The Apostles' Creed (Part 5) - Suffered Under Pontius Pilate; Was Crucified, Dead and Buried

hi I met Chandler here pastor of the village church just want to thank you for streaming this sermon on your device I I wanted to just before we get going here just lay before you a deep conviction we have that this video sermon that we've prayed really stirs up your affections for Jesus and shapes you and mold you into the image of the son would just be supplemental to your relationship with the Lord and in no way would replace the church you should be plugged into or the pastor that God has put over your life to Shepherd and care for your soul and so please enjoy the next hour or so of this message we have prayed that God would use it in a profound way in your life blessings I believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended to hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended to heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen if you have your Bibles where you go ahead and grab those if you don't have a Bible with you there should be a hardback black one somewhere around you under your seat behind you won't you grab that you don't own one that's our gift to you if you grab that Bible let's go to John chapter 18 we're gonna read quite a bit of text together today as a family of faith and so why don't you you get there if you're not a Christian we've got a page number on the screen for you too so you can turn and look at that now the death of Jesus Christ stands the death of Jesus Christ for the sins of mankind stands as one of the most perplexing and beautiful events in the history of humankind I say perplexing because maybe you're a bit like me where you grew up kind of hearing about the death of Jesus but couldn't quite reconcile with the death of a Jew 2,000 years ago has to do with you has to do with your life and and so you you see it much more like George Washington and the cherry tree I can't tell a lie kind of thing and are just a bit confused about what the death of a Jew and in 2,000 year ago Palestine has to do with you you know you just don't understand what and that's what I mean by perplexing but it also is is easily the the most beautiful thing I think in human history and and it's beautiful in that what we see happening in the death of Jesus Christ is God reconciling us to God and God creating a people the the covenant community of faith that is both a universal and local and so we're gonna dive back into the Apostles Creed this is week five of our series through the Creed and we've stood and we've read the Creed together these last five weeks we're gonna continue to do that today just want to remind you as always that what happens when we stand and we read the Creed together publicly out loud where we can see each other saying these things is one we're tying ourselves into thousands of years of history we're saying we believe what Christians have believed for a long long long time and simultaneously we are rejecting popular narratives and showing where our legions lies so we're rejecting the popular isms of our day and instead are saying this is what I believe this is where I stand and so each weeks I've tried to each week so far in the series I've tried to introduce new isms that we would reject as Christians and so today when we stand and we recite the Apostles Creed together we're rejecting intellectualism we're not rejecting the intellect because the Bible is said that we are to be a thinking people we are to love the Lord our God with all our minds were not a herd of morons right we we're to have great intellect but we reject intellectualism the idea that man in his mind can solve what's wrong with man but if we could just think the right things that we'd be able to fix everything that's broken we categorically reject that we say it's not true we have thousands and thousands and thousands of years of history to prove that it's not true because the smartest human beings alive have not been able to fix the mess that we're in and and then we would also reject legalism we would reject even insane the Cree we reject not only intellectualism not only materialism right not only nationalism not only individualism not only intellectualism but we also would categorically reject legalism we would reject the notion that there's a list of behaviors that you must do to write yourself before God and if you just checked the right boxes off of the checklist of more behavior modification that somehow you would tilt the scales in your favor we categorically reject that as Christians and we say no no we believe in the triune God of the Bible so what that said would you stand with me as we read the Apostles Creed together not a Christian or simply don't want to stand that that's fine also but we're gonna read this together as a family I believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended to hell third day he rose again from the dead he ascended to heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen when you have a seat so the phrase that we're on in our time together today is suffered under Pontius Pilate crucified dead and buried now the phrase in the Creed deal with the the facts of the death of Jesus he suffered under Pontius Pilate this cannot be argued historically this historically occurred this is a fact around the death of Jesus Christ he suffered under Pontius Pilate the means by which he was killed is crucifixion he physically died he didn't swoon he died and he was buried in a rich man's tomb all of that can easily