Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! I was blessed to be here with you all, and I trust that it is with the intent of drawing closer to God and worshiping Him that we have come together today. I trust that it is in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have come together today. Else we had best just go home. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Let's stand. O great God in heaven before whom we've gathered today, we just ask you to be with us. We thank you for this place to gather, these people to gather with. We thank you for your love, your mercy, your salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe there is no other name given here in heaven and earth whereby we can be saved. So we ask Lord for your presence here with us today, your Holy Spirit to be with us to guide our thoughts. We pray Lord that the word spoken would be edifying. That you could give us ears to hear and a heart to understand. We pray that your will be done. In Jesus' name, amen.
I feel a lot of times when I try to teach/give a lesson, or we here generally, we talk about our duties, what is required of us, how the will of God for man should practically look and be lived out and worked out in our lives, and how to do that. And I think that's right, I think it's good that we come together to provoke each other to love and good works. Sometimes I ask God to help and to show me what is needful for us to hear, for us to be reminded of, and the other evening I felt like I'd just like to talk more about God today and less of us. And I'd like to remind us of some attributes of God that I think we need to be reminded of. His greatness. His holiness. His glory. And then how low He stooped for us.
Who is God? He was not created. He was not made, he was not born. Who is He? What is He? He is infinite, which means He is without beginning or end. He is the alpha and the omega, who was and is and is to come. Now it is difficult enough for us to try and grasp our minds around that the fact that He will always be, that there would be no end to Him. But for us to try and wrap our minds around the fact that He didn't even ever begin, that He always was, is beyond our comprehension. And yet this is an attribute to God. In Col. 1:16-17 It says, For by Him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones and dominions, or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.
In the Revelation of John chapter 4 it says, Worthy are you our Lord our God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and because of your will they existed and were created. I think the King James says "for your pleasure" these things were all created.
In six days God created the whole universe and everything in it, visible and invisible and for his pleasure He created these things. He is in need of nothing and everything is in need of Him because by Him it says, all things are held together. And without Him all things fall apart. Children, I want you to try wrap your mind around this: He is so great that heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool. The earth, the entire globe (if it's a globe), the entire thing is His footstool. It's merely where He might rest His feet.
I'm going to read out of Isaiah 40, starting in verse 10. Behold, the Lord is coming with strength and His arm is with authority. Behold, is reward is with Him and His work before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd and gather His lambs with His arms, and He will comfort those with young. Who measured the waters in His hand and the heaven with a span, that all the earth was a handful, who weighed the mountains in scales and the vales in a balance. Who knows the Lord's mind and who was His counselor? Who advises Him? Or with whom does He take counsel? Who instructs Him and who teaches Him judgments and shows Him the way of understanding? The nations are as a drop in the bucket and are counted as the balance of a scale, and they are counted as spittle. Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its four footed animals sufficient for whole burnt offerings. All nations are as nothing and are counted as nothing, to whom then will we liken the Lord? And to what likeness will you compare Him? Has the workman made an image? Or has the goldsmith overspread it with gold, gilding it, making a likeness of Him. For the workman chooses wood that will not rot and skillfully seeks to prepare a carved image that will not totter. will you not know? Will you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Do you not know the foundations of the earth? It is He who possesses the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. It is He who stretches out the heaven like a vault and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He makes the rulers He establishes to rule, to be as nothing. He makes the earth as nothing. Scarcely shall they be planted and scarcely shall they be sowed, scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, but He shall also blow on them and they will wither and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble. Now then to whom will you liken me? That I should be exalted, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see. Who displays these things? Who brings forth their host by number? He who calls them all by name from the greatness of His glory to the strength of His might, nothing escapes your notice.
It says He holds the waters in the hollow of His hand. Like the way you can cup your hand, this little hollow right in here, that's where He holds all the waters. Over 70% of the earth's surface is water and He can gather it all in the hollow of His hand. It says He measures out the heavens with a span. A span is the distance from your thumb here to your index finger.
They didn't use to have tape measures, and they would measure things like a cubit is from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger, and so they would measure something by that many cubits, or like a span, they would measure it like that: so many spans. God can measure the whole sky in a span. And I don't even think that that's the limits of it, I think that's just a way to write it so that we humans can realize that it can't be comprehended.
Psalms is just full of these examples. It says He stretches out the heavens like a curtain. He makes the clouds His chariots. He walks upon the wings of the wind. He counts the stars and He has a name for everyone of them. He looks on the earth and it trembles. He touches the hills and they smoke.
