Two Journeys

Jesus bore our cursed crown of thorns and was nailed to the bloody Roman cross, his loving sacrifice for us transforms the shame of our sin into glory.

The post The Shame of the Cross Produces the Glories of Heaven (Mark Sermon 85) appeared first on Two Journeys.

The most consistent attack from Satan in the church is false doctrine. Paul restates this threat to Titus and advises on how to deal with false teachers.

The post Class in Titus: The Problem Restated of False Teachers appeared first on Two Journeys.

In Revelation 2:8-11, the glorified Jesus Christ gives specific letters to three churches: Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira. In this episode, the letter is directed to the persecuted church of Smyrna.

The post Revelation Episode 3: Letters to the Churches: Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira – Part 1 appeared first on Two Journeys.

Paul reveals the stunning mystery of how God will save all Israel by grace through faith at the end of the world, along with the fullness of the Gentiles.

The post Class in Romans: Celebrating the Infinite Depths of God’s Plan – Part 1 appeared first on Two Journeys.

 Pilate's soul hangs in the balance as he puts Jesus Christ on trial and declares the innocent one guilty. The question lingers... are you doing the same?

This morning I had the privilege to sit again in the “Discovering Christ” class, which is a class we have every week to study the person and work of Christ based on the Gospel of Mark. I was struck again as we began the cycle. We're looking at infinite majesty of the person of Christ. That's the purpose of the Gospel of Mark. It depicts Jesus in His remarkable person, His authority, declared to be the son of God at His baptism by a voice that came from heaven when heaven was torn apart and a dove came down and a voice said, "This is My Son whom I love; with Him, I'm well pleased."

Then Jesus begins his ministry, teaching in a way that no one had ever heard before with authority, the ability to speak the truth of God in a powerful way, authoritative way- “You have heard that it was said, but I say to you.” Then as a demon possessed young man is there, to be able to instantly drive out the demon with a word. The demons were terrified of Jesus. He had no fear of them; He absolute authority over demons.  Then there was every disease and sickness known to man. There was no disease or sickness He could not cure effortlessly, instantaneously, personally, effectively, every disease and sickness.

We see His ability to control the wind and the waves when He was in the boat. A raging storm came down and the boat was filling with water. Jesus was asleep, then got up and stretched His hand over the wind and the waves and said, "Peace, be still." Instantly they obeyed His voice. “What kind of man is this? Even the wind in the waves obey him.”

He revealed power over death as He raised Jairus's daughter from the dead. He said, "Talitha Cumi, little girl, I say to you, get up,” and her spirit returned to her and she got up. For Him, death and sleep were no different. It's just the same as waking a girl up from sleep. That's how powerful Jesus is over death, but even more, His authority over sin, His ability to declare to a sinner, your sins are forgiven and they are.

This man that we've been learning about now in fourteen chapters now going into the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark is on trial before Pontius Pilate, on trial for His life, the only perfectly good man that's ever been.  On trial for what? What did He do except love God with all of His heart, soul, mind and strength and love His neighbor perfectly as Himself and didn't break any of God's laws or man's laws ever. He's on trial before Pontius Pilate. 

Things are not, however, as they appear. If we had been transported back in time and we were there, we'd see this prisoner arrested on trial before the Roman procurator, on trial for his life. But the reality is much different. It was determined in the mind of God that Jesus should die for the sins of the world and that that would be the process whereby it would happen. It was a foregone conclusion.

What's really going on in this account of Jesus before Pilot is that Pilot's on trial, actually. Pilot's on trial. In order to make that case and to make it then relevant to us, I'm going to... often I just stick with the words of Mark. But this morning I'm going to be reaching out to all four Gospels.  I would say especially John 18:28-19:16 which probably puts the trial of Pilot himself more clearly than any of the other gospels. I'll be leaning on that, but also some things from Matthew.

Whereas Pilot thought that he was evaluating and judging Jesus, the reality was that he was on trial and through him, all of us are, we all have a decision to make about Jesus because the Bible reveals that someday we're going to stand before his Judgment Seat. The only way we're going to survive that is if in this world, in this time now we have, come to personal faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Only that way will we survive judgment day, only that way.

So here's Pilot judging, the only perfectly innocent man that has ever lived and by condemning Jesus to death, a man Pilot again and again asserts publicly that He is innocent. A man he may well have believed was supernatural and incarnation of sorts. We'll talk about that. He was actually destroying his conscience and condemning his own soul, he did it, we're told in the text, to please the crowd. Behind that we can say, he was trying to save his life and his job. But Jesus put it so plainly in Mark 8:36, "What would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul?"

I don't know if Pilate ever did repent of his sins and trust in Jesus as his Lord and Savior, I have no idea. But if he didn't, he'll spend all eternity wishing for this moment back. The real question in front of all of us, what about us? What about you? Not just that personal moment of repentance and faith in Jesus, but understanding really what this passage teaches us.  There's so many lessons here. We're going to see how God orchestrated in providence the condemnation of Jesus before the Roman procurator, before any of these things came to be, that God moved providential wheels to give the Jews, the chief priests, the Sanhedrin power over Pilate, so he would do what they wanted him to do, though he didn't want to do it. We're going to walk through that and learn providence.

Now overall, the purpose of this account, like any account in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is summed up in John's purpose statement in John 20:31, "These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and believing may have life in His name." So that's the purpose today.

Let's walk through the trial. Let's see what happens in Mark's account, but then looking at the others as well. In the charge against Jesus... Jesus is arraigned before Pilate, the religious phase of the trial is over. The Jewish leaders had come to their decision. Look at verse 1, “Very early in the morning the chief priests with the elders, the teacher of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led Him away and delivered Him over to Pilate.” They have condemned Jesus to death, but they can't kill him, as much as they would like to. The Romans took away the power of that local body to execute people. The Romans retain that right, so they needed Pilate's involvement. They deeply wanted to put Jesus to death. They wanted him killed.

Now we notice in John's account the hypocrisy of these Jewish religious leaders. In John 18:28, "Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness, the Jews did not enter the palace because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.”  This is disgusting, religious hypocrisy. They maintained an outward appearance of spirituality and legality, but their whole purpose that morning was to murder an innocent man and not just any innocent man but to kill the glorious Son of God. But they're maintaining a certain pattern of religiosity so they can go through their rituals.

Pilate asks Him this question, verse 2, "Are you the King of the Jews?" That's how it begins. This was the charge the Jews had figured would work with the Roman governor. They had tried to get him, as we know earlier in Mark's Gospel, on tax evasion, saying you don't need to pay taxes to Caesar, but Jesus openly asserted that they did. "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God, the things that are God's." So that didn't work out, but this “King of the Jews” charge was weighty because it implied a threat to Roman interest in the area.

In Luke's Gospel, Jesus’ enemies took another approach. In Luke 23:5, they insisted, "He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here." That basically is a charge that He's a rabble rouser, He's an insurrectionist. Ironically, Barabbas, the very one they chose instead of Jesus, was openly an insurrectionist. So are you for or against insurrectionists?  In Luke 23:19, "Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city and for murder." 

Pilate zeroes in on this question, this charge, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus gives a very interesting answer. In verse 2, "You have said it," or, "Yes, it is as you say," there are different translations. In Matthew 27:11, "You have said it." What does that mean? It’s somewhat mysterious.  Perhaps Jesus meant the words like this, “Yes, it is as you say, but it's not what you mean or not how you mean. Or, you have said it but you really don't understand it.” In John 18, he goes into it in more detail. In John 18:36-38, "'My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews, but now my kingdom is from another place.' 'You are a king then,' said Pilate. Jesus answered, 'You are right in saying that I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.' 'What is truth?' Pilate asked." That's a more in-depth conversation on Jesus's kingship.