outside of Christian sources be shown to be historically accurate so those are the facts but I don't want to spend our time simply on the facts I want to spend our time under the facts talking about the truth of what's occurring in the death of Jesus Christ namely an art he said it wants namely that the death of Christ reconciles us to God and the death of Christ creates a covenant community of faith that is both Universal and local and so with that said let's look at John 18 starting in verse 28 at this point Jesus has already been arrested he's already been severely beaten twice we pick it up in verse 28 then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas that's the high priest to the governor's headquarters it was early morning they themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled but could eat the Passover so Pilate went outside to them and said what accusation do you bring against this man and they answered him if this man were not doing evil we would not have delivered him over to you the pilot answered them and said take him yourselves and judge him by your own law and the Jews said to him it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death this was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die so Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him are you the King of the Jews and jesus answered him do you say this of your own accord or did others say it about me and Pilate answered am i a Jew your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me what have you done and jesus answered my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world My servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews again if you've got a background in church if you know this story they actually started right Peter pulled his sword and cut off the ear of one of the servants of the high priest Jesus told and put away the sword and put the dudes ear back on right I mean so so this started and Jesus killed it in a way of saying Peter no one's taken me bro I'm going it's not gonna read like that in your Bible but that's that's what happened right jesus answered then pilate said him so you are a king jesus answered you say that i am a king for this purpose i was born and for this purpose i have come into the world to bear witness to the truth everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice and Pilate asks an existential question that still floats in the air today and Pilate said to him what is truth after he had said this he went back outside to the Jews and told them I find no guilt in him but you have a custom that I should release one man for you at Passover so do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews they cried out again no not this man but Barabbas now Barabbas was a robber we find out in another gospel who's a robber and also a murderer then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him that that has ripped the skin off his back and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and they put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe they came to him saying hail King of the Jews and they struck him with their hands Pilate went out again and said to them see I am bringing him out to you that you no I find no guilt in him so Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and purple robe Pilate said to them behold the man and when the chief priests and officers saw Jesus they cried out crucify him crucify him and Pilate said to them take him yourself and crucify him for I find no guilt in him and the Jews answered him we have a law and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself a son of God when Pilate heard this statement he was even more afraid so he entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus where are you from but Jesus gave him no answer so Pilate said to him will you not speak to me do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you and jesus answered him you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin from then on Pilate sought to release him but the Jews cried out if you release this man you are not Caesars friend everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar so when Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the stone pavement and in Arabic gabbatha now it was the day of the preparation of the Passover it was about the sixth hour and he said to the Jews behold your king and they cried out away with him away with him crucify him Pilate said to them shall I crucify your king listen to this and the chief priests answered we have no king but Caesar so he delivered him over to be crucified now if we had time to go to the rest of the Gospels so the Gospels are different perspectives on the same events you see that that what we see here is just kind of a microcosm of really the abuse that Jesus endures under Pontius Pilate the Bible tells us that they pull the beard out of his face that they spit on him that they mock him that they belittle him they do everything possible to shame and then strip him naked they try to remove any sense of dignity that he might have he's treated as some sort of circus freak he's sent over to Herod for Loic Pilate sends him to Herod Herod wants Jesus to do miracles form Jesus refuses so hair has him beats and then has him sent back to Pilate and then this isn't even the crucifixion yet that this isn't carrying your cross in fact these the beating that Jesus endured before he was meant to carry his cross was so severe that he couldn't carry his cross and so they had to