I’m sure people took pity, but it was allowed to happen.

It was allowed to happen. It was a horrible day that we’re commemorating today. It was a horrible day. The most horrible day in history, but at the same time, the most wonderful day in history. Constantly unbelieved, disbelieved, hated by His own people, mocked, “Oh, the king of the Jews.” Tested constantly, scourged brutally John nineteen, one, “Pilate had him scourged, even though he didn’t have fault with Him.” Just watched, gazed at by those who killed him.

Matthew twenty-seven, thirty-six, “And sitting down, they watched him there.” Verbal abuse, gossip throughout his life, treated as cursed because cursed is a man who hangs on a tree. It says, I think, in Galatians. Mocked for trusting God. Scorned by spectators, on and on and on. You can find many more on your own. We’re transitioning away from this first list.

His body was broken. He experienced great heartache. You can write down Matthew twenty-six, thirty-eight for that one. “My soul is exceeding sorrowful,” He said. Stabbed with a spear, of course. Took on not only our sins, but also our sorrows. Finally, He gave up the ghost. He gave up His Spirit. He died. He gave up that life that we started talking about.

He was obedient unto death. It says in Philippians. That’s kind of the shotgun effect with verses, but if you don’t include the verses, it’s even more impactful in my mind. This is a man who endured rejection and loneliness, betrayal, temptation, false accusations, mockery, a crown of thorns, crucifixion, abandonment, suffering for sin he didn’t commit, hunger, thirst, weariness, homelessness, grief, pain, mob mentality and injustice, hatred, envy of religious leaders, conspiracy, denial by Peter, sleeplessness, sweating blood, exceeding sorrow, capture, spitting, blindfolding, slapping, beating, being stripped, mocked, false accusation, rigged trials, carrying his cross, falling under the weight of it, public shame, insults from criminals, mocked by soldiers, desertion by disciples, fear of seeing others like his mother... or not necessarily fear, but the anguish Watching those close to Him watch what He was going through.

Being misunderstood, enduring lies, false witnesses, the weight of humanity sin, feeling forsaken. Being treated as a criminal, being accused of blasphemy, condemned though He were innocent. He willingly went through all this, extreme anguish, nails driven through His hands, suffocation on the cross, watching loved ones grieve. It’s a duplicate there. Unbelief of people, hatred from His own nation, being mocked as the king. Even though we know that’s His rightful ultimate role.

Tested by Pharisees, disbelief by even family, says, in certain places. Brutal scourging. Given vinegar to drink. Prolonged agony. Death ultimately. Religious hypocrisy. Verbal abuse, gossip, being treated as cursed, mocked for trusting God, scorned by spectators watching His death as though it were sport. Dying among thieves, heartache, absence from the Father. And on and on and on. You could flesh out the list.

That’s list one. And I hope it’s overwhelming to see it all in a list. It was for me and that’s the only way to get through all of that. If we were turning to each verse, normally we do that, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the sheer weight of what He endured. We’ll turn in this second list. And in this second list we’ll ask, “Why did He do this?” That’s list one, this is list two. Why did He do this?

Now, we understand that the wine and the bread that we took last night, we understand that Christ instituted the New Testament with that cup, that we entered a new covenant, a new agreement made possible by what He did, made possible by that blood. Every one of us signed a contract at baptism, and that’s yet in a very broad sense, but there are so many specifics within that with respect to why Christ did what He did. Hebrews twelve, one. Let’s turn there.

Hebrews twelve, one. “Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let’s lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that’s set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him...” And what we went through last night was hard, but at the same time it has an element of joy that can’t be experienced at any other time of year. “...who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of God.”

He had great joy awaiting him. Joy that was so great, He was willing to go through all those terrible things we itemized. There was a joy before Him. What was that joy? What was that joy that made it all worth it? That made years of fighting sin culminating in the most horrible day in history. What made it all worth it? We’re going to get very granular in this list, and like the first one it can’t be completely exhaustive, but we’re going to do our best in the time that remains, because this is the day to do it. I’d invite, again, it helped me maybe make a list for review. First point on this list, He endured all of that, everything we just went through, to demonstrate the Father’s love for us. That’s the first point. He endured it all to demonstrate the father’s love for us. Turn to John three. John three. He endured all that to demonstrate the Father’s love for us.