Jesus's kingdom is infinitely more powerful and more complex, more spiritual than Pilate could possibly imagine, but it's an entirely different thing than he was thinking when he asked, "Are you the King of the Jews?" So was He? Was Jesus King of the Jews? Answer: Absolutely, yes. As a matter of fact, that's the purpose of the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. The first thing taught in the New Testament about Jesus is that He is the son of David, meaning King of the Jews. That's true, yes, He was King of the Jews, but not the way anyone thought, not the way His disciples thought, not the way anybody on earth thought. Yes, He's King of the Jews, but certainly not the way Pilate thought. Actually, Jesus is more than just King of the Jews. In Zechariah 9:10 it says, "He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth." So not just King of the Jews, but yes, King of the Jews.

Was Jesus a threat? Was Jesus a threat to Pilate? Was Jesus a threat to Caesar? Was Jesus a threat to Rome? Answer: yes and no. Let's say no and yes. Jesus is no threat to lead an immediate political insurrection against Pontius Pilate and Judea or Caesar and the Roman Empire.  But Jesus threatened Pilate and Caesar with eternal damnation. Jesus' kingdom is vastly more powerful than any earthly ruler could ever imagine. When Christ returns, He will set up a kingdom that will destroy all other kingdoms and will itself never be destroyed. This is the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2, it says, "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever.”  This is the meaning of the vision of a rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands. The rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces. Those represent empires. All empires come to an end at the Second Coming of Christ, and Jesus's kingdom established will reign forever and ever. The account is given in Revelation 19 of the Second Coming, "Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule him with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty and on his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords."

Is Jesus a threat? Absolutely. Just not the way the Pilate was thinking. Jesus responds in silence, in direct fulfillment of prophecy. Look at verses 3-5, the chief priests accused Him of many things. Again, Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they're accusing you of." But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. This is in direct fulfillment of course, of Isaiah 53:7, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth."

Why not? Why was Jesus silent? There's a horizontal and a vertical aspect of Jesus' silence. Horizontally, He's silent because the trial is completely corrupt and unjust, and there's nothing He can say that will change it, and He's very aware of that. There's no point in Him saying anything. As He says in Luke 22:67-68, "'If you are the Christ,' they said, 'tell us.' Jesus answered, 'If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you a question, you would not answer.'" So He's openly saying, "What's the point?” Horizontally, there's no point in Him answering.

Vertically, He must be silent because He's our sin bearer and there's nothing we can say in response to defend ourselves. We are guilty. We have broken God's laws and He has taken our sins on Himself and cannot reply to Almighty God, and so He must be silent, vertically. Pilate was amazed at the silence. He had never seen any prisoner behave like this man. As procurator with the power of life, death, he was used to seeing prisoners in many different states. Some might beg and plead for their lives, groveling on the ground. Some might be terrified, unable to speak because of terror, paralyzed. Some might be sullen or defiant or louder defiant.  But Jesus had a supernatural calm to Him and a peace to Him. In the Gospel account, especially in John, there's a sense that He's in charge of the whole process. He has no fear at all. “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” Pilot's never seen a man like this before. Never.  Proverbs 16:32, "Better a patient man than a warrior. A man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." Jesus was in absolute control of Himself, of His emotions, of His reactions at every moment. He was infinitely strong.

It really is Pontius Pilate on trial. Look at verses 6-15, “That was the custom at the feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilot to do for them what he usually did. ‘Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews,’ asked Pilot, knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilot release Barabbas instead. ‘What shall I do then with the one you call King of the Jews,’ Pilot asked them. ‘Crucify him,’ they answered. ‘Why? What crime has he committed,’ asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’ Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilot released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.”

Pilot's on trial here, though he doesn't know it. As we look at John's account, we can see that Pilot again and again and again tries to release Jesus. It's his top priority it seems, below self-interest. He wants to release Jesus, he wants to set him free.  Pilot knows that Jesus is innocent. In our text he says he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. Pilot has undoubtedly heard about Jesus's miracles and the power that surrounded His ministry. 

Thirdly, Greeks and Romans frequently believed that the gods and goddesses took on human bodies and mucked around in human life and did human things and got into human affairs, and they believed this. There's biblical support of this conception. In the book of Acts, in Acts 14:11-12 when Paul and Barnabas were ministering in Lystra and did a healing miracle, it says, "When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in Lyconian language, 'The Gods have come down to us in human form.'" That's it right there. Barnabas, they called Zeus, and Paul, they called Hermes. They tried to offer sacrifices to them. This idea of gods taking on human bodies was well established in Greek and Roman culture. 

Fourthly, we have Pilate's wife who had a dream about Jesus and sends him a message during the trial about the dream, and we'll get back to that in a moment. John's Gospel, therefore, makes it plain that Pontius Pilate was afraid of Jesus. Most of the depictions of the trial do not show this aspect of Pilate, but he was afraid of Jesus.

In John 19:7-9, “The Jews insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law, he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.’ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid and he went back inside the palace. ‘Where do you come from,’ he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.” What do you think was in his mind when he asked him that question?  Are you a God? That's what he's asking. But however afraid he was of Jesus, he was even more afraid of what the Jews would do to him if he didn't do what they wanted.

Now to get this background, we have to turn to a Jewish historian named Josephus, who tells us what the early stages of Pontius Pilate's rule was like in Judea. It was bad. Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived shortly after Jesus, and he gives us insights. Pilate ruled the Roman province of Judea from 26-36 AD.  Once he was established in his position, he quickly offended the Jews multiple times by his high-handed and arrogant treatment of the Jewish people. Right away he marches into Jerusalem and sets up the Roman Eagles in the temple itself.  The Roman Eagles were looked on by the Romans and therefore by the Jews as idols, representatives of Caesar's power. For him to put them physically in the temple was incredibly offensive to the Jews. They assembled and demanded that he remove the Eagles. Pilate refused and threatened the Jewish mob with slaughter if they didn't disperse. Undaunted, the Jews bared their necks and said, "Go ahead and kill us. We're not leaving." So Pilate backed down, losing face and authority with them. Soon after that, he offended the Jews again with his handling of a public aqueduct conflict. Again, the Jews assembled a protest. Pilot had the crowd infiltrated with plain clothes Romans, bearing swords. When the Jews refused to disperse again, Pilot gave the signal and the soldiers slaughtered many of the Jews. Jesus talks about this, how Pilot had mingled their blood with their sacrifices. He killed a lot of Jews that day. But the Emperor Tiberius was so angry at Pilot for his mismanagement because if he's stirring up trouble, Caesar will have to send more troops to the region.

This is key. He was under orders to keep things quiet and orderly and get along with the Jews. These two things happened before Jesus's trial. Do you not see the hand of God in all this? He's giving to the Jewish Sanhedrin, the high priests, the chief priests, power over Pilot and they traded it in, in John's Gospel. No doubt about it. It says in John 19:12, "From then on Pilot tried to set Jesus free." You see that statement? He wants to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar's. Anyone who claims to be a king, opposes Caesar." They're clearly threatening to go to Tiberius, to go over his head. There's no doubt about it.

Now, as I said, Pilot's conviction is that Jesus was completely innocent. He knew it was out of envy that the chief priest had handed Jesus over to him. Three times in John's Gospel, he declares publicly that Jesus was innocent of any charge at all. John 18:38, "I find no fault in him." John 19:4, "Look, I'm bringing you out to let you know I find no fault in him." And then verse 6, "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against." That's three times a public assertion of Jesus's innocence. Set him free, you’re in charge. Set him free if he's innocent.

This whole conviction is even more greatly strengthened by his wife's dream. Matthew 27:19, "While Pilot was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message. 'Don't have anything to do with that innocent man.'" Innocent man. "For I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."

What effect do you think that message would've had on Pilot in the middle of this? In John's account, he goes out to the Jews and back to Jesus. He goes out. He's going back and forth. He doesn't know what to do. He's like a trapped animal. All of this was orchestrated by God. Why? Because He wanted to give His only-begotten son, in your place, as an atonement for your sins to bring you to heaven. That's why, and Jesus was equally determined to die for you and me. That's why all this was happening.