I'm going to read in Exodus where the hills did tremble and they smoked and what I'd like to impress upon us with these passages that I'm going to read is just that the greatness, the power, the severity, the Almightiness, if that's a word, of God. And how, whenever He presents His glory to men, they fall to their faces, they tremble, they become as dead men, they cannot look upon it, they cannot stand. That is God. Exodus chapter 19, I'll start reading in verse 16. So it was that on the third day in the morning, there were thunderings, this happened after Moses went up on the mountain and he communicated with God and God told him to go down, told him to set boundaries around mount Sinai, to let no man nor beast come upon that mountain or he would be killed. So it was that on the third day in the morning, there was thundering and lightnings, and dark cloud on mount Sinai, and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, and all the people in the camp trembled, and Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because God descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the people were exceedingly amazed, and when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and become louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon mount Sinai on top of the mountain and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up. Then God spoke to Moses. "Go down and solemnly charge the people lest they break through to gaze at God and many of them perish. Also, let the priest who come near to the Lord God sanctify themselves lest He destroy some of them. But Moses said to God that the people cannot come up on mount Sinai for you solemnly charged us saying, set bounds around the mountain and sanctify it. The Lord then said to him, go, go down and then come up, you and Aaron with, but do not let the priest and the people break through to come up to God lest the Lord destroy some of them. So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them. Now the Lord spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or the likeness of anything in heaven above or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, recompensing the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands of them who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath day of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, neither you nor your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, your cattle, the strangers who sojourn with you, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them and rested on the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it. Honor your father and mother, that it may be well with you, and your days may be long upon the good land the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his house, neither shall you covet his field, his male servants, his female servants, his ox, his donkeys, any of his cattle, or whatever belongs to your neighbor. Now the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashed, the sounds of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw this, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, You speak to us and we will hear, but let not God speak to us lest we die. And Moses said to the people, be of good courage for God is come to test you, that His fear may be among you, and so you may not sin. So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.
We get a little glimpse here of what the presence of God did to people, how it made them tremble and be utterly afraid. If we go forward to Exodus 33 and 34 we see how Moses said to God “reveal yourself to me. I would like to see you”, and remember, Moses is this man who has this real close walk with God. It says in some places that God spoke to him like a man would talk face to face. They didn't talk face to face, but in the way we would communicate to someone face to face, in such a way he communicated to them. That directly. But here Moses wanted God to reveal himself and God said, I'll put you in a little cleft in the rock, and I'll put my hand there in front of you, then I'll pass through there in my glory, and I'll remove my hand and let you see my back, but you will not see my face. No one sees my face and lives. Whether God moves there in something of a person form and Moses saw His back, or whether it was God's glory moving through there and Moses got to see like the least part of it, you might say, I don't know for sure. In fact, I'm not even sure if Moses saw it, because he fell on his face, it says.
In Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah got a glimpse of the glory of God. In verse one it says, In the year king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. The house was full of his glory. Around him stood seriphims, each one had six wings. Seriphims are some kind of angelic beings. So he was in this house and God's glory filled this house, there were seriphims there, and each one had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew, and one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. The lintel was lifted by the voice of those who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke, so I said, woe is me because I am pierced to the heart, for being a man of unclean lips that dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips, for I saw the king, the Lord of hosts with my eyes.
