Matthew 27:33-36, 45-50
Debt Paid
Today is called Palm Sunday. It is the Sunday closest to Jesus’
Triumphant Entry \\#John 12:1\\ into Jerusalem at which the people
placed their coats and palm branches into His path as a type of "red
carpet" honor for Him. Palm Sunday starts the last week of Jesus’
earthly life and from here we can share the events of Jesus’ death. I
believe Jesus was crucified on Passover, Thursday, so between now and
then in that week 2,000 years ago, Jesus would have been teaching,
healing, and helping the people. On Thursday, Jesus would be
crucified. From the crucifixion to Sunday morning, we can share in
the anxiety of the disciples as they wonder about their faith, about
their Lord, about their lives. Then we can rise early Easter morning
to celebrate the joy of the resurrection.
The story we are reading this morning describes the death of Jesus.
It is the most important story in mankind’s existence. The events of
that day are the key which unlocks heaven’s doors for mankind, while
simultaneously locking hell’s door for all who will trust Christ. The
events of that day began to build the hinge upon which all of man’s
history swings. It is the story of God paying man’s sin payment. It
is the story of redemption.
In order to understand this story, we need some background. Most of
us already have that background but for those who do not, please
note the following:
1. God and man are different in the most important areas.
Habakkuk 1:13 Thou art of purer eyes than to
behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:
a. God is something that man is not - holy.
b. At the same time, man is something that God will never
be - sinful.
2. This difference—if not repaired—will leave man separated
from God forever.
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
3. But God loved mankind so much that He wanted to pay the price
of sin for man.
1Tim 2:4 (God) Who will have all men to be
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the
truth.
4. God sent His Son to make our payment of death.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
With those four truths in mind, let’s look at "God’s Payment for
Sin." Just two thoughts:
I. The Price Owed
A. If we are to understand God’s payment for sin, we must
understand something of the punishment of sin.
1. Sin’s punishment is complete and total separation from God.
Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid
his face from you, that he will not hear.
a. Total separation from God is perhaps the simplest
picture of what sin is and the simplest definition of
hell.
b. Let me draw you a word picture.
1John 4:8 … God is love.
2. The Bible did not say that God loves (although He does).
It said God IS love.
a. So a person who is totally separated from God would be
totally separated from love and everything that is
loving.
b. Consider all the qualities that are born out of love:
(1) Mercy - Loving people are merciful. Unloving
people are not. Why? Mercy is born of Love.
(2) Forgiveness - But forgiveness is born from Mercy.
Mercy is Love’s grandchild. No love, no mercy,
no forgiveness.
(3) Kindness - Kindness is Forgiveness’ sister.
Kindness is also born from Mercy and is the
grandchild of Love. If there is no love or
mercy, there will be no kindness.
(4) Gentleness - So also is Gentleness. These three
are triplets, Gentleness, Kindness, and
Forgiveness, and all three are children of Mercy
and grandchildren of Love.
(5) And there are many other siblings of these three:
(a) Tolerance
(b) Consideration
(c) Thoughtfulness
(d) Helpfulness
(e) Encouragement
(f) Compassion
(6) All born of Mercy who is born of Love.
c. To be completely and totally separated from God is to
be completely and totally separated from ALL of these
and many more which I could never comprehend.
3. Now, what is hell? Hell is the place God created where He
and all of His goodness absolutely are NOT.
a. Hell is a place of torment because there is not one
iota of God there.
b. That makes hell a place of great pain, suffering, and
torment.
Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment….
Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment
ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no
rest day nor night,
Revelation 20:10 …and (these) shall be tormented
day and night for ever and ever.
c. People accuse God of being cruel and hateful
concerning hell; but in reality, if you want to be
separated from God, hell is only God giving you what
you want.
B. So if Jesus is to take our place in hell, He must do more than
die. He must be totally separated from God and endure the
pain, suffering, and torments that go with being separated
from God.
II. The Payment Made - On the cross, Jesus paid for our sins in at
least two ways.
A. There was PHYSICAL SUFFERING.
1. If there is a place where there is no love, no mercy, no
kindness, no forgiveness, no goodness, it must be a
painful place.
2. Jesus took our pain, our torment.
3. The Bible only lightly mentions Jesus’ suffering.
a. Isaiah prophesied of His WOUNDS, His BRUISES, and His
STRIPES.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was
upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
b. The Gospel writers spoke of some of the blows Jesus
received.
Mark 14:65 And some began to spit on him, and
to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say
unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike
him with the palms of their hands.
c. And we are told that Pilate had Jesus scourged.
John 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and
scourged him.