pull a man out of the crowd Simon a stream to carry the cross for Jesus to Golgotha where they would drive nails through his hands and his feet the only way to breathe on the cross would be to push up on the nail driven through your feet in order to gasp to get air into your lungs to drop back down you drowned in your own blood the Romans had dialed in to the most excruciating horrific way to die imaginable suffered under Pontius Pilate crucified dead and buried so what's going on how can we say as Christians I mean how can we look at that and go that's beautiful I mean you wearing a cross on your neck it's a little crazy in it like a little little electric chair trinkle it right like on that little Pandora bracelet of yours like oh what's that it's an electric chair well I mean that that's what we've done here we made one of the central symbols of the Christian faith the the cross but that's what we've done well yeah because the death of Christ reconciles us to God now I said a couple of weeks ago that we all know that something's gone wrong in us right there's a yearning there's a desire for something more and and that that usually reveals itself is some sort of felt need and so what I mean by that is we oh I've got my marriage is difficult I've got some addictions oh I struggle with this oh this I've really got an anger problem have really got that but but I'm trying to tell you over and over again that those are symptoms of a greater problem those are symptoms of a greater disease and the reality is those things although they're significant issues are not your ultimate issues but are actually sprouting from your ultimate issue your ultimate issue is that you and I were created by God to commune with God and do life with another and when sin entered the cosmos had fractured both of those and so we're left hungry and thirsty with no real way to satisfy ourselves that this is the refrain of the prophets if you know your Bible specifically Isaiah would say how long will you eat bread that doesn't satisfy you how long will you drink water that does not quench your thirst the idea that there's a longing us that we just can't seem to satisfy we just can't seem to get there so we're constantly punting the ball down the field and hope that this next thing we'll finally satisfy us that restlessness that longing that desire for more is what leads to all the other fractures in your life you have an addiction issue you have a relationship issue you have you name it it's springing out of the ground of your soul knowing it was made for more and so you're hungry so you trying to eat but it doesn't satisfy you're trying to drink but it will not quench your thirst and Christ's death on the cross reconciles us to God it puts us back if you're familiar with this language it puts us back in even so Eden was created where Adam and Eve communed richly with God and with one another naked and unashamed no guilt no shame no fear no death naked and unashamed communing with God the death of Christ on the cross reconciles us back to what the heart needs most what the heart needs most now it's important to note here that the the death of Christ on the cross in reconciling us to God bringing us back into Eden is Christ death rescuing the enemies of God back to God the the Bible is clear that there is none righteous not even one in fact I've tried to press gently but firmly over the last couple of weeks on the idea of you and I being good people right that the Bible is pretty clear that there's no one who's good that like there's really no one who is good if you think you're good chances are you're comparing yourself with someone who's a you know a basically and then you feel better about yourself because you're not that guy but again I continue to say to you that the 10 commandments reveal that there's not a good person out there's not a good person in this room so again I don't have time to do the whole thing again but we're good people right but we lie so that makes us liars right well not necessarily know if you lie you're liar right so so we're lying coveting lustful angry impatient God belittling people but we're good I mean we're good as we lie and covet and accuse gods and have bursts of anger and doubt and struggle and belittle God like we're good people though as we do those things right there's none righteous not one in fact we read it here earlier out of Isaiah all we like sheep have gone astray we all every one of us have turned and done his own thing turned his own way there's none righteous not one you are not a good person I am NOT a good person that's not what occurs Christ death on the cross reconciles the enemies of God back to God now this shouldn't surprise us if we're reading the Bible through the correct lenses now the most common accusation made against Jesus Christ is that he was the friend of sinners right that's the accusation made against Christ like the the blogosphere and the Twittersphere would hate Jesus's ministry just always hanging out with tax collectors and prostitutes and drunkards right I mean this is the accusation made against him like Jesus is the friend of sinners gosh might that be said about all of us if you really read the Bible with your eyes open it's stunning like Matthew the tax collector is called to be a disciple of Christ now I think we don't feel the weight of that because if we grew up in church we grew up with Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he right if you don't have a church background you might be really confused right