Just God speaking, here it says the lintels...the lintel is the top piece that stands over the door post...just Him speaking made the lintels move and shake. Ezekiel also saw the glory of God. I'll read in Ezekiel chapter one. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year in the fourth month on the fifth day of the month, as I was in the midst of the captivity by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month in the fifth year of king Jehoiachins captivity, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest the son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar and the hand of the Lord was upon me. I looked and behold, a sweeping wind came from the north, and a great cloud was in it, with a surrounding brightness and fire flashing forth from it. In the midst was something like he appearance of amber, in the middle of the fire, and a brightness in it. In the midst of it was the likeness as of four living creatures. This was their appearance, and the likeness of a man upon them. Each had four faces and each had four wings. Their legs were straight and their feet were winged. There were sparks like gleaming brass, and their wings were light. The hand of a man was underneath their wings and their sides. and the faces of those four turned as they proceeded and went with each face opposite the other. This was the likeness of their faces: the face of a man, the face of a lion on the right side of the foursome, the face of an ox on the left and the face of an eagle. Their wings were spread out above them, each had two wings joined together, and two wings covered up their body. Each went straight forward, wherever the spirit was going and did not turn back. In the midst of the living creatures there was an appearance of coals, and an appearance of lamps turning among the living creatures. There was a brightness of fire and out of the fire lightning came forth. I looked and behold there was one wheel on the earth next to each living creature with its four faces, the appearance of the wheel was like the appearance of beryl and each of the four had one likeness and their works were as a wheel within a wheel. They went on their four sides and did not turn when they went, neither did their backs turn, they were high. I saw them and the backs of all four were full of eyes all around. When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them, and when the living creatures lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Wherever the cloud happened to be, there was the spirit, ready to go. The living creatures went and the wheels went with them, for the spirit of life was in the wheels. When the living creatures went, the wheels went. When the living creatures came to a stop, the wheels stopped, and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up with them, for the spirit of life was in the wheels. The likeness above the heads of the living creatures was like a firmament, like the appearance of crystal spreading out over their wings above. Their wings were outspread underneath the firmament, clapping their wings one to the other, to wings joined to each, and two wings covering up their bodies. I heard the sound of their wings when they went like the sound of much water, and when they stood still, their wings rested. Then behold, a voice came from above the firmament above their head, there was as it were the appearance of a sapphire stone, and the likeness of a throne upon it, upon the likeness of the throne there was as it were the appearance of a man above. Then I saw as it were, the outward appearance of amber, from the appearance of the waist upward, from the appearance of the waist and downward, I saw as were the appearance of fire with brightness round about, like the appearance of a rainbow in a clouds on a rainy day, so was the condition of the surrounding brightness. This was the vision of the likeness of the Lord's glory. I saw it and I fell down on my face and heard the voice of one speaking.
If we go back to Revelations chapter one, I'll read a few verses there. Once again, here's John who had this very, very close, intimate walk with Christ when He was here on earth. He was the loved one. The one who leaned on His bosom at the Lord's supper. It says, I John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom, and perseverance which are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and His testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, to Sartus and Philadelphia and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands and in the middle of the lamp stands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across his chest with a golden sash. His head and his hair were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were as a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was as the sound of many waters. In his right hand He held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp two edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. When I saw Him I fell at His feet like a dead man, and He place his right hand on me saying, do not be afraid, I am the first and the last.
This great God humbled Himself. This God who just His presence and just his voice made men from all races fall to their faces and tremble. This God who spoke and it lifted the lintels of the house, it shook the hills, it made them smoke. This God took upon Himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men, and humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, it says in the book of the Philippians.
In John Chapter one, John starts writing and he says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that Has come into being. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent forth, sent from God whose name was John, he came as a witness to testify about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the light. There was a true light, which coming into the world enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to his own and those who were His own did not receive Him, but as many as received Him to them he gave the right to become children of God, even those who believe in His name. Who were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw His glory, glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him, and cried out saying, this was he whom I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I for He existed before me, for of His fullness we all have received and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has exclaimed Him.
Of this Jesus, who is this same God we have been reading about, He now comes in the flesh and dwells among us. Of this Jesus we talk much. We have come to love His doctrine. We have tried His words and we know that they are from God. We have tasted it and we know that there is life in them. But in this last part of this message I'd like to talk, not so much about the things that He taught, but what He did and the cup He ended up drinking.
After three years of traveling throughout Israel and the surrounding areas, healing the brokenhearted, delivering the captives, recovering the sight of the blind and setting people at liberty. Teaching us all the ways of His kingdom, after three years of that, He found Himself in a garden, deeply grieved and so sorrowful that He was at the point of death. Remember, this was the God, when He spoke everybody fell on their faces, now He's all alone in the garden and He's on His face. In Luke chapter 22 it says in verse 39, and He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the mount of olives, and the disciples followed Him. When He arrived at the place He said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation. And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done. Now an angel from heaven appeared, strengthening Him, and being in agony He was praying very fervently and His sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. When He rose from prayer He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow and said, why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation. We all know what it's like to sweat, or most of us, the kind of sweat that happens when we're out working on hot days and it runs down your face and your back. Sometimes my clothes get completely saturated, even on a sunny day. But it was nothing like this. This was in the night, it was probably cool. Jesus was not physically active, but He was in great anguish, so that He not only sweated like that, but it says His sweat became like drops of blood. I guess medically they might call this hematidrosis: it's an extremely rare thing that happens. But around a person's sweat gland are tiny little blood vessels, and when those sweat glands contract and dilate enough, it erupts those little sweat glands, and the blood mingles with the sweat. And the cause of it is extreme anxiety or anguish. It's something that might happen very occasionally, something like a soldier before he goes into battle might experience something like this. Remember, this all happened before the Romans and the Jews inflicted any physical pain on Him. It was before they captured Him. But I think Jesus knew the physical pain that He was going to go through. But I think more than that, I think there was more than that, that had Him in this extremely sorrowful state. He knew that one of the twelve would betray Him. One of the twelve of His closest disciples, who had at one point when all the other disciples forsook Him because He had a hard saying, these twelve stood right there with Him. One of these twelve was going to betray Him. He knew that many of the people who a few days ago had hailed Him as the king as He came into Jerusalem, were going to cry out "crucify Him and away with Him!" He knew that Peter, Peter his very self would deny Him, that all the twelve would leave Him, and I think He probably knew that God Himself would have to forsake Him. They captured Him there in the garden and they brought Him to the high priest's palace and there they mocked Him, and they beat Him. They blindfolded Him, and then said "prophesy, who hit you?" He mostly remained quiet. In Luke chapter 22 in verse 66 it says, when it was day, the counsel of elders and people assembled, both chief priests and scribes and they led Him away to their counsel chamber, saying, if you the Christ, tell us. But He said to them, If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask a question, you will not answer. But from now on, the son of man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. And they all said, are you the son of God then? and He said to them, Yes I am. And they said, what further need have we of testimony? for we have heard it ourselves from his own mouth.