Now he tries the clever attempt. One of the things he tries is, "Oh wait, yeah, it's the feast. I can release a prisoner. I got an idea. Let's do that.” It was the custom at the feast to release a prisoner whom the people had requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists, who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. Pilate brings it up in John's Gospel. They both remember this custom. "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews," asked Pilate, knowing it was out of envy the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.

However, this clever attempt to get out of this whole thing was thwarted by the Jewish leaders. In verse 11, the chief priest stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. I don't know how they did that, but they were running the show here. They had infiltrated the crowd. They had whispered, they'd called in IOUs, maybe bribed some people, got some people to shout things out for Barabbas and then shout, "Crucify!" for Jesus. They manipulate the crowd into a maniacal frenzy. "What shall I do then with the one you call King of the Jews," Pilate asked them. "Crucify him!" they shouted. "Why? What crime has he committed? He's innocent." But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!”  In Matthew's account, "Pilate saw he was getting nowhere, but instead an uproar was starting." It's a frenzy. Satan must've been stirring this whole thing on as well. It was Satan that was in Judas Iscariot to orchestrate this whole thing. Satan's fanning this whole thing into a flame because he was a murderer and he hates the Son of God and wants him killed.

The sinlessness of Jesus is clearly established. The roots of the chief priests and elders, their wicked hatred for Jesus was envy, greed, and power. The crowd vacillating just a week before shouting, "Hosanna, Hosanna!" Now they're yelling, "Crucify, crucify!" This is the culmination of Jesus's rejection by His own people. He's been officially rejected by the chief priests and the Sanhedrin. He's officially condemned to death, but now the people are shouting for His death. "He came to his own and his own did not receive him." [John 1:11].  In Matthew 27, this stunning statement is made, "When Pilot saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. 'I'm innocent of this man's blood,' he said. 'It's your responsibility.' And all the people answered, 'Let his blood be on us and on our children.’"

Wow, what a statement. What does that mean? “Let his blood be on us,” mean we'll take responsibility. It's a common Jewish expression. Like in Leviticus 20:9, "If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father and mother and his blood will be on his own head." In other words, he's responsible for what's coming to him. That's their way of saying, "We will take responsibility, let his blood be on us and on our children." This is the very thing that Jesus said would happen in Matthew 23, after the seven-fold woes. "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees." After all that He says, "'Therefore, I'm sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you'll kill and crucify. Others, you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town and so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come down on this generation.’" They are going to be responsible for it all. They're willing to take responsibility for the death of Jesus. Later they try to shirk this responsibility. In Acts 5, they said to the apostles, "You filled Jerusalem with your teaching and to determine to make us guilty of this man's blood." Well, you are, you are. So that's the first sense, that's the darkest sense. 

But there's another sense of “Let his blood be on us and on our children,” a much better sense. Because it is only by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross that our sins are forgiven, that our sins are forgiven. At present through unbelief, the blood of Jesus is upon them and their children for condemnation and for guilt, but if any individual Jewish person repents of his or her sins and trusts in Christ, His blood will be on them to cleanse them from all their sins, just as it's on us for salvation and cleansing. For God delivered Jesus over as a propitiation, a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. It is by the blood of Jesus, by the shedding of blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. I believe that at the end of history, there'll be a massive turning of ethnic Jews physically descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to faith in Jesus, and His blood will be on Abraham's children for salvation. As it says in Romans 11, "And so all Israel be saved, as it is written. The deliverer will come from Zion; he'll turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

The final verdict is given by Pilot. In verse 15, "Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilot released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged and handed them over to be crucified." Pilot could not evade responsibility. He washes his hands, but he's responsible for what he did. He rendered a verdict, guilty, death on a cross, but it violated his conscience. He knew he wasn't guilty.

Was it really Pilot who handed Jesus over to be crucified? It was at the human level, but as I've already said, Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare His own son but delivered Him up for us all. How will He not also along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Interesting, at the moment that He was delivered over to be crucified, Barabbas was set free. That's marvelous, isn't it? It's an interesting picture. The guilty set free, the innocent dies. This is a picture of substitutionary atonement. As 1 Peter 3:18 says, "For Christ died for sins once for all the righteous, for the unrighteous to bring you to God." Barabbas represents a disgusting, vile murderous sinner who's set free from condemnation death by Jesus. I'm not saying Barabbas is in heaven. I hope so. Wouldn't it be great to meet him and say, "Generations have been talking about you, now here you are." But we don't know. We have no knowledge, but I'm just saying he's a picture of a guilty person set free and not having to pay the penalty that we deserve. 

Concerning the flogging, it was a hideous punishment. Picture a rod of wood and long leather straps with bits of bone and metal at the end, like a whip, only enhanced. The straps would wrap around the victim's body and then rip flesh off that victim's back. It was a hideous torture. If done enough, it would be lethal. It was done to weaken the victim before the crucifixion, so he ordered that it be done. Why? He was innocent. In John's Gospel, it was used as one of the steps that he tried to appease the people, but it didn't work. Here it is written at the end. It's beautiful because in Isaiah 53:5 it says, "He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our inequities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds, sometimes translated stripes, we are healed.” As 1 Peter 2:24 says, "He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”

First of all, the judgment theme. You've heard the evidence, you have the information. You're sitting, in some sense, in judgment on Jesus. You're deciding about Jesus. God gives you that time to do that. Make a right judgment. Evaluate Him properly. Look at the evidence. I began the sermon with the marvels of the person of Jesus as depicted in the Gospel of Mark. Make a right judgment about Jesus and trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins and the salvation of your soul. Don't do what Pilate did. Make a right judgment about Jesus.

Secondly, understand what's going on here. I've said it two or three times, I'll say it one final time. This account is evidence of God's sovereign control over human history, His orchestration of events, His maneuvering of people and positioning of people because He's sovereign over everything that happens on earth. What He was doing was giving the Jews power over Pontius Pilate so that he would condemn an innocent man to death. What God's intention was to give Jesus as a Savior for your sin. Again here, Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him graciously give us all things?" What is the “all things”? I've been thinking about different pastoral circumstances that I'm walking through right now with different people in the church. It could be medical, it could be relational, it could be a sin problem, it could be financial. There's all kinds of things going on all the time in the life of the church. I don't know what's happening in all your lives.The things that you're yearning for are significant, they’re important. Romans 8:32 doesn't minimize. It's just saying, "With God already having given his only-begotten Son, everything else in the universe is lesser than that to Him. He would not withhold from you anything that would further His purpose in your life, which is to save your soul, use you in this world, and then take you to heaven.”  Understand that's what's going on in this trial here.

Thirdly, rejoice in God's sovereignty over wicked, unjust human governments. As we go through a political process in this nation, and we wonder who's going to get elected president or lesser roles, and not just our country, but around the world, we can see evidence of this kind of selfishness and weakness and caving into the crowd and injustice. Isn't it wonderful to know that God is sovereign over that whole thing and rules actively over it for His own purposes, for His own glory, and for the good of His people?

Fourth, look at the fickleness of the crowd here. "Hosanna," one week, a week later, “Crucify," and distrust your own loyalty to Jesus. Say, "Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord. Take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Help me not to be fickle and weak and vacillating in my love for Jesus."

Finally, it's time now to get our hearts ready for the Lord's Supper. I'm going to close the sermon time and prayer ,and we're going to transition to the Lord's Supper. Father, we thank you for the word of God. We thank you for its power. We thank you for this account of the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate. Now as we give our attention to the Lord's Supper, we pray that you would be with us in this time. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Pilate's soul hangs in the balance as he puts Jesus Christ on trial and declares the innocent one guilty. The question lingers... are you doing the same?

The post Christ on Trial Before Pontius Pilate (Mark Sermon 84) appeared first on Two Journeys.

In Revelation 2:1-7, Christ speaks directly to the church at Ephesus, commending them for their hard work, doctrinal purity, and perseverance, but rebukes them for “forsaking their first love.”