now so don't worry about it what we've been told about tax collectors is that the reason that the first century Jew hated tax collectors as they were only supposed to take 20 bucks and said they took 50 right now that's part of the issue but the greater issue is that a tax collector in first century Jerusalem would have purchased the right from Rome to raise money to support an occupying force that was responsible for the murder and rate of hundreds of thousands of people there is no moral equivalent that I am aware of in the United States of America Zacchaeus was a piece of trash Matthew was a piece of trash they sold out their neighbors and their family members for dollars and Jesus has the gall to call one of these brothers to be a disciple and to go eat at their house all the time right Jesus is the friend of sinners that's why I keep saying to you over no games John 3:16 is awesome but throughout 3:17 is just as awesome eyes come into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world from condemnation the friend of sinners Matthew like if you ever considered the group of disciples that Jesus gathered I'm you're not getting anything done with that group and yet Jesus comes to reconcile the enemies of God and there's two ways to be an enemy of God right you can be an enemy of God with irreligion just wanting nothing to do with spiritual things and not you've got it don't worry about it but you can also you can also be an enemy of God by using religion to say the same thing that the person using here religion does you people use irreligion to say I don't need you God I got this but people will also use external moral religion say I don't need you God I got this alright so this brother will use this brother sister will use sex drugs money wealth the party scene or business making money climbing the ladder to go I don't need you God I got this and this person over here will say I've got Sunday school and small group and worship and I don't need you God alright they they just used different tools to say the same thing to God this is how we walk as enemies of God and this is what Jesus has come by his death to reconcile back to God it's a stunningly beautiful picture and if you if you start reading the Bible again and and even after the life of Chris well during the life of Christ you see him extending mercy to prostitutes and a woman living with a man had five husbands and the woman she was living with now wasn't her husband she was basically it was like sex for rent kind of thing going on and yet Jesus is compassion Jesus is merciful Jesus is inviting them into the Covenant community he he gets rid of the idea in first century Judaism that they're outcasts and there's no place for them in the kingdom of God he turns the economy the spiritual economy upside down many Woo's and calls and rescues people that we wouldn't hire on staff here after the Ascension of Christ which we'll get to here in a couple of weeks it it just keeps going Saul of Tarsus right who breathes murder and threat against the Church of Jesus Christ the moral modern-day equivalent of a commander in Isis rescued saved reconciled to God in Christ you have Lydia whose fashionista right in Philippi she's got a house in Thyatira a house in Philippi that's that's Paris and New York right dealer in purple cloth you know all the kids were wearing her gear God fear morale woman not a Christian saved reconciled to God is an enemy of God you got the Philippian jailer former Roman soldier I'd been on the front lines probably killed quite a few people if you study the Roman Empire that day now he's settled into kind of blue-collar living is a we know he's a cruel man he puts Paul in stocks when he wasn't commanded to so he tortures Paul even though he wasn't commanded when told to just kind of brother wants to watch a game and have a natty light is that too much I need an elder call on that Daryl too late I've already said it right we'll talk Catherine so anyway when when all said and done that this is what and and what happens what happens Jesus reconciles a man who was abused using the Apostle Paul reconcile 'some demon-possessed slave girl reconciled we could just go on and on eunuch reconcile we just go on Jesus reconciles us to God he he reckons this is what he does Jesus the friend of sinners I want to plead with you to not buy into the increasingly popular narrative of our day that wants to pretend that every kind of thou shalt and thou shalt not that's in the Bible of some sort of antiquated old-school ridiculous need to get over it and get with the progressive Times type of madness now all the commands of God in the scripture about aligning you up with the best possible life it's got trying to get you into the lane of human flourishing and got reconciling you to himself by the blood of Christ this is what the cross is all about this is why it's beautiful this is what it has to do with your life 2,000 years after its occurrence Jesus's blood his death on the cross reconciles us to God look at me nothing else will gosh aren't you tired yet I'm trying to fix it how long I mean this is Isaiah's pleading with Israel back in the day how long are you gonna do this how long like when does it stop aren't you tired enough yet and then from there not only does the death of Jesus reconcile us to God but the death of Jesus purchases a people creates the church we see this I think most clearly in acts 20 verse 28 here's what it says pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the Church of God here's where