The Forgiveness of Our Denial
Three Days & Denial • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewThe cross is the centerpiece of all history and determines our eternity. It reveals God’s holiness, our wickedness, and Jesus Christ's humility.
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The Three Denials of Peter (recap last Week)
Last week, at the end of the message, we asked, “Where are you standing today?” Remember I mentioned that there are two doors standing in front of us?
Behind door #1, we stay in the illusion of this world and choose not to wander outside of the camp, where things are uncomfortable. We might be asked to stand on this Jesus of Nazareth as the world's Savior.
Behind door #2, we choose to leave the confines of the camp and enter a world where people will reject and ridicule our belief in Jesus. They will require us to answer the question, " Do you know this man?” “Are you one of His disciples?”
Note: Now, even on the heels of such denials of Jesus deity. The crowd is now calling for his death. The denial began with Adam and Eve in the garden when they denied the power and authority of God in their lives and accepted the lie instead of the truth.
We now see in three different ways how Jesus has brought forgiveness to the denial of who he really is.
1). The denial rests in the foolishness of the cross to those who are perishing.
2). The forgiveness rests in the power of the cross to those who are being saved by it.
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The Centerpiece of all History and the Determinant of Our Eternity
Matthew's chapters 26 and 27 bring us to the climax of Matthew's Gospel, the one piece that reminds us who we are and who God is as absolutely sovereign and Holy.
We read from the very beginning of Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus is the one. Matthew 1:21
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Now in light of the gravity of this text, we should approach it with a sense of trembling. The cross is the centerpiece of all human history and determines our eternal destiny.
E. Stanley Jones
“The cross is the key. If I lose this key I fumble. The universe will not open to me. But with this key in my hand I know I hold its secret.”
Most believers would say that they agree with Jones that the cross is important but have not stopped to consider why it is that what happened over 2,000 years ago is still significant today.
Why is the death of Jesus the key to understanding all of human history? and Why did Jesus have to die?
1. The Cross Compels us to Remember God’s Holiness
1. The Cross Compels us to Remember God’s Holiness
Every human being must come to understand two things: the absolute Holiness of God and the absolute sinfulness of man.
The Holiness of God and the Sinfulness of mankind.
One word which crystallizes the Christian faith is the word grace. One of the greatest motto's of the Protestant Reformation was the Latin phrase sola gratia - by grace alone. The phrase was actually coined by the sixteenth-century theologian Augustine of Hippo, who used it to call attention to the central concept of Christianity, that our redemption is by grace alone, that the only way humanity can ever find himself reconciled to God is by grace.
REMEMBER THE HOLINESS OF GOD
Understanding man’s relationship to God is critical in understanding the cross. If humanity is only partly sinful, and we are somehow still intact spiritually, and all we need are just some minor changes in our lives, then salvation can happen with a little bit of effort on our own part.
But, if man is totally depraved apart from God, then something radical has to happen in order to span such a great divide between us and God.
Once we see God for who he is and ourselves for who we are, we begin to see the cross for what it truly means.
Before we dive into the implications of Matthew 26-27 let’s first look at the very Character of God.
UNDERSTANDING THE CHARACTER OF GOD (What makes God Holy)
David Platt - Bible commentary Exalting Jesus in Matthew.
*He is Sovereign Over All
*He is Sovereign Over All
God’s sovereignty is linked to His relationship with His creation, i.e., the world.
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Note: This means that He has the absolute authority to govern the world and all that is in the world as He sees fit. Not only does He sustain all things, but He also owns all things.
Even though He has absolute authority over all things, including you and me, we have denounced His sovereign rule and reign over our lives and have rebelled against Him. We do the same thing today; even when God says “no” to something, we do it anyway.
*He is Righteous Above All
*He is Righteous Above All
This means that everything that God does is right. In Genesis 18:25 Abraham asks, “will not the judge of all the universe do what is just?” Look at what the Psalmist declares.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
God has never had a wrong thought or motive for doing what he does. However, we have despised His righteousness. Romans 3:10-12 says that there is no one righteous not one, we have all turned away and become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. We are the complete opposite of God
*He is just in all of His Wrath
*He is just in all of His Wrath
This is possibly one of the most unpopular aspects of God’s character. No one likes to view God as a God of wrath and vindication.