The post Revelation Episode 2: Christ’s Letters to the Churches: Ephesus appeared first on Two Journeys.

This Easter sermon uses a spring analogy to demonstrate that Christ’s resurrection is a pattern for all Christians that we will certainly follow

I believe that spring is the perfect time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God uses the unfolding seasons to proclaim truth to every inhabit of the earth. We know this because Romans 1 tells us that God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen being understood from what has been made. God communicates His invisible attributes, His nature, and I believe even His purposes in creation.

Consider the unfolding seasons. Take summer for example, we see God's lavish nature, His generosity as He opens His hand and satisfies the desires of billions of living creatures all over the earth. The beasts of the field feed on the sweet green grass growing plentifully beneath their feet. In the summer we see lush meadows. We see beautiful wild flowers growing everywhere. We hear the noise of bubbling streams. We hear the songs of innumerable and different species of birds. We feed on the sweetest of summer fruits, strawberries, peaches, melons. That's summer.

But then autumn comes. The season changes, the weather gets cooler, the skies get vividly, bright blue and then they get darker. Harvest time draws near, the last chance to collect food before there's nothing available to collect. The birds overhead are migrating, knowing they can't stay here. Winter is coming. The spectacular colors of fall foliage on leaves that will soon flutter to the earth and die reminds us that all glory, all physical glory here is fleeting and temporary, soon to sink back into the earth from which it came.

And then comes winter. God speaks a word of cold judgment, of sterile death, long dark nights, winter blasts, nothing growing, no color on the earth, just frozen water, snow, ice, silence. Picture walking through a snowy forest in the winter, you stop and listen and you hear thick, eerie silence, muffled stillness, really a picture of death.

But then comes spring. And what does God speak here in my mind as a Christian, but resurrection from the dead. Flower buds on trees ready to burst forth. You got subterranean tulip bulbs ready to emerge from recently hardened snow-covered ground to display radiant and colored life. The warm breezes, delightful fragrances of spring in the air. I especially love budding trees and their different colors. The birds have returned and they chatter and they begin to resume their energetic lives. All of these whisper to the world of a yearning for resurrection from the dead.

However, the bodily resurrection from the dead of human beings from the grave must be a specifically revealed truth, revealed in the pages of Scripture not gleaned from nature. For it seems nature speaks ardently against it. The seasons preach, but the Word preaches better.

Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15.  We’re going to walk through some portions of this great chapter. Resurrection from the dead is proclaimed truth, it's revealed in the pages of scripture. The doctrine of the resurrection from the dead is a Christian doctrine. Other religions of the world do not teach it. The Greek philosophies that Paul was battling there in ancient Corinth and earlier in ancient Athens respected the idea generally of the immortality of the soul, but they openly mocked Paul on Mars Hill when he spoke of the resurrection from the dead.

That's why Paul wrote this great resurrection chapter in 1 Corinthians 15. He is refuting people who are steeped in Greek philosophy, who are saying first that resurrection from the dead is impossible and secondly, that it's undesirable. He begins with the central fact concerning the bodily resurrection from the dead, that Christ is risen. Christ's resurrection is central to the Christian gospel. Look at verses 1 and 2 in this chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, "Now brothers I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain."

Christ's death and resurrection are both in fulfillment of prophetic scripture. Look at verse 3 and 4, "For what I received, I passed on to you as a first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures."

Paul then goes on to talk about eyewitness proof of the resurrection. Christ appeared first to Peter and then He appeared to the twelve, and then He appeared to more than five hundred eyewitnesses. Paul says most of whom were still alive at the time when he was writing that chapter. They could be summoned to testify to what they saw, eyewitness testimony to the resurrection. Then Christ appeared to James, his biological brother and then again to all the apostles. Then last of all, after a delay of time, to Paul himself. Now these eyewitnesses are effectively summoned here in this chapter by Paul's writings to prove that Christ has risen from the dead. Resurrection from the dead is not only possible, it has happened.

Then he addresses the main problem in verse 12, the reason he's writing the chapter, "But if it is preached to Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection from the dead?" That's the key clue on why he's writing this chapter, there were people saying that to them it seemed impossible, actually absurd. That's what I meant when I said nature is against resurrection. Yes, the spring testifies to life from seemingly dead things, and Paul is going to use this analogy in the verses in this chapter I'm going to focus on for this sermon, verses 35-38, of seeds that fall down into the ground and die and then produce life.

But specific human beings die and you never see them again. There are absolutely no exceptions, everyone dies. The rich and poor alike, old and young alike, powerful and weak alike, famous and obscure alike. Death seems absolutely unbeatable. All the pharmaceutical research and medical technologies and genetic insights and tailor-made therapies, miracles of modern science, cannot defeat death. They just stave it off temporarily. It's irreversible, once that specific loved one is gone, that person never returns ever.

Paul was asked to address this basic concern, death the final enemy, and he faces their false doctrine head on. If resurrection from the dead actually were impossible, then Christ himself has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. We are all still in our sins. We have no way to be forgiven by a holy God. Paul and all Christian apostles and evangelists and missionaries and pastors and teachers and roommates and friends and neighbors that tell you these things are liars. Everyone that has died, they're gone. You will never see them again. Death still reigns, the merciless vicious tyrant it has always been, and Christ is actually no savior at all.

Now like Paul, I can't go on long in that vein, that tone, because in verse 20, "But Christ has been raised from the dead." Hallelujah. He's already stated this at the beginning of the chapter, but it's like he can't say it enough. He said it when he first came to Corinth, when he was there in weakness and fear and much trembling, preaching Christ and him crucified. But he didn't just preach Christ and him crucified, he also preached Christ and him resurrected. He preached that simple and clear message. Almighty God sent His son, His only-begotten son; through the Virgin Mary took on a human body. He lived a physical life tempted in all ways just as we are yet was without sin. He did stunning miracles, amazing miracles. He taught amazing teachings, but especially He died in our place on the cross as an atonement for our sins.

And on the third day, God raised Him from the dead. Through faith in Jesus Christ, that simple message I've just proclaimed, all of our sins are forgiven and that we ourselves will receive the benefit of Christ's resurrection from the dead. That's why we're singing and so excited and celebrating. It's not just some historical fact, we believe we're singing about our own future this morning. As Jesus said in John 11, "I am the resurrection in the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”  Paul in this great resurrection chapter says Christ's resurrection is a pattern for all Christians that we will certainly follow. Look again at verse 20, “but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” The first fruits is speaking of a vast harvest yet to come. We are in that harvest if we believe in Jesus.

All of this makes up the basic good news which Christians all over the world are celebrating today. It is not my purpose to walk verse by verse through this entire chapter, though nothing would please me more. But I'm telling you the sermons already quite long. I tried to shorten it, friends, but get ready, we're going to be here a while. This morning's text is verse 35 through 38, "But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?' How foolish. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be but just a seed, perhaps a weed or something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined and to each kind of seed, he gives its own body."

Paul is addressing objections to the doctrine of resurrection based on the immense practical difficulties of resurrection from the dead. Specifically, how could it happen? What kind of body would we have if we're going to be raised from the dead? It's interesting in verse 36, he answers with a rebuke, "How foolish." It's one of the stranger moments in the chapter, especially because he goes on to answer the question that he rebukes. Why does he say this? Why does he say, "How foolish"? I think it's for this reason.  He's addressing the foolishness of a person who thinks that the God who created the universe by the word of His power and sustains it every moment of its existence by the word of His power is not capable of doing this, especially if you can't specifically understand how. That's foolish, Paul's saying. If I can't understand it and if I can't work out the details, then it can't happen. That's a foolish way of thinking. What's foolish is to overturn the clear evidence he's already given that Christ has been raised from the dead, and that it was clearly predicted in the Scriptures and all of that because you can't reason out the practical issues.