John three in verse fourteen, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world,” the Father so loved the world. This is a scripture that is used probably more than any other in mainstream Christianity, and it can be easy to say, “Oh, everybody talks about John three, sixteen,” but it’s an amazing verse. “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Christ, everything he went through is a demonstration of the father’s love toward us. Romans chapter five. Romans five. This is the joy. This is the joy that was set before Christ. All that ultimately comes of it for you and I, He did it for us. If we can just put it simply, He did it for us. Romans chapter five verse six. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly,” for every one of us. “...For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet per adventure, for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Now, commends is an interesting word. It means introduced or exhibited. What Christ went through was an introduction or an exhibit of the love that God has for us, the love that the Father has for us. Of course, we saw that Christ said that no greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his friends. Christ willingly laid down His life, but at the forefront of our mind should also be the Father was willing to part with His Son for us. The Father was willing to watch all that occur for us.

God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ went through all that we just read point two to render us innocent. To render us innocent. Now, a lot of these are obvious themes of Christianity, but if we look at them all together, they really paint a picture. He went through it all to render us innocent.

We’re still here in Romans verse nine now, “Much more then being now justified,” meaning render just or innocent, “...by His blood,” by that blood that was shed with that extraordinary trial leading up to Him giving up the Ghost, “Much more then now being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” We have his example. We have the Holy Spirit that was sent after He died. We have forgiveness when we do mess up, saved by His life, and not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus, Jesus Christ whom you have now received by whom we have now received the atonement.

So, Christ had a joy He was looking forward to, but we share in that joy because we can go on. He didn’t die in vain. We’re transformed. We’re living new lives. We’re living in a way where we can ultimately join those two beings who decided to expand their family. It’s a collective joy that extends beyond just Christ, who, for the joy that was laid before Him, endured all that He did.

We share in that joy, it says in Romans five, eleven. Now, this is very much related, but to reconcile us to God, point three. Christ endured all those things to reconcile us to God. Second Corinthians five. Had the blood of the Passover lamb not been put on the doorposts in ancient Egypt when the Israelites were fleeing, firstborn in those houses would have died. Could argue Israel would never have escaped.

Well, the lamb that was slain for each house there was, of course, a type of the ultimate lamb of God whose blood would make possible our escape from this world, typed by Egypt. We’re going into a very special night, or if we’re hearing this in the field, we’re coming out of very special days full of lessons that we’ve got to take with us beyond these days.

Second Corinthians five and verse fourteen, “For the love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we’re all dead.” He died for us all, but we’ve all been dead in sin, and that He died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again.” He died for a great purpose.

He went through those things for a great purpose, and that should transform us, Paul is saying. We should see what He did and recognize it was not in vain. There’s great reward if we live this way. “...Wherefore henceforth, know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth, we know Him no more. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new,” only possible with all He endured. “...And all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” Meaning exchange or restoration to favor.

Oh, we lived lives that didn’t garner favor with God, and that disfavor would still exist were we not able to receive repentance. Were we not able to receive forgiveness. Were we not able to receive reconciliation. We’re reconciled to God by what Christ went through. Another similar one here, but put in a different way, we’re redeemed from the penalty of the law. Redeemed from the penalty of the law. The world likes to talk about how we’re freed from the law. You know, we no longer have to keep the law. We no longer have to keep the holy days. We don’t have to assemble on the Sabbath. We can eat whatever kinds of foods we want to eat. Not under the law anymore. No, we’re not under the penalty of the law anymore because of what Christ went through. Galatians chapter three.

That first list is hard to think about, but without it, this second list would not be possible. Galatians three, ten, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” In other words, you break one small element, you’ve broken it all. Christ understood that. He knew he couldn’t sin even in one tiny element because then He’d be cursed, and we’d have no savior.