From there he was delivered to Pilate, and though Pilate tried to free Him because he could not find a cause in Him, the people all cried out to crucify Him and away with this man! In Matthew 27:24-31 he says, when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man's blood. See to that yourselves. And the people said, His blood shall be on us and our children. Then he released Barabbas for them, but after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus to the Proetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him, and they stripped Him, put a scarlet robe on Him and having twisted together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in his right hand and they knelt before Him and mocked him, saying, hail, king of the Jews. They spat on Him. They took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off of Him and put His own garment back on Him and led Him away to crucify Him.
So once He was handed over to the Roman soldiers, they scourged Him, they twisted together a crown of thorns, I don't know, but I would guess something like the thorns on a thorny locust tree, extremely long and sharp thorns that have a little bit of poison in their tips that really sting. They put it on His head, they took a rod and beat on it. First they stripped Him naked and scourged Him, then put a scarlet robe on Him and bowed down before Him, mocking Him. Now that He had a scarlet robe and a crown they mocked him "oh, this is the king of the Jews!" They spit in His face. In Psalms and some of the prophets it describes some of the things that happened in prophetic language that is not specifically said in the gospels. In Isaiah 50 it says, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off their hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. We all know how painful it is if a little child even just grabs a hold of our beard and pulls it: a little child with its little bit of strength- painful! They just yanked His beard out.
I read that flogging or scourging was a part of the Romans executions, when they executed someone. If I remember right it said they would hardly do this on a Roman citizen unless perhaps it was like a soldier who became a traitor or something. But this kind of punishment was reserved for slaves, for foreigners. A scourge was something supposedly with a short handle, but long leather thongs, and on the end of those thongs was either a little iron ball or sharp little pieces of sheep bones. And they would strip the man naked and tie his hands up over a pole and a soldier with all his force and strength would bring that whip down over his back, and they were trained to place one stripe right against the next one, and then go right back over it again, and as they went over it multiple times, they would first go through the skin, then through the muscles, until there was nothing on his back but these quivering ribbons of bloody flesh. In Psalms 129 it says, the plowers plowed upon my back and made long their furrows. Those of us who have any experience with a moldboard plow, know how when you plow a field, this plow rips into the sod and lays the sod over on its side, and the next time you come through you plow right beside it and you lay that furrow right in the next one and when you're done there's nothing but this ripped up field and what's underneath the sod is exposed. In that condition they put the scarlet robe on Him and mocked Him, then took it back off again and put His own garment on Him.
And then they led Him away to be crucified. In Luke chapter 22:33. All the gospels give the description of this in various ways. It says, when they came to the place called the skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they casts lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by looking on, and even the rulers were sneering at Him and saying, He saved others, let him save himself! If this is the Christ of God His chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself! Now there was also an inscription above Him saying, This is the king of the Jews. One of the criminals who were hanging there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us! But the other answered, and rebuking him said, Do you not even fear God? Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed our suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus remember me when you come in your kingdom and He said to Him, truly I say to you today you shall be with me in paradise. It was now about the sixth hour and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured and the veil of the temple was torn in two and Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Having said this, He breathed His last.