you can highlight underline just make a mental note which he obtained with his blood so I don't even say a lot about that except that what we see happening here is that the church was obtained it was purchased it was bought by the blood of Christ that you and I are year by the blood of Christ and and I think if we want to talk about how that happens we can look at first Peter 2:10 it says this once you are not a people but now you are God's people once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy so I I love this service we're gonna do a survey now even if you're in Fort Worth or Plano or Dallas here's a service so you can see so you can look so you can marvel in any time I talk about God creating the people I want you to see this and feel this how many of you have master's degrees or doctorates ph d--'s go and raise your hand for me feeling terribly insecure all the sudden can't you put your hands down how many of you just just undergraduate degree that's my hand now just undergraduate degree okay how many of you high school all right how many like nailed that GED yo got it just raise your hand he's just that GED so I got the GED how about just punted around the eighth or ninth grade just said nope I'm out anybody these know there's just no reason to be okay how many of you became Christians after your 20th birthday after your 30th birthday after your 40th birthday anybody after your 50th birthday after your 60th birthday after your 70th birthday after your 80th birthday wow that's incredible okay let's keep going how many of you grew up with means mom and dad had done well you had some opportunities because mom and dad did well don't be feel ashamed of that that's awesome it's like gosh I feel alright how many just go nope okay that's great let's let's ask this one how many of you grew up in homes where mom and dad taught you about Jesus introduce you to the faith drug you to church okay how many of you take nope okay look around okay put your hands down now one more trust me how many of you would say I in my life I have I have struggled at times significantly with drugs and alcohol and other addictions okay going Fortran son how many would go nope okay so let me tell you what I'm doing here and I don't know what it looks like any other campuses but but here's what I would tell you the one of the easier lies to spot in our day is that there's a type of person that becomes a Christian and yet we see that even in this room that's simply not true like you like what do you and I have in common like what do we have in common is a crazy room right now right I mean you've got doctorates and dropped out in the seventh grade you guys gonna do homegroup together right you've got had some heroin issues and I've never cost a real cuss word in my life one time in my head but it was one that I invented and you're gonna do a homegroup together right like what like what can make us a people the blood of Christ can it's what brings us together makes us one how many of you were born outside of the South a lot of Yanks in here anybody outside the United States look at that and look here we are I mean this globe look what God's done he's taking people from these different kind of tracks different backgrounds different heartbreaks different issues different struggles and he's put us together as a people yes universally but in this context localized there's what God's done it's only the blood of Christ that brings us together like this and creates an environment we would serve love and and lay down our lives for one another this is a beautiful thing purchased by the blood of Christ so if the death of Christ reconciles us to God and the death of Christ creates a covenant community how do we plug that into our grid of symmetry clarity community and council so symmetry huh how does this information help form us in a more mature Christians well maybe you're in here today and you need to meditate on consider and think about the Word of God as it relates to your sin you have a hard time believing your sin can be forgiven maybe you need to be encouraged and meditate on today that your sins are forgiven or maybe you're here and and and you need to develop some symmetry in the other direction maybe you just think your sins not that big of a deal you've become lazy when it comes to the sin in your life and you don't think sin is that serious hey listen one of the reasons the grotesque horrific violent death of Jesus needs to be considered thought about and gazed upon is because it helps you understand how much God hates sin all sinned you want to know how bad God hates sin look only to the cross of Christ in the reality of hell you want to know the weight of sin look only to the cross of Christ and the reality of hell so maybe you need to gaze upon the forgiveness of God and let that develop some better symmetry maybe you need to gaze upon the wrath of God and let that develop some greater symmetry now when it comes to clarity just one thing look look right at me as I say this if you are in Christ hear me you are fully and completely forgiven no caveats no asterisks no what about no what-ifs in Christ all of your sin past present future fully absorbed in the cross of Jesus Christ which is what we'll talk about next week I've tried to say often I want to say it again there is no sin imaginable with more power than the cross of Jesus Christ there's just not there's no sin imaginable more power than the cross of Jesus Christ you you gotta stop with your the caveat your the astrick you're the one