“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” We’ve all sinned. Faith is a different subject but intricately related. “And the law is not of faith: but, The man that does them shall live in them.” We still keep the law to the best of our ability. And when we fall short, we have provisions for that because of what Christ endured.

Verse thirteen, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law...” Not to say the law itself is cursed, but from the penalty of the law. “The wages of sin is death,” Paul said somewhere else, Romans, I think. “...being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree.” He was cursed in our stead. He took on the death penalty in our stead. He went through all those things so we don’t have to. He laid down His life for His friends instead of His friends. Otherwise, we’d all, you know, live our three score and ten and that would be it.

Colossians chapter two. Colossians two. “Beware,” Paul warned. Colossians two, verse eight. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power. In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead.”

So, if He didn’t die and wasn’t resurrected, neither could we die spiritually, in terms of the old man, and come up that new creature we just read about. He had to die in order to be resurrected to a new life, to pave the way for our resurrection to a new life. “...buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead...” what an operation. I mean, just sometimes if we pause and just look at these words, the faith of the operation of God. God is just able to raise people from the dead.

We can take it for granted, but I mean, what kind of capacity do these beings have? What kind of capacity are we going to be tapped into? “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,” who some of us can get hung up, “Oh my... You know, this sin is just too great. God can’t forgive it. I mean, I’m an exception to the rule.” If I can alleviate your mind on that, that is... I’m not attacking you, but that is vanity because here you have a God being who is willing to die collectively for all mankind sins, past, present, and future. And we’re going to say, “Well, mine is just too big.” Yes.

Should we take sin seriously? Absolutely. But should we think, ever think that what we’ve done is just so far beyond the pale that God could never forgive us? That, in and of itself, is evidence of the fact that we haven’t committed the unpardonable sin. If we’re callous to it and we just don’t care and we keep on with it, that’s when it’s dangerous. But it’s constantly, “Oh, I can’t be forgiven for this or that.” Oh, no, He’s forgiven all trespasses. It says in verse thirteen.

Verse fourteen, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,” you know, all the infractions that we made that were recorded, “and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” He was victorious to that last dying breath. He never slipped. He was that perfect sacrifice that is the portal to everything it is that we’re seeking, which brings us to the next point here. He went through all of that, through all He endured, to bring us to eternal life. John chapter ten. It was necessary to bring us to eternal life. John ten.

John ten, and verse nine. “I’m the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I’m the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.” Now, we often think of having abundant life in the context of we live a rich life in this world with the truth, with the knowledge of why we exist, with the knowledge of God’s plan for mankind. We keep the law and therefore have certain blessings. We’re in contact with God and therefore have certain blessings.

We live an abundant life as it is, but the ultimate abundant life that Christ came to give us was that life that He enjoyed, that life prior to divesting Himself of all that power and coming down here. Eternal life. Abundantly there means in the sense of be... From a word that that means in the sense of beyond, super abundant in quantity or superior in quality. By implication, excessive, preeminent. He came so that we could have super-abundant life.

Wow. That must have really motivated, that must have been a big part of the joy that was set before Him. A big part of the reason He was willing to endure what He did, endure those hundred-some-odd things we went through at the beginning of the message. He wants each of us to have abundant life. And of course, the Bible is filled with a look at eternal... looks at eternal life. We’ll just turn to that one on this particular element here in the list.

Next, He endured what He did to defeat sin, death, and the devil. He endured what He did to defeat sin, death, and the devil. All very intricately intertwined, those three. Hebrews, chapter two. Hebrews two. Hebrews two, ten, “For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” That was God’s operation. That was His method for perfecting Christ. He made Him perfect through, we could add, chronic suffering.

“For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto you. And again, I will put my trust in Him. And again, Behold I and the children which God has given me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers,” verse fourteen, “of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.” He had to come and experience this mortal existence that we all experience, and thankfully He experienced it in ways that none of us will ever have to experience it on our behalf.