Because God is righteous, He hates sin. God’s wrathful response to sin and evil is not just a possibility but an inevitability. Scripture refers to God's wrath more than 580 times, using more than 20 different words to describe it.
God's wrath is real, personal, intense, and steady in the Old Testament. God’s wrath is the consistent response of an absolutely Holy and righteous God to sin. Even though the world may consider this foolishness, the believer should view God’s wrath as the most loving response to our sin. After all, it is good that God hates what destroys our lives and the lives of our families.
The New Testament, Deepens our understanding of God’s wrath. John the Baptist warned people to flee the coming wrath of God. The gospel of John continually highlights the gospel in terms of the wrath of God. We find this clearly displayed in
John 3:36
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Therefore, in light of the dreadful effects of sin on all of His creation, consider that you and I have committed thousands upon thousands of sins. This is why the Bible clarifies that God is just bringing His wrath on us. God's judgment has been discounted, questioned, mocked, and ignored altogether..
*He is Loving Towards all of His Creation
*He is Loving Towards all of His Creation
God’s loving response towards His creation affects everything He does. God is the very definition of Love.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Once again, even though this is possibly one of God's most understood and thought-about characters, we have denied His love.
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
The Problem: “How can a Righteous God be Loving to Rebellious Sinners Who deserve His Wrath?”
“To Understand the Cross, we must first feel the Weight of this Question.”
This is the problem with which scripture is concerned, and it is the ultimate question in the whole of the Universe. We read in 1 John 1:5 that “God is light and in Him is not darkness at all.”
15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
“So, both the acquitted, the Guilty and condemned are just as detestable to a Holy God.”
We know that when earthly judges pronounce the wicked to be innocent and righteous to be condemned we all cry out that it is an abomination.
How much more is this true with a Holy God? As soon as God tells rebellious sinners that they are made right before Him, God becomes an abomination to Himself. So, how is it possible that sinners do not receive the guilty verdict that they deserve?
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If we are to grasp the wonder of the cross, we must first see that God’s forgiveness of our sin threatens His Character.
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Calvin Miller - “The Book of Jesus”
“Ultimately Christ did not die for you or me, or even for the nations; those answers are incomplete. Ultimately Christ died for God.” (watchman Knee said), “If I would appreciate the blood of Christ I must accept God’s valuation of it, for the blood is not primarily for me but for God”
We have heard the gospel presented as God’s answer to human problems, and it is that in many ways; but first and foremost, the cross is God’s answer to a divine problem. Christ’s death was for God’s vindication and the declaration of His glory. God was demonstrating His justice and His righteousness.
After the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and in preparation for His death. Jesus say’s explicitly that God’s glory was at the heart of the purpose of His coming.
27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
We talk about being on the Saviors mind when he went to the cross, but first and foremost, the Father was on the Savior’s mind when He was on the cross. The cross vindicates God’s character before it rescues us.
Now, When we Consider the Magnitude of what Jesus did at the Cross, we must keep this God-Centered perspective in Mind.
2. The Cross Compels Us to Tremble at the Horror of Man’s Wickedness
2. The Cross Compels Us to Tremble at the Horror of Man’s Wickedness
SERMON ILLUSTRATION
Cross Reveals the World We Have and the God We Have
Author Henri Nouwen tells the story of a family he knew in Paraguay. The father, a doctor, spoke out against the military regime there and its human rights abuses. Local police took their revenge on him by arresting his teenage son and torturing him to death. Enraged townsfolk wanted to turn the boy's funeral into a huge protest march, but the doctor chose another means of protest. At the funeral, the father displayed his son's body as he had found it in the jail—naked, scarred from electric shocks and cigarette burns, and beatings. All the villagers filed past the corpse, which lay not in a coffin but on the blood-soaked mattress from the prison. It was the strongest protest imaginable, for it put injustice on grotesque display.
Isn't that what God did at Calvary? … The cross that held Jesus' body, naked and marked with scars, exposed all the violence and injustice of this world. At once, the cross revealed what kind of world we have and what kind of God we have: a world of gross unfairness, a God of sacrificial love
The realization of God’s holiness and perfect purity should immediately cause us to reflect on our own sinfulness and tremble at the horror of wickedness.
The wickedness of Mankind is on full display in Matthew 26-27.
The Height of man’s wickedness is finally reached as they seize the son of God.