the Bible is a bullhorn in this realm right just constantly laying before you those who it's just unimaginable that Christ's death on the cross would reconcile the Philippian jailer who's actively torturing a man of God it's it's hard to get your mind around the rescue and ransom of Saul of Tarsus like as you look at Isis beheading children and women you're not thinking one of those make a great missionary you're thinking if you like me can't we just kill them all can we just drop a bomb on all of them but that's not how God works with saul of tarsus no he saved him he reconciled the enemies of God back to God the demonic slave girl on and on and on we could go Christ is the friend of sinners he reconciles do you think you're exempt how how is your sin more horrific than this how is your sin more horrific than what we read and what we see in the Bible listen to me in Christ his death set you free you're forgiven now what should that do now that we've got symmetry and clarity what should that do for our community now the death of Jesus Christ is the bedrock upon which our community is built there are 51:1 and others in the New Testament I'm not gonna go through them cuz there's 51 of them but it's love one another serve one another defer to one another greet one another encourage one another speak life into one another show preference to one another outdo one another and honor on and on and on I could go that the Bible creates this space by the blood of Christ where we begin to be a counterculture to the world around us and part of that is the optimism I spoke of last week but part of it is how we love one another and serve one another and speak life into one even Christ himself said that they would know we are Christians by our love for one another and when we walk in this way cuz here let's be straight I never wanted to talk about community where we don't real honest like people are difficult right like you get on peoples nerves don't ya you thought I was going somewhere else with that didn't you you get on peoples nerves that's hard to believe though right you know I just must not know you right no way that you get on someone's nerves look at me I love you you get on someone's nerves and in that by the grace of God because of the blood of Christ they are patient they are kind they're gracious long-suffering even because they have experienced those things by the blood of Christ themselves community isn't easy see we're more connected than ever and more lonely than ever we were meant to do life deeply enriched ly with one another in a given location to serve care defer be optimistic together even in the most difficult times to be optimistic together this is how the death of Jesus reconciling us to God and creating community affects how we think about our community of faith it's why I will for the rest of the time you give me this little face Mike or whatever comes in the future that you should belong to a church not just go to one you should belong to a church not just go to one church is not meant by God to be in ecclesiological buffet right now the last how do we counsel ourselves and I think this is a huge one one of the reasons that this all is so hard to believe because it's kind of crazy sounding right bit like free love that's impossible right like free love we know free love doesn't exist that's why some of us have to put on makeup to go to the gym little free love doesn't exist that's why we're used-car salesman always having our best up front how are you I'm great we know that free love doesn't work that's why we worked so hard to earn the approval and respect of others because love isn't free so we're hearing here from the Bible God say no no no the love of Christ is free the blood of Christ has been spilt so that I can fully love you completely love you completely forgive you and be a just righteous God you're fully and freely forgiven forever we know that can't be true that's difficult here's why it's difficult so I say this a lot if you're a guest this will be new if you were here you're like oh gosh this again the reason this is hard to believe is because for whatever reason we're such a ridiculously navel-gazing group of human being that we can't hardly see the good news for all the bad that we're looking at in our navel so if you still on land here's what we do oh gosh I wish I could do this Chandler but man Carly I really stink right now man I'm struggling with this if yeah I hear you but if you had any idea of how I struggle a sexual orientation yet any idea how about I struggle with drugs and have you had any idea how I struggle with lost a baby and I'm saying to you God knows so we publicly put it out there I know I got you I get it he knows it's scary to be us Hebrews says he's an empathetic high priest he is the friend of sinners not the enemy of sinners the friend of sinners and so the cross is a visceral visible picture of the love of God for you in Christ he knows get your eyes off your goofy confused self and look to the cross this is how the Bible says we're transformed by beholding the glory of Christ not by being intimately aware of all our shortcomings and failures do you think you need to study that who do you think done that present itself to you all the time gosh look to the cross now that's why guys that's why that's what we got a cross on our necklace if that's not true then we're stupid people look to the cross consider the blood of Christ that's what's happening on the cross so that you've got these crazy verses in the Bible let me show