The fundamental insight in these verses concerning the resurrection body is that of continuity and transformation. I want to focus on those two aspects that Paul's giving us, continuity and transformation. The body that is raised is intimately mystically directly connected to the body that is sown in the ground, but what is raised is infinitely superior to it. Continuity and transformation, what is sown is raised.He uses that powerful image of a seed planted in the earth that gives birth to a beautiful mature plant. The seed that is cast into the earth dies. Verse 36, "What you sow does not come to life unless it dies." You've got this grain of wheat that's cast down into the soil, and the moist soil surrounds the husk of the seed. It goes to work on the seed's husk, it dissolves it. The seed, as you would know it, is gone. You never see it again.  But in the mysterious wisdom of God, in the soft kernel, the center of the seed takes over and does its amazing work. There emerges a green shoot from the genetic material, it grows, it pushes out into the surrounding soil. It sucks nutrients and moisture from the soil and it grows surging with energy in life. Then the course of time, a green shoot emerges above the ground poking through the top layer of soil, and on it goes until it's ultimately a mature plant.

Now the seed and the plant look different. Verse 37, "When you sow you do not plant the body that will be but just a seed, perhaps a weed or something else." There's no apparent connection between the appearance of the seed and the plant that springs up from it. But there is indisputable continuity between the two. The particular seed planted in the soil results in a specific and corresponding plant. So it is with our mortal bodies. They do not look like what they will be when they're resurrected. The corpse is ugly, it shrivels, stripped of honor. Paul later says it's sown in dishonor.

I've been pastor here for twenty-five years. I've seen a lot of dear friends age, get sick and die. From time to time when I would visit some of them in their last days, I could scarcely recognize them as the friend I've known for many years. Their body looks different, physically repulsive in some respects. Their corpses were eventually planted in the ground and we don't know anything after that except that we know that corruption takes over and they look nothing when they're sown in the ground in that dishonored state like the radiant glory that will characterize their resurrection bodies when they emerge from the grave.

So we have this concept of continuity. We do not believe that we will be created in our resurrection bodies, “ex nihilo,” out of nothing, as though God speaks and you then exist. That would not be resurrection, that would be an entirely new work, and that's not what this chapter's teaching. There is a determination in the mind and heart of God to raise you up from the grave. There's an unbreakable cord between your present body and what will be raised in the mind and heart of God and the purpose of God and death cannot sever that cord, that tie. That's the doctrine of resurrection.

The outward appearance of the seed is misleading. You have to take it by faith. There is no glory in the appearance of a seed unless you're an expert, a horticultural expert. Most of us are not that interested in the appearance of the seed. Have you ever seen a seed packet that shows the seed on the cover, the little picture on the cover? They never show the seed. They never do that. They show you what it's going to be, a geranium, a morning glory, a tulip or maybe some kind of vegetable, a squash or a tomato. It shows a fully formed fruit or vegetable, a flower. If I had a table out here of various seeds and asked you to identify them, you couldn't. Neither could I.

Paul addresses these foolish objectors, "How foolish." I've told you the reason why. There is a difference between asking questions and questioning. Asking questions is normal and expected and welcomed in Christianity. We want people to ask questions. That's fine. The Bible's full of answers to those questions. But questioning, now that's a different matter. Questioning means I've already decided this can't happen, I'm going to use the rhetorical technique of asking a series of questions that I don't think there's any good answer to, to prove that it can't happen. That's what's foolish here, questioning. I understand why, because the pragmatic aspects, the practical aspects seem insurmountable.

I was reading a sermon that Charles Sturgeon wrote on this text, and it enriched me so much, so many benefits that I got from it, but he was talking about something I didn't know about that I found rather horrifying. In 19th century churches there was frequently a cemetery connected with the church, we have it here in this area from time to time, some of the older Baptist churches. Occasionally it would happen that a plowman would go through a field where there were dead bodies, and the dead bodies had gotten mixed up with manure and fertilizer and got planted and sown on a field. That's creepy.  I'm not even going to get into the corn or whatever that grew from that. What ends up happening with all that? That's a problem. 

We have similar questions. Fiery plane crash, no survivors left, can't even see, identify a body or someone that dies in the ocean and their body's completely disintegrated, that kind of thing, and the molecules break apart. I don't know, atoms, I don't know, gets down to this thing. How could it ever be reassembled? Are not our corpses like the essence of dust in the wind. Once scattered never to be reassembled. But Paul would say, how foolish to think that almighty God can't do it. The omniscient one. The omnipresent one. Have we forgotten that the Bible teaches that God sustains every atom in the universe directly by His power through His son Jesus Christ, that in Him all things hold together [Colossians 1].  God keeps track of innumerable things in the cosmos. Take for example Isaiah 40:26, speaking of the stars, the prophet says, "Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name.” That's an achievement. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Being the geek that I am I googled how many stars are there in the cosmos, and the internet has the answer. Scientists estimate that there may be as many as 10 to the 24th power, stars in the universe. So then I googled, how many atoms are there in a mature human body? It depends how much you weigh, I guess, but the estimate is 1,000 times more atoms in an average human body than there are stars in the cosmos. You're like, that's the breaking point for God. He can keep track of the stars and call them each by name, but he'll lose track of our atoms. Not at all. Numbers are nothing to God. God can do this. Furthermore, we're thinking too simplistically about all this. Is it the exact same molecules that make me up right now? Is that what we're talking about? Seeds don't do that. Seeds draw together things that are not originally in the seed to assemble the final mature body. Take an acorn for example, how much does an acorn weigh and how much does a fully mature oak tree weigh? The answer is 24,000 to 36,000 pounds on average. Where'd all that come from? The seed drew it, and put it together. 

Then not only that, but what about your own body? Are you the same person you were 10 years ago? You are not, and yet you are. Because medical science tells us that your body's rejuvenating and replacing cells all the time.  Your skin cells are replaced every few weeks. In fact, you lose half a billion skin cells every day, which is a little bit gross, but there it is. Then they get replenished with new skin cells, and then there's other cells that take much longer. But I think on average, definitely every 10 years you're different. But if you left this country, said goodbye to your loved ones, your family or friends and went and lived in another country for ten years and came back, they would not see you as an entirely different person, they would recognize you as the same person.  You are you even though your cells have been replaced. So that's the concept. The genetic code within your cells is the key to uniqueness as a person. The shape of your nose, your jawline, your eyes, the way the muscles in your face move when you're happy or you're nervous, that is you. The cells that replicate are doing so according to a hidden secret recipe that makes you you.

 All I can say is it's just an analogy of what I can see with the resurrection from the dead. God knows what you are when He raises you from the dead, and He makes you out of what you were into some radically beautiful new thing that you will be. That's the continuity. God has that recipe for you in His own mind, and He will finish it by raising you from the dead.  Spurgeon in that sermon said, the very body in which you sinned and suffered and served Christ will mysteriously be raised, refined and readied for eternal praise to God. That the same body that walked the streets of this dust covered earth will walk the streets of gold in the new Jerusalem.

Not only that, not only physical continuity, but I believe a continuity of history and personality and your story, your life story, gets raised with you as well. What you sow, you get. Verses 37-39, "When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be but just a seed perhaps of weed or something else. But God gives it a body as he's determined and to each kind of seed he gives his own body. All flesh is not the same. Men have one kind of flesh, animals another birds, another flesh, another, and star differs from star and glory." If you plant a wheat seed, you're not getting barley. If you plant peas, you don't get avocado. Every plant has its own attributes, and so it is with us. Dear brothers and sisters, we're not identical. We're very, very similar, but we're not identical. We have marks as faces and features, but we also have a life that we lived and there's just a combination. I think it's perfected in the wounds of Jesus that was still in His resurrection body afterwards, very uniquely so because I don't believe we'll bear any wounds from things we suffered here on earth, but Jesus did just to show He is the one, the very one that was crucified, He was the one that was raised.  As He said to doubting Thomas, "Touch me and see. Put your fingers in, your nail marks, hands in the sides." There's continuity there of what He did. Christian martyrs will retain their lineage. I don't believe their wounds, but their lineage. Those that serve Christ in certain ways, it will be remembered and honored in Heaven and we will celebrate it. We all have a unique history, a story. Peter isn't raised Paul, and Isaiah is not raised as Daniel. There are backstories that come with those resurrected bodies. Forever we're going to be celebrating each other's honors as though they were our own as 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, "If one part is honored, the whole body, every part rejoices with it." That's a beautiful concept, isn't it? You're going to be celebrating your brothers and sisters honors as though they were your own and that's a beautiful thing.