The Romans apparently did not invent the crucifixion idea but I understand that they perfected it to the point of where they knew what was needed to get the maximum amount of pain and suffering out of it. The history that we know of the way the Romans crucified and some medical aspects of it, say that they either tied or nailed a person to the cross, and though none of the gospels specifically say Jesus was nailed to the cross, I think there might be a prophetic word of it in the old and also like Jesus showed the wounds in His hands, it seems pretty obvious that He was nailed. They say that more than likely nails are pierced through right here behind the hand in the wrist, because the palm of the hand would not support the weight of the body, but here it would, and driving a nail through that area would either cut or damage or sever a main nerve that sends excruciating pain through the arm and curls up the hand, deforms it. The word excruciating, I read somewhere means from the cross. When I saw that, I just thought, I think I lightly use that word sometimes. If I remember right I may have
sometimes said like the heat was excruciating. No, I don't think so. I don't want to use that word lightly like that. I think what Jesus went through was excruciating. And then, their weight hangs from the nails, or the arms stretched out on the arm piece, and because all their weight is stretched out on their arms, it pulls their muscles tight in their chest so they can't breath, so they have to push themselves up a little bit with their feet to relax their elbows just a little bit, take a breath, then sag back down again, then push back up again to take a breath, then sag back down. And that pushing is done with nails driven though the feet.
I don't completely understand this part of it, like Jesus cried out "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me" There's a verse in Habakkuk that says his eye is too pure to see the evil and you are not able to look upon affliction. And in light of that I can just see that however this works, like Jesus is God, a part of the Godhead, but the Father had to turn His face away. And the Son felt it. He had to forsake Him in order for Him to die. I don't claim to fully comprehend that, but I think it had to happen. When I was young and parents would tell me the story of the crucifixion or I would hear it being preached or read it, or whatever, I used to just wonder, why didn't He just come down off the cross? He could've pulled those nails, come down off the cross, healed up all His wounds, shut out the blood and eliminated all the pain, and He could've proved a thing or two. Jesus didn't come to prove something. He came to rescue us, and to salvage us. And we are only saved if our sins are remitted, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
In the beginning of mankind in a garden, the first Adam sinned against God and it brought death into the world, and since that, death has passed on to every descendant of Adam, because every one of us has sinned. Not because Adam sinned, so much, but because everyone of us has sinned and that death has passed on and the wages of sin is death. Like this is the penalty, the price of sin is death. But now, thousands of years later in another garden the last Adam entered in, Jesus Christ. But He did not owe this penalty, there was no sin in His life, it was so far from Him He was not even close to needing to pay this wage that was upon us, that was upon sin, that was the price of sin, and yet the Father had a cup for Him to drink, and though the flesh was weak the spirit was willing, He surrendered Himself and He was willing to drink this cup, and this death that had come into the world was just about to be swallowed up in victory. That's why He didn't come off. That's why He stayed there. By staying there and going all the way, he was able to enter the region of death as the first person who ever entered the regions of death who the devil had no claim upon, no stamp on Him, no authority on Him. He was the first man who could enter the regions of death and have the authority to take the keys of death and hell from satan. The grave could not hold Him, and He rose victorious. Therefore, O grave where is thy victory, and death, where is thy sting?
In Ephesians it talks about all these things were before the foundations of the world this was all ordained to happen. But we must remember that it came at an exceedingly great cost. The Father wanted the Son to drink this cup, not just because there were some wicked people who wanted to put away with God. He wanted Him to drink this cup because of sin and because it was the only way for this sin, this wage of sin, to have any victory over it. And so with that in mind, we must remember, that we are responsible for the cup that He had to drink. Why? because we were partakers of this sin. Because we have sinned. That means that we are responsible for the drops of blood that He sweated in the garden, for the furrows that were plowed across His back. We're responsible for the fact that the Father had to turn His face away from Him, and in all this, He says, Father forgive them, they know not what they do. But because of that, because of what God did, we can be partakers of this victory over the grave and death.
And how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? I ask you young people who have not yet committed your ways to the service of the Lord, how will you escape if you neglect so great a salvation? And we middle aged people who have committed our ways to the Lord, but tend to think that we got things in order and we get pretty confident in ourselves, we think we might be strong enough to meddle with sin a little bit, or we get overcome and let the cares of this world choke out the fruits of salvation, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation. And I ask you older brothers and sisters, if you've lost your first love, if you've become lukewarm, lax in working out your salvation with fear and trembling, how will you escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
Let's pray. God in heaven, we thank you for what you've done for us, for your great salvation, and though that you were equal with God and had all the glory of God, you humbled yourself and became a servant and obedient unto death for our sake. And I thank you Lord for not coming down off that cross just to prove that you could, but that you went all the way to death to purchase us back. Oh help us Lord to work worthy of this thing which you've called us to. In Jesus' name, amen.
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