Scene #1 Jesus Before the Religious Leaders
We see the Jewish leaders rejecting, arresting, accusing, and sitting in Judgment over the Son of God.
63 But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
The high priest who is sitting on the judgment seat judging Christ says, “By the living God I place you under oath: tell us if you are the Messiah, the son of the Living God!” Jesus responds simply by saying, “You have said it.... But I tell you:
64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Jesus now reminds them who is truly seated on the throne of judgment, the one who will judge the living and the dead in true righteousness.
This claim pushed the priest over the edge leading him into a rage, he tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed!” The Jewish leaders similarly responded and passed judgment that he deserved the punishment of death. They spit in his face and struck Him.
Scene #2 Jesus Before Pilate
After the decision had been made that Jesus must die, they took Him to Pilate, the Roman governor. Here we see the response of the pagan Roman authorities to Jesus. Pilate interrogated Jesus.
The charge that was now brought to the Roman authority was one of subversion, someone who threatened the Roman authority's rule and reign. Pilate asks Jesus if He is the King of the Jews. Notice that this time he affirmed the charge by simply saying, “you have said so.” When the chief priests and elders accused him, he gave no answer. Pilate was amazed at Jesus' silence in trying to defend himself. (Like a Lamb that was led to the slaughter.)
The Fickleness of the Crowd
It would appear that Pilate devised a plan to offer the people an option that might solve his dilemma on what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.
He gave the it over to mob control, he gave them the option to either releasing Barabbas, a murderous insurrectionist, or setting Jesus free. The crowds cried out to have Barabbas released and Jesus crucified.
21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
Pilate attempted to absolve himself of the responsibility of crucifying Jesus however, in the end the responsibility was on his hands, just as it was on the Jewish leaders hands.
26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
Scene #3 Jesus Before His Executioners
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
The Domestication of the Cross
Over 2,000 years of retelling the story and numerous reenactments of the crucifixion have somehow domesticated the cross, making it harder for the modern day audience to grasp how it was truly seen in Jesus day.
Crucifixion was unspeakably painful and degrading. The person would be stripped naked before placing him on the wooden cross beam where the spikes would be driven through his wrists. Most crosses were recycled so there would have been flesh and blood from the most recent execution on the cross. The victim endured countless paroxysms.
A paroxysm is a sudden, violent, uncontrollable movement that your body makes when it looses oxygen and the victim begins to gasp for air. This could go on for days before the victim finally looses the will to live and the end result is suffocation. When there was a reason to hasten the death of a victim they would take a large mallet and smash their leg bones until they collapsed and either died from shock or lack of oxygen.
Beyond the excruciating pain that shot through every nerve and fiber of your being was the immense shame. In fact the latter rabbis excluded crucifixion as a form of capital punishment for just this reason. In ancient writings crucifixion was viewed with horror. In Roman law it was reserved for only the worst criminals and lowest classes. It was so cruel a death that the Roman citizens could not be subjected to be crucified without a direct edict from Caesar himself.
Note: The authorities no doubt dealt with Jesus cruelly, but we should not assume that it was only the Roman and Jewish leaders, along with the Roman soldiers, who were responsible for Christ’s crucifixion.
We also see the response of the crowd and those passing by the scene shouting at the Son of God.
40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
We should not pat ourselves on the back and assume we would have responded differently. In the middle of this whole scene, it's easy to forget the disciples' reaction to what was taking place. Why, you might ask? Because they are not there. The disciples' response was one of betraying, disowning, denying, scattering, and deserting the Son of God. Even as the focus of betrayal is placed squarely on Judas and Peter, not one of the disciples proved faithful.
Do you Tremble at the Horror of the Wickedness in your own life?
Do you Tremble at the Horror of the Wickedness in your own life?
When you read Matthew 26-27 you should tremble in horror of the wickedness in your own heart and life.
3. The Cross Compels us to look at the Humility of our Savior
3. The Cross Compels us to look at the Humility of our Savior
We are all taken aback by the sin of those who rejected Christ, and this is a reminder of the darkness of our own hearts. We now see it laid out in Matthew 26-27 the ultimate humility of Christ that brought us freedom.
*Humility in the Substitution of our Salvation
*Humility in the Substitution of our Salvation
Substitution: Jesus died our Death.
“He paid a debt, He did not owe, I owed a debt, I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away, and now I sing a brand new song, amazing grace all day long, Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.”