you a couple of them Hebrews 12:1 through 2 says this therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith we just talked about that right on counsel were counseling ourselves look to Jesus good-looking I know I stink I get it I'm gonna look to Jesus because Jesus doesn't he's awesome I'm not so I'm gonna keep my eyes where it's awesome but look what comes next who for the joy set before him endured the cross now if you read the story of the crucifixion by the way this is one of those verses that help me tease out the difference between joy and happiness right that that you can be happy without any roots and that happiness has really kind of built more on circumstance but that joy is unwavering and unshaken regardless of circumstances and so if you study the story of the cross as Jesus is beat mocked belittled spit upon beard pulled out of his face thorns jammed into his skull struck with staffs stripped naked in front of a crowd that hurls insults on him as he's nailed to the cross and drowns in his own blood nailed to a piece of wood that he spoke into existence held up by steel that he created iron that he allowed to exist as the breath left his body upon absorbing all of God's wrath towards mankind what is the joy set before him that's a peculiar line who for the joy set before him endured the cross well there's a cascading effect and it's important that we understand how it cascades first and foremost the joy set before Christ in the cross was in glorifying God he was gonna bring glory to God fact he says that on repeat that the death his death right there wasn't they didn't take his life he gave His life so important to know that they didn't kill G as much as Jesus laid down his life even says that that father loves me because I laid my life down only to pick it up again so nobody's killing me I'm giving my life for a ransom of many so you have Jesus primary joy is in bringing glory to God but think through it how does the death of Christ bring glory to God by reconciling us to God so in this cascading way you and I are the joy set before Christ on that day so that we read later in Galatians 1 15 through 16 as Saul of Tarsus is talking about his conversion he says this hmm but when God who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace listen to this was pleased to reveal his son in me now let me ask you just a quick question how many of you can in your wildest dreams believe that on the day that you were converted the heart of God was pleased and if look right I mean and if the heart of God was pleased when you were an enemy of God how much more is the heart of God now pleased in your progressive sanctification even if you wish you were farther along do you believe that in Christ God can look upon you and be pleased well I'm saying this is even if you're not a Christian you should want this to be true you shouldn't want this to be trusted last week at the end of the service that I have not read in all of philosophy and religion a more compelling beautiful story than what we read here in our scriptures that you get to stop striving and rest in the accomplished work of Jesus Christ you don't have to do you get to be you get to kind of melt back into Eden because the blood of Jesus reconciles us to God and make some people puts our heart back where it was meant to be in communion with God and in community with one another brothers sisters this is the invitation that's out there for all of us for the Christian to be reminded and encouraged for the non-christian to hear that Jesus hear me non-christian Jesus is not your enemy has not come to take from you anything other than one might ultimately harm or kill your soul and rob you from what you actually need and so if you've been cut on difficult things happen in life that that's not a punitive as much as it's surgical that Jesus yields his scalpel lightly to cut out what might kill us and provide for us might bring the fullness of life and so when we talk about Jesus suffering under Pontius Pilate being crucified dead and buried those are factual statements but the the weight is really underneath the facts and and that's really what the answer to the pilots question what is truth well truth is a man Jesus Christ the only Son of God our Lord let's pray father I thank you for our time together just to consider Jesus to consider the death of Jesus consider the beauty of Jesus and so I pray right now for my brothers and sisters who may be doubt your ability to forgive Holy Spirit just pray that you would open eyes that you would do the work of illumination that you might help hearts understand and know that your forgiveness is robust and complete if they'll repent and put their faith in you and father I pray for those who think sin is no big deal I pray that in the violence of the cross and the agony of the death of God the Sun second person of the Trinity that they would see and feel the weight of their sin and their rebellion against you whether that rebellion be irreligious or religious and pray that they might fling themselves at your mercy and become this part of this people that you have formed and created your generosity God is astounding we thank you and praise you it's for your beautiful name we pray amen

Channel: The Village Church Resources

Views: 15,581

Rating: 4.7267079 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Chandler, The Village Church, The Apostles' Creed, Apostles' Creed

Id: _5Ke-0R_0TU

Length: 45min 30sec (2730 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 22 2015