What about transformation? The corpse that is sown into the earth is sown in dishonor and weakness. Paul says this in verse 43, "Death strips the human body of all its honor. It doesn't appear fearfully and wonderfully made anymore, aging is bad enough as beauty and strength and skill erode gradually over the years. How much more the dishonor done to the corpse after the soul has fled?" Microbes and parasites devour it and degradation, Mary said of her dead brother Lazarus, "There's a bad odor for he's been there for four days like a rotting piece of meat." Despite the fact that human beings were originally created in the image of God, sin and death more than merely deface that image, but not so the resurrected body. It is raised in radiant glory and limitless power. It is raised in corruptible, imperishable, immortal. Those are all opposite words. Can't corrupt, can't perish, can't die, impossible.

The glory the resurrection body has at the first moment will never fade. One thousand ages, won't dim the resurrected eye or weaken the resurrected arm, everlasting youth and vigor, beauty and vitality. You are dust, into dust you shall return, then you'll be bodily spirit and spiritual body.  Work that one out, but a perfect union between your body and your spirit forever. The beauty of the body and of the soul and of the mind and the heart. Perfect forever, perfect form, perfect color, perfect shape, details radiantly beautiful. Your heart, as I mentioned, will be transformed as well.

This has already happened to the saints that have departed and left their bodies behind. They're called absent from the body, present with the Lord. But they are the spirits of righteous men made perfect. Their hearts are already perfect and what that means is they'll never have an evil thought again, a sinful thought. They're already perfectly worshiping God and so it'll be with us, our hearts will burn with a zeal for the glory of God and burn with love for each other in that perfected world.

I picture the cherubim in Ezekiel's vision, Ezekiel 1, likened to creatures on fire. Isaiah 6 calls them seraphim, meaning “burning ones”. They're moving rapidly back and forth amongst themselves, our passionate service and worship to God. Ezekiel 1:13-14, "The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures. It was bright and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.” So will our minds and hearts be on fire for Christ and for God.

Boredom and mental fogginess and dullness and forgetfulness will be banished forever.  We will have sharp minds and ardent hearts, we will be conformed to Christ, that's it, in absolute perfection. Look at verse 49, "And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven." And Romans 8:29 says, "Those whom God for knew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." Conformed to the image of his son. And what is that? Revelation 1:16, "His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance," conformed to that.

As I was reading the Spurgeon sermon, I thought I might need some illustrations, and he gave me many. That's why the sermon was like an hour long when I practiced it some time ago.  The illustrations are helpful and I love that. I don't think any preacher that I've ever read in history has been so good at illustrating as Charles Spurgeon. He said illustrations are like in the architecture of a sermon like windows that lead in light and color. He gave us these beautiful illustrations.

Let me start with a ramshackle home. Picture a ramshackle cottage broken down with its beams and rafters rotten and its roof partially caved in. It allows rain to flow into the kitchen. The windows are small and dark and soot covered, they barely allow any light into the tiny sullen cottage. The walls are covered with moss, mold, mildew, there's a smell of rottenness about the premises.  The inhabitant of the house, picture him as an invalid man who rents this dilapidated house, but he can't leave the residence. People who pass by often hear this poor man sigh and groan, “Wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this dead cottage.” did But one day the landlord of the property comes and invites the man to leave. In fact, he orders some strong man men to carry this man to his mansion. There he lives and eats and drinks and gets very strong. In the meantime, by the order of the master, the wretched cottage is pulled down, it's razed to the very ground, and from that material and others, a new dwelling is in its place. It now has slabs of marble. It's decorated with gemstone. It has vast windows on all sides and allows a spectacular view of light and color to flood in. It has a roof of jasper that glistens in the sunlight. It's almost blinding to look at.

Then the master invites the man to come to his new dwelling, but not as a renter. He's going to live in it forever now. He owns it. What incredible joy comes on this man when he sees the new dwelling in which he will live, and to find that he's no longer a temporary renter, but now a permanent owner of that magnificent house, and that makes his joy perfect and complete. So it is with your body. It's like a clay house tumbling down, broken down, temporary. Your soul's groaning within, yearning to be set free and come into its true, eternal dwelling place, a body in which you'll live forever, holy, incorruptible, radiantly beautiful, staggeringly powerful, illustration number one.

How about number two? A beggar invited into a feast. Picture a beggar walking down the street past the mansion of the mayor of London. He's wearing tattered clothes that flap in the winter's gale. He shivers. He seeks to pull what's left of his wretched garments around his shivering frame, but it barely covers him. His shoes are barely staying on his frozen feet. They have holes in them. His hat is ugly and offers neither good style nor protection from the elements. He pulls it down over his ears, but it does little. Meanwhile, he hears inside the great house of the mayor of London, a vast throng of people feasting, laughing, talking, drinking, sitting, singing fellowshipping, but he knows he would never be fit to go in there. Suddenly though, a servant comes out from the mansion and invites him to follow. You watch as this happens.  He brings him into a small dark house just outside the mansion. You stand outside watching, waiting, trying to see what's going to happen. After a while, the servant comes out with it seems another man. No, you squint, you look and sure enough, you're stunned in amazement, it is the original beggar but now he's washed, he's cleansed. His hair is perfectly clean and orderly. His face is shining. But also he's clothed in the official attire of the mayor of London. He's wearing a purple robe with the mayor's own crest on it. He has a crown of honor on his head and a golden belt around his waist. He's happy and ready to enter the banqueting hall, confident that he's welcome there. You're amazed and you wonder what was that and from that grave comes bodies fitted in glory for eternal feasting in the banquet hall of the king of kings and the lord of the universe. The guests of the banquet go into that small sepulcher as filthy beggars and they come out robed in splendor ready to feast with God forever.

The third third illustration is an old battered cup, a metal cup, battered, filthy. It has a sordid history, this cup, of pouring drink down the throats of pirates and villains. The cup is corroded, it's misshapen, it's got jagged edges. It’s even got some holes from which liquid leaks out continually. No one can tell what kind of metal it was made from, it's that ugly. It's thrown into a pile on the dump  and there corrodes further in the elements forgotten in the darkness.  But after a while, a skilled hand rummages around, picks it up, looks at it, carries it with honor into the workshop. The metal is crushed entirely, pounded with overwhelming force until not a single particle is left connected with the rest. Then the pieces are gathered together, put into the refiner's fire. It's perfectly melted. A liquid metal glows and is poured into a mold. A magnificent chalice takes shape glowing of the most precious metal. It's shaped with perfect balance to meet its final purpose. It's adorned with precious gems and polished to a high shine and put into the hand of the king. It's a vessel of honor.  Could it be the same cup? Well, yes and no. It is the same cup, but it's infinitely and perfectly transformed and it's carried with great ceremony and put into the hands of king Jesus. There He fills it and drinks from it and uses it as He sees fit for all eternity. We will be active and used in the new heaven, new earth. So it will be with the resurrection of the body. We who are useless to the king through sin and death become vessels of radiant mercy, fit for the hand of the king for all eternity.

What applications can we take from this meditation? First, by faith based on the Scripture, not the seasons, but the Scripture, believe in this joyful good news. Believe that Christ has been raised from the dead. Christ's resurrection is our glory. It is our hope. It is our eternal joy. Therefore, do not fear death. If you're a Christian, the best things, all your best things are yet to come. It doesn't matter how good and delightful your life in this mortal body has been up to this point. All of your best things are yet to come. You should be filled with hope. You should be overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, [Romans 15:13]. Enjoy the lessons of nature, look at the budding trees, see how they scream resurrection, but just say resurrection is clearly taught in the Bible.