4. But these accounts are only summaries. We (I) need to
better understand what they did to Jesus.
a. In an article entitled, The Crucifixion of Jesus, Matt
Slick. president and founder of the Christian
Apologetics and Research Ministry, wrote a more
historic and medical account of the crucifixion of
Jesus.
b. He began with the scourging.
http://www.carm.org/misc/crucifixion.htm
Jesus was stripped of His clothing and then scourged. In scourging, a
soldier used a whip called a flagrum consisting of leather straps
embedded with metal and glass fragments with small metal balls sewn
into the end of each thong. This whip was brought down with full
force and when struck against the back of Jesus, was pulled, thus
tearing the skin off, exposing muscle, and maybe even exposing His
very bones. Undoubtedly, His back was reduced to an oozing mass of
mutilated flesh. Scourging stops when it is determined that the
victim is near death or 39 lashes was reached. 39 was the number of
mercy according to Jewish law. By this time, Jesus was in great pain,
suffering severe blood loss, and was becoming very weak and thirsty.
Only after this was He taken to be crucified.
c. Let me pause here to say that the Bible tells us that
Jesus was crucified but with few details.
Matt 27:33 And when they were come unto a place
called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a
skull,
35 …they crucified him….
Jesus was led away to the cross and finally, He was nailed to a
cross-beam. Normally a person was laid down upon the cross beam and a
nail driven into one wrist. Then the other hand was pulled very
tightly and another nail driven into the other wrist. The nails were
usually about 6-8 inches long. Placing the nail in the wrist severs
the median nerve resulting in a burning pain as well as paralysis in
the hand.
Once Jesus was lifted to the cross, His feet were nailed to it. But,
in order to do this, His knees were bent and the feet brought up a
bit to allow them to lie flat against the stake so they could be
nailed to it. Once suspended, the force of gravity brings the weight
of the body down (upon the arms) and the shoulders and elbows
dislocate by popping out of joint and ripping the ligaments.
Because of the outstretched position of the arms, the chest cavity is
in a perpetually expanded state and it is very difficult to breathe.
With the severe loss of blood from the scourging and crucifixion,
Jesus would have become dehydrated and His body would have less blood
to carry oxygen. Therefore, His heart would beat faster as it
attempted to compensate and His need for oxygen would increase
greatly. In order to breath, Jesus had to push up on the nails in His
feet to allow His chest enough flexibility to inhale. Pushing up on
the nails is not only excruciating, but this meant that He had to
scrap His raw, beaten back against the rough wooden stake. This whole
process of breathing and exhaling by pushing up on the nails only
increases in intensity as time passes. Soon, the body gets to the
point of no return and the heart either ruptures or the person dies
from asphyxiation. But, before that happened, the blood loss results
in extreme thirst as the body craves water to restore the lost blood.
Jesus said, "I thirst" (John 19:28), whereupon a soldier offered Him
some sour wine (Luke 23:36), but Jesus refused it—because He would
not seek to escape any of the ordeal.
In order to prolong the suffering, sometimes, the Romans would have a
very small seat nailed to the stake so that the victim could
partially sit on it. This would allow a small amount of rest and
would greatly increase the time it took to die, sometimes by several
days. But in Jesus’ case, since He was so badly beaten before He got
to the cross, He died in a short amount of time. It was, therefore,
not necessary to break His legs to prevent Him from pushing up on the
nails in His feet so He could breath. Jesus died a horrible death.
Isaiah 52:14 As many were astonied at thee; his
visage was so marred more than any man, and his
form more than the sons of men:
5. So the Bible gives us a summary and we can locate
various historical and medical commentaries to better
comprehend the physical suffering Jesus endured, but
what about the spiritual suffering, the being
separated from God?
B. There was the SPIRITUAL SEPARATION.
Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus
cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?
1. There is nothing in the Bible or in this created existence
that can help us to understand what it is like to be
totally separated from God.
2. This one verse relates that it was on-going at the same
time Jesus’ body was being tortured by men.
a. Jesus, God’s Son, was separated from God.
b. Unimaginable to us is the reality that Jesus in those
few hours of separation from God endured all the pain
that we would endure if we were separated from God
for all eternity!
III. The Product Purchased - Salvation
A. Jesus died FOR us.
Ro 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in
due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Ro 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.
1. "For" means "instead of, in place of."
2. We have the story of Barabbas \\#Matt 27:16-22\\?
a. Pilate gave the people a choice.
b. They could release Jesus or Barabbas, an
insurrectionist and perhaps even a murderer.
c. They chose Barabbas.
d. It is possible that Jesus literally died on Barabbas’
cross.
3. The story of Barabbas is the story of the Guiltless dying
for the guilty, the Sinless dying for the sinful, the
Lord dying for the lost.
4. That is my story. It can be yours too.
B. There are two conditions to have this product.
1. Faith - You must believe the story of Jesus.
2. Repentance - You must yield your life to Jesus.
This is the story of God’s payment for our sins. The price is high—
unbearably high no matter who pays it. If you chose, you can pay it.
It will require your eternal and complete separation from God, but I
pray that you will allow Jesus to pay it for you.
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