“...that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death,” that is, the devil. Had He not done what He did, that wouldn’t be possible. “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.” These extremely powerful beings, He didn’t become like one of them. He didn’t lower himself, you know, from a Ferrari to a Corvette. That’s a poor analogy, but He really lowered Himself to the point where He was like a human. You know how it is to be human, Brethren, where we all know what it’s like, but He lowered himself in the most extraordinary way, taking on the seed of Abraham.

“Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God.” He wanted to know what it’s like to be able to relate to us. Wow. He went through all of that so He could relate to us. You know the old saying, “Walk a mile in my shoes”? He went through that. He walked... He wanted to walk a mile in our shoes so that he could relate to us, and was willing to walk that mile, was willing to go through all of that “...to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is also able to succor them that are tempted.”

John one. He came to defeat sin, death, and the devil. There are loved ones that we know, we heard about one in the announcements who was very special to many of us. He counseled me for invite to this Church. And without what Christ did, we wouldn’t be able to see those individuals again, but because of what He did, we have great hope, and they have it made. They have the best future possible. They have it better than we do at this point. They have it made. Christ defeated sin, death, and the devil.

John one, twenty-nine. “Behold the lamb of God,” John said, “which takes away the sin of the world.” Turned here because takes away is a fascinating word, in my mind or in my opinion. Take away means to lift, anchor, and sail away. What a mental picture. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It’s just like He lifted the anchor, and the boat just sailed off into the distance. You’ve seen a boat go out to harbor where it just gets smaller and smaller, and then pretty soon it disappears. That’s the goal. He takes away the sin of the world.

Next point here. I think it’s seven on my list. Christ endured all He did to make a way to the Father. Lot of overlap here naturally. He endured all that He did to make a way to the Father. John chapter fourteen. John fourteen, one, “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

“And if I go,” meaning if I die, “and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to Him, Lord, we know not whither you go; and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man can come unto the Father, but by me.” And it involved going. It is a gentle way of putting it, if I go. It involved His sacrifice.

First Peter three. First Peter three, eighteen, “For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” That was his goal. He knew we couldn’t be reconciled to the Father. He knew we couldn’t have a relationship with the Father unless He brought us to God through what He endured and the sacrifice that He made. “...being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”

Hebrews chapter ten. We wouldn’t have access to the Father if Christ didn’t do what He did. We wouldn’t have that relationship. Hebrews ten, nineteen, “Having therefore, Brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,” we have access to God by the blood of Jesus, “by a new and living way, which He has consecrated for us,” for us, “through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.” Truly, Christ is the portal to our relationship with the Father that will make everything we are pursuing possible. “And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

And then chapter four says we can come boldly to the throne of grace because of what He did. We don’t need to turn that very similar. Ultimately, because we have this relationship with God, we can become children of God. He endured what He did so that we could become children of God, to make us children of God.

Galatians chapter four. It’s all through the scriptures, of course. Galatians chapter four, verse one, “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of his father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, under the law, to redeem,” meaning to buy up, to ransom, to rescue from loss, “them that were under the law, that we might receive the sonship.” It’s the only path, the sonship.

What that man went through, what that man, born of a woman, who allowed Himself to be born of a woman, who subjected Himself to become like the seed of Abraham, as we saw elsewhere, when He did that, we could be rescued, ransomed, bought up.

Christ went through what He did to cleanse us and make us holy, point nine here, cleanse us and make us holy. Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians five, verse twenty-two, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Ephesians five, twenty-two, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and He is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church,” what is the standard? “and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”

Bible study is also a very important theme here. Knowing the word, studying the word, it’s how we become clean. And we see something, we act on it, with God’s spirit, either in us or working with us, we move forward. We grow, we bear much fruit, and if we make a mistake, we count on the sacrifice that we have, “...that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Christ made possible our being clean as a Church, holy as a Church.

He came to deliver us from society, deliver us from this present evil world. Galatians chapter one. Galatians one. “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead;), and all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself,” Galatians one, four, “for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

He gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil world. Just as that Lamb, in Old Testament, delivered the Israelites from death, delivered the Israelites from ancient Egypt. Well, we have a Lamb who died for us to deliver us from this world, from this society that badly, that desperately needs God’s help. Soon will receive God’s help through us.