And believe it. Believe it. Christ lives and so shall we. Christ's resurrection body is the first fruits of a vast harvest. You, my dear friend, will be included if you repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and no other way. Have you repented of your sins? Have you trusted in Christ? Have you believed in this story, this gospel message? Do you know that your sins are forgiven? Spurgeon in his sermon ended with a very heavy and serious warning. He knew that on Easter Sunday people come, guests come who don't usually come to church. I know that too. I'm so glad, if you're in that category, if you're in the category of “I don't usually go to church, I was invited here,” I'm glad that you're here to listen to this message.

The joyful message that we celebrate as Christians, resurrection, is only a benefit to those who are Christians, those who repent and believe in Jesus Christ. It’s not for everybody. The Bible does teach a general resurrection, but is radically different for the wicked, for unbelievers. In John 5:28-29, Jesus said, "Do not be amazed at this. For a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good will rise to live. And those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." Condemned. The same bodies that unrepented sinners used to sin will be the bodies in which they will be eternally judged by the wrath of God. Those bodies will exist only to complete God's righteous judgment against all those who use their bodies to rebel against his commands and serve themselves and their own lusts and pleasures and never repented of that and trusted in Christ. This is a dreadful teaching, but it is true. God is absent from hell in the sense of blessing, but He is present there in His power to sustain it. Jesus said, "The worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." So be warned. John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." So flee to Christ. Flee to Christ while there's time.

Spurgeon finished his sermon with these words, "Oh my dear hearers, I cannot bear to stay on this somber subject for long. But let me finish with this word of hope. Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus shall be saved. This means you, poor man, though perhaps you were drunk last night and scarcely got up time enough to come here this morning. If you believe you will be saved. This means you, poor woman, sinner though you may be. If you cast yourself on Christ, you will be saved. This means you, respectable man, moral man, though you have been trusting in your own morality and your own works up till now, if you trust entirely in Christ, you will be saved. But not if you trust in yourself. Oh, I plead with you, be wise and look to the lamb who died on the cross. See him as he rises from the dead, as ascends to Heaven, believing in him, receive the hope of eternal life and the assurance of a blissful resurrection in him to eternal life."

Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for the time that we've had to study this joyful topic today. We thank you for the incredible good news that Christ died for our sins, and rose again for our eternal joy. Help us to trust in him, it's only by faith in Jesus that we become partakers of this beautiful resurrection body. So I pray that you would work that gospel message now in the hearts of every person who hears me now. In Jesus' name, Amen.

This Easter sermon uses a spring analogy to demonstrate that Christ’s resurrection is a pattern for all Christians that we will certainly follow

The post The Resurrection: Continuity and Transformation appeared first on Two Journeys.

Psalm 22 is a prophecy ordained by God and explains in great detail the death of his Only Begotten Son for the sins of the world.

Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 22. We're going to meditate on the words of this psalm.  As I was thinking about the centerpiece, for me, the most important aspect of this and why it is we're contemplating Psalm 22, the statement Jesus made from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" My mind earlier this week was led to consider the parable of the prodigal son. I felt led by the Spirit to think about that. I wasn't actually even directly thinking about Good Friday or even Psalm 22, but I was just thinking about this parable. In that most moving and personal of all of Jesus's parables, perhaps the most famous, Jesus speaks of a sinful, selfish, rebellious son who is discontent in his father's household and demands his share of the father's estate and then goes away from his father and squanderers all of that money in riotous and wicked living. He's gone for years. He seems to be never thinking about his father or the grief that he has brought to him.

Finally, a famine comes in the land. He runs out of all of his money. He is starving and finds a job feeding pigs, and he begins to think about the living conditions back in his father's estate and how the servants there are far better off than he was in that condition. There, the servants are fed better than this. They're clothed better than this. They're just cared for better than this. He decides that he's going to go back and ask his father's permission to live as a servant on his father's estate, and so he sets out.

But in the parable, while he is still a far way off, his father sees him and comes running almost certainly with tears streaming down his face. We can imagine this is the moment he's been yearning for for years. He embraces his son with a fervent hug. The son confesses his sin and asks to live in the servant's quarters, but the father won't hear of any of that. He wants a rich robe put on his son. He wants a ring on his finger. He wants shoes on his feet. He wants to kill the fatted calf and have a feast for his son to celebrate. "My son was lost and is found. He's dead and is alive."

It's a dramatic story of forgiveness and of a rich welcome by a perfectly loving father. Now, of course, the prodigal represents all sinners in all countries across all time, and the father of course represents God. But as beautiful as that story is, as I pondered it earlier this week, I realized there was a significant figure missing from the parable, and that's Jesus. And more especially the atonement. It's not there in the parable. It doesn't mean that the parable is in any way defective. Parables just teach a specific aspect of truth. But the atonement is missing. Jesus is missing. The bloodshed on the cross is missing.

The word atonement means “at one ment.” The biblical word, also reconciliation, forgiveness of sins. So the question came in my mind, on what basis does the father welcome the prodigal son back and give him such a rich welcome? Who pays for that man's sins, his violation of their love relationship, his squandering of the family wealth on sinful living? Who pays the price for the happy feast? And that's where in my mind Psalm 22 comes in. The central idea for me is that through the indescribable, infinite, immeasurable suffering of Jesus on our behalf, our sins are forgiven. Or more related to the prodigal son, Jesus was forsaken by God to purchase for us a rich welcome from God.

When Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", this was Him paying for our sins on the cross. In this, He worked a perfect atonement for all who believe in Him. Ephesians 1:7, "In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace." This pays for the rich welcome. We have by faith already received the moment we came to faith in Christ, all of our sins forgiven, and that we expect to receive when it lasts. We see God face to face. He was forsaken by God to purchase for us an infinitely and eternally warm welcome from God. That's what we're going to walk through as we look at Psalm 22. 

Psalm 22 is a miracle really, a supernatural prophecy written by King David, a Jewish king, a thousand years before Jesus. We Christians believe in the miracle of prophecy, that the spirit of God could be in a man like David writing words that he did not understand, words that would be fulfilled ten centuries later.  There may have been some connection to something going on in David's life. He had some very rough times in his life, no doubt. But any way, that Psalm 22 might be talking about David's experience is somewhat like the dim light of a star that is completely obliterated by the brightness of the sun shining at full strength, and that's Jesus. Christ is that brilliant light. And to me, ultimately Psalm 22 is about Him.

The Apostle Peter gives us the right understanding of the miracle of prophecy in 1 Peter 1:10-12, "Concerning the salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you searched intently and with the greatest care trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow."

Sometime ago, I noticed that was a great two-part outline to Psalm 22, the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. We continue in 1 Peter, "It was revealed to them, the prophets, that they were not serving themselves, but you when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things." Peter's saying the prophets searched out and tried to understand their own words and didn't fully arrive at it. The angels in time, as things unfolded, were longing to try to understand what God had planned.  In other words, the prophets were not writing for themselves or ultimately about themselves, but for a later generation. The spirit of Christ was in them, lifting them above time because God is eternal and moving the prophets concerning what they wrote. The theme here in Psalm 22 is the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories, the glories that would follow.