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Scripture is clear that the payment for sin is death, but Jesus did not sin, so why are we reading a story about His death? Because He is our substitute. When we read of Christ’s death in these scriptures, we see Him die in our place.
When Jesus instituted the Lord's supper, He connected His own death with the law of God given to the people. He is the covenant keeper who seals us with His blood.
28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
With Jesus' death, we have a new covenant written on man’s heart.
*Humility in the Propitiation of our Salvation
*Humility in the Propitiation of our Salvation
The propitiation of the cross reveals the fact that Jesus endured our condemnation for us. Jesus took the full weight of the wrath of God which, we all deserve for our sins. We read in Romans 3:25
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
He was presented to God as our propitiation.
In Matthew 26:36-46 Jesus prayed to His Father in the garden of Gethsemane. He was preparing to be betrayed, arrested, and eventually crucified. In His anguish, He cries out, “My Father! if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will” (v. 39).
It is important to understand that when Jesus is speaking of the cup of the cross He must endure he is not primarily speaking of the agonizing death He will endure on the cross, it is predominately about the spiritual suffering. The fact of being separated from His Father.
In the Old Testament, the cup is a metaphor for God’s wrath. We see this same imagery in Revelation 14:10
10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
Jesus was not a coward about to face Roman Soldiers; He was a Savior about to experience the full weight of the Wrath of God.
Before the Cross we were Afraid of God, now, at the Cross we are Friends of God.
*Humiliation in the Reconciliation of our Salvation
*Humiliation in the Reconciliation of our Salvation
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus Christ experienced our Separation. The separation that resulted from Adam and Eve's fall in the garden is now taken on in the spotless Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
We should not understand Jesus' cry from the cross as if He had no idea what was happening to Him. He knew everything that was going on then; in fact, He had foretold this moment and was willingly submitting Himself to God. In essence, He was quoting.
Psalm 22:1-6
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
The veil in the Temple separating the most holy place, which represented man’s access to God, is now torn in half.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
This is the Effect of the Cross for all who would believe
“The cross is enough or effectual for all humanities sin’s, however, for some it is not efficient (enough) for all of their sins.” This is why the world is always seeking after another way.
Before the cross we were outcast, strangers, aliens and now with the cross we are now invited into the very presence of God. Into the most Holy of Holies.
CONCLUSION
WHAT WILL YOU DO IN RESPONSE TO THE CROSS?
WHAT WILL YOU DO IN RESPONSE TO THE CROSS?
First, you must surrender your Heart to God.
If you are an unbeliever, turn away from your sins and trust Christ alone for your Salvation. Do not seek to add to His infinitely perfect Salvation plan.
If you are a believer, continue to trust daily in His Salvation plan as your substitute on the cross. Stop playing with sin and pursue the One who died to free you from it. (C.S. Lewis Quote “playing with mud pies)
Second, you must proclaim the hope of the gospel.
Many people in the world today know that Jesus died, but they do not know why. They do not know why the cross is the centerpiece of all human history that determines our eternity, but you do.
Give them a reason to believe. Let everyone know that the Son of God has come to take away the sins of the world and has given His life on the cross in our place for those who deserve God's wrath.
This is the good news, and our greatest privilege is to proclaim it to the world.
ILLUSTRATION
“Were You There”
Included in almost every hymnal of the past 30 years is the spiritual “Were You There.”
“Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh! sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when the crucified my Lord.”
The series of questions asked in this song are obviously not meant to be taken literally. None of us were physically present at the passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Rather it functions as an Anamnesis. From the Greek, Anamnesis literally means to remember. However, it is far more than merely a mental recall of an event in human history. It is a call for us to bring the past to the present and now bring them to bear on the hear and now making them part of our story.
When Moses tells the second generation of Hebrew people who are about to enter the promised land, “Not with our ancestors did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today, it is anamnesis when the Jewish people at the passover remember the time when the angel of death passed over their houses in Egypt, it is anamnesis when we celebrate the Lords supper, “in remembrance.”
And it is anamnesis when we bring the past events of Christ’s suffering and death into the present and let it transform us from death to life.
“Were you there when they nailed Him to the Cross?”
“Were you there when they laid Him in the Tomb?”
and “Were you there three days later when the stone was rolled away.”
Does it cause you to tremble today? What will you do in response to the cross today?