Now, deliver there is a pretty weak translation. It literally means that word deliver, who gave Himself for our sins that He may deliver... He might deliver us from this present world, this present evil world, actually means to tear us out. He went through what He did to tear us out of this present evil world. It’s a dire emergency. We’re headed for death if we’re a part of it, and the only path to knowing the Father, the only path to eternal life, is to be torn out of this world by Christ’s sacrifice.

We’re being purified as a people, similar to cleansed. Here’s one verse in that sense. Acts twenty verse twenty-eight, just one verse here. Acts twenty. Christ said, “I’ll build my church,” and we often think of Him building it on Pentecost, the birth of the New Testament Church, but there’s a different way, an extraordinary way in which He also built His church. Acts twenty and twenty-eight, the Church of God. Acts twenty, twenty-eight, “Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,” Paul was talking to elders there, “to feed the church of God, which He has purchased with his own blood.” We’ve been purchased. That’s how the church exists. There wouldn’t be any church that continues into eternity, people who go on to eternal life, were we not purchased.

Christ made peace through His sacrifice. Colossians chapter one, as we begin to wrap to a close here, made peace. Colossians one, and verse fifteen. “Christ is the image of the invisible God,” Colossians one, fifteen, “the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.

“And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He’s the head of the body, the church,” another way in which the church exists, “who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.” You think about what we learned recently about the twenty-four elders saying, “Worthy is the Lamb to receive power.” He went through these things also to contribute to His own reward. It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.

“And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” That peace with the Father would not be possible if we didn’t have this mediator, if we didn’t have this reconciler, if we didn’t have this high priest. “...having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

“And you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind,” we were all enemies of God, wittingly or unwittingly, chiefly unwittingly, we were all enemies of God, “...in your mind by wicked works, yet now has He reconciled.” Couldn’t have that peace. We’d still be enemies of God. Think about that. That’s a bad position to be in, an enemy of God, were it not for what Christ went through.

“In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight. If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel,” the great good news, “which you have heard,” that good news, we understand better than ever, “and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.”

How about this? A couple of more here, we don’t have time for them all, but to cleanse our consciences from dead works, Christ went through all that long list to cleanse our conscience from dead works. The Passover is a unique time of year. We get a clean slate. There’s this tremendous weight that lifts off of us in a certain sense. Even though we can absolutely repent and God will forgive us at any other time of year, but it’s unique. It’s a unique service, a unique look back on what Christ did for us.

Hebrews nine, thirteen, we could go through how it’s a demonstration of God’s mercy, or we could look at how Christ did what He did to obtain eternal redemption for us, not just redemption. In fact, we’re right here. It’s right here in Hebrews nine, eleven. We’ll lump these two together. Eternal redemption and cleansing our conscience from dead works. Verse eleven. Hebrews nine, eleven, “But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption...” meaning perpetual ransoming.

He paid our ransom, perpetual ransoming, “...from us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer and the sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living of God?

“And for this cause He is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance,” in the New Testament, made possible by what He did. “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise, it is of no strength at all while the testator lives.”

I would invite you to find your own where it specifically ties Christ’s sacrifice to reward, like in Revelation were kings and priests, because of what He went through. We’re unified because of what he went through. We have the awesome hope of salvation. We’ve looked at that in a sense because of what He went through. We have someone who makes intercession for us because of what He went through. Christ said, “I have to go and die in order to send you the Holy Spirit.” Couldn’t have the Holy Spirit had He not gone through what He went through. We couldn’t have confidence in the Day of Judgment, on and on and on.

Like I said, it’s impossible to be comprehensive with a subject like this, but at least we’ve scratched the surface. And I found it helpful, in my own study of this, to go through that first list. Maybe you want to do this in your private time, just read in bullet point form, all that Christ went through, and then read the second list. All that was made possible by what He went through. I hope these two lists are as helpful to you as they have been to me. Christ’s sacrifice, Brethren, the willingness of the Father and the Son to give us that great sacrifice is the portal into all we seek to achieve. Let’s remember what He did and why.