Let's look first at verses 1-21, the sufferings of Christ. It begins with these stunning words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus spoke those words from the cross. The gospel writers tell us even what Christ's words sounded like. Mark 15:34, "At the 9th hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’, which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

This week I got out my Japanese Bible, I was a missionary for two years in Japan, and I found, sure enough, they transliterated "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani" into the Japanese writing. So it is in the translations all over the world, mystically, mysteriously the Holy Spirit wants us to hear the sounds. It's almost like opening up a time capsule and some aroma comes wafting out from another time, like we're transported when we hear the actual syllables. It's that important. Why did He cry this? First, because He was experiencing this at an almost inconceivably deep level as He was dying on the cross for our sins. Jesus was our sin bearer, our substitute. The sufferings He experienced were in our place as we heard earlier in Isaiah 53, "He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him. And by his wounds, we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to His own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

If you don't understand that transfer of guilt onto Jesus' substitute, you will not understand the cross or Christianity. God the Father transferred our guilt to Jesus so He experienced effectively hell on the cross so we would be delivered from God's wrath for all eternity. The cry expresses what I consider to be the worst part of hell— to be utterly and completely forsaken by God. In hell, God exists. God is there, God is present only to sustain the place. The worm does not die and the fire is not quenched because God makes sure that that happens. But He's not there to bless any of its inhabitants, they are forsaken.

Jesus experienced total and complete forsakenness, alienation from God on the cross. God had turned His face away. Then the Psalm extends the sufferings to continue in verse 1, "Why are you so far from saving me? So far from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and I'm not silent." As though Jesus as our substitute knows that no matter what He cries out to God in that condition, God will not answer Him.

This is a direct contrast to the godly forefathers that are mentioned next in the Psalm, verse 3-5, ”Yet you, God, are enthroned as the holy one. You are the praise of Israel. In you, our fathers put their trust. They trusted and you deliver them. They cried to you and were saved. In you, they trusted and were not disappointed." The Psalm acknowledges that in the past, God, the holy one, enthroned by the praise of Israel, was the focus of their trust and their prayers. God answered them and intervened for them and delivered them, but not Jesus. Not Jesus. He says, "But I am a worm and a man. I'm the lowest of the low, like a worm crawling on the ground, easily trampled, readily crushed, openly despised and hated." So the verse continues, verse 6, "Scorned by men, despised by the people."

The psalm actually predicts the words that the inhabitants, the citizens of Jerusalem, would say while Jesus was dying. Verse 7-8, "All who see me mock me. They hurl insults, shaking their heads. He trusting in the Lord. Let the Lord rescue Him. Let him deliver Him since he delights in Him." All you have to do is read the gospel accounts. You'll see effectively those exact same words. That's what the people were saying that terrible day. And while they were mocking Him, Jesus was thinking about His entire life of perfect faithfulness to God, making that the basis of His prayer to God. Verse 9 through 11, "Yet you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth, I was cast upon you. From my mother's womb, you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there's no one to help."

No one in history have those words been so true for as concerning Jesus. Who had the level of intimacy with God that Jesus had before this moment on the cross? Who immersed himself in a life of prayer and walked moment by moment in a right relationship with God like Jesus? And now here on the cross, that's gone. It's gone.

Verses 12-18 of the Psalm, written by David a thousand years before Christ, give astonishing details about the actual crucifixion. If you read the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they're noticeably restrained concerning these details. It just says they crucified him. That's it. It doesn't describe any of the mechanics of it. The closest you'll get in all the Bible of what it's actually like to be crucified is amazingly in Psalm 22, a thousand years before Jesus was born. 

 First, surrounded by powerful enemies like the Roman soldiers who were crucifying Him and the Jewish leaders who hated him. Verse 12-13, "Many bulls surround me, strong bulls of Bashan encircle me, roaring lions tearing their prey, open wide their mouths against me."

Second, the dehydration and the disfigurement of the body while hanging on the cross, verses 14- 15, "And I'm poured out like water and all my are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. It has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death."

Then third, the most stunningly, the actual piercing of hands and feet, "Dogs have surrounded me," verse 16, "a band of evil men has encircled me. They have pierced my hands and my feet." Stop. Ponder this. This is not talking about David. The spirit of God lifted him up above whatever his immediate circumstances were and put these words in His mind. This is a clear prophecy of crucifixion. And yet crucifixion would not be invented for another half millennia at least after David wrote these words.

Fourth, the disfigurement of the body in front of gawking hostile people. Verse 17, "I can count all my bones, people staring gloat over me." Then finally, the tiny little detail of the gambling over Jesus' clothes, which is cited clearly in John 19, "They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing,” fulfilled by the Roman soldiers. They were not trying to fulfill Psalm 22. They didn't know about Psalm 22. They just didn't want to tear his white robe and decided to gamble for it by casting lots, fulfilling this prophecy.

Then the section ends in Jesus' prayer for deliverance, verses 19-21, "But you, oh Lord, be not far off. Oh, my strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of lions. Save me from the horns of the wild oxen.”  This is a more elaborate prayer than the one Jesus prayed right before He died, saying, "Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit,” expecting to be raised from the grave. Verses 19-21 is effectively that prayer.  There's no way to read, for me anyway, Psalm 22 without seeing supernatural power at work in this prophecy, explaining in great detail the death of Jesus, the only-begotten son of God a thousand years before He was born.

 Then the good stuff, the subsequent glories. Jesus did all of this for the joy that was set before him. The tone of Psalm 22 changes radically beginning at verse 22 up through the end, verse 31, the glories that followed.

First, declaring God's name to his brothers, verse 22, "I will declare your name to my brothers in the congregation. I will praise you,” directly quoted in Hebrews 2, referring to Jesus. After his resurrection, He tells Mary Magdalene to go tell the brothers. He's getting the men together. They're not expecting a resurrection, not at all, but He goes there and declares God's name to them. What does that mean? The triumph of God over the grave. The triumph, the greatness of Almighty God on display in the person of His resurrected son. "I will declare your name to my brothers in the congregation. I will praise you."

Next, He summons His own people, the Jewish people. This is strongly Jewish language, and He's speaking to the Jewish nation here in verses 23-26, "You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him. Revere Him all you descendants of Israel, for He has not despised or disdain the sufferings of the afflicted one. He has not hidden his face from Him, but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly. Before those who fear you, I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied. They who seek the Lord will praise Him. May your heart live forever."

Praise God, honor God, revere God. This is celebration; that's the call here. The language seems to be the language of a feast, hence the prodigal son and the idea of killing the fatted calf. This is an eternal feast of worship in heaven. There's eating language, "Come and eat and be satisfied richly." Then I love that promise of eternal life, "May your hearts live forever.”  Brothers and sisters, isn't that a great thing to say to each other? "May your heart live forever." It's kind of an interesting phrase. When was the last time you said that to anyone? "May your heart live forever." It's resurrection language. But it's not just the Jewish nation, not at all. God's plans are bigger than that.

 From the moment He called Abraham, His desire was through Abraham and through his offspring that all peoples on earth will be blessed. This is mission language. Look at verse 27-28, "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations will bow down before Him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations.” This is a message that's going to go out to the ends of the earth. Let me tell you something, there’s no piercing of literally David's hands and feet that blessed all the nations of the earth. Not at all. This is Jesus, only Jesus. And not only all nations, not only all ethnic groups, but the rich and the poor, the dead and the living alike. Verse 29, "All the rich of the earth will feast," there's that feast language, "and worship. All who go down to the dust will kneel before Him. Those who cannot keep themselves alive." This message of joy in the face of death will extend to all generations. Verses 30-31, "Posterity will serve him. Future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn for he has done it." That's us, everyone. You weren't born when David wrote these words, no matter how old you are. People yet unborn have heard, and that's you and me. For he has done it. It reminds me of Jesus' words, "It is finished." He's done it. This is his work.

So dear friends, looking at this amazing prophecy in Psalm 22, we reflect on the sufferings of Christ. And we do so with reverence, with a clear awareness that it is our sins that put Him there on the cross. But then as we look at the glories that follow, we see the immense power of the work of Christ in bringing us to an eternal banquet of praise that will feast at for all time. Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for the power of the Word of God. Apart from scripture, we know nothing, literally nothing about Jesus. But the scripture's testimony to Jesus started long before He was ever born. I thank you for the miracle of prophecy. Thank you for Psalm 22. But more than anything, I just thank you Lord Jesus for drinking that cup of wrath for me, for being willing to be forsaken by God so I would be richly welcomed by my father into an eternal banquet in heaven. In your name, Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen.