Has anyone received any bills this week? Of course all of us receive bills all the time. When I introduce myself, I often say, “My name is Bill – you know the thing you get on the 10th of the month.” Now the Bible says that our sins are a Debt we owe to God, and just suppose that God has sent you a bill for all your sins this week. It would be so large that if you possessed all the money in the world you could not pay it. It is larger than Bill Gates could t pay. Illus: Suppose you are 35 years old and you committed three sins a day which would add up to about 1000 sins per year for a total of 35,000 sins. And suppose you went before a judge with 35,000 traffic violations. What would he do? He would not put you in jail, but under the jail. So is our sin debt. Yet it must be paid – either by you or God. You and I cannot pay it. Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ has paid it! BUT WHAT PRICE DID HE PAY? We see the price when we, by faith, take a journey to the cross, and there we see “The 7 Stupendous Sufferings of the Savior to Secure our Salvation.”
- THE SUFFERING OF SCOURGING. Before Jesus was ever crucified, His physical body was made one solid wound. Roman soldiers scourged or whipped Him with a cat of nine-tails. It was called cat of nine tails because there were 9 strands and on the end of those nine strands were bits and pieces of metal or bone. These were placed there so they would dig into His skin and rip it into shreds. Jesus got whipped at least 39 x 9 times (do the math). The soldiers stripped Jesus of all His clothes, tied Him to a whipping post, and With His legs suspended in mid-air, proceeded to whip Him until He was unconscious. The Jews could give only 39 stripes, but the Romans whipped until they could find no pulse. Thus Jesus was half-dead before going to the cross.
- THE SUFFERING OF STRIPPING. As an act of mockery, contempt and shame, Jesus was stripped of His clothes and left nude at least three times:
- when they scourged Him,
- during His trial,
- prior to His crucifixion.
Again He was subjected to every indignity and indecency known to the pagans of that day – but not only the pagan Romans, but religious Jews.
- THE SUFFERING OF SPITTLE. The Old Testament tells us that the height of insult to any human being was to spit in his face. This is still true today – also in the Western civilized world. Last week someone was accused of spitting in the face of a Congressman, and this outraged the liberal press. Mark 15:19 says that the people didn’t just spit once in His face, but “kept spitting” (Greek eveptuon) on Him, indicating that many abused Him in this fashion many times.
- THE SUFFERING OF SUFFOCATION. The ultimate horror of dying on the cross was the victim died of suffocation. We have every reason to believe that the crucifixion of Jesus was even more severe. At the outset of the ordeal, Jesus was hanging from His hands and His feet nailed to the cross. He rested His weight on His hands which He could only endure for thirty minutes, and after this He began to suffocate. He could breathe in but He could not breathe out. He then had to shift His weight to the nails in His feet. He kept standing and He kept slumping. Had it not been in fulfillment of prophecy in Psalm 34:20, and had it not been for the intervention of God, He would have suffocated on the cross. This is the most terrible kind of death. You will recall that they broke the legs of the thieves that were being crucified with Jesus which was normal practice for crucifixions during that day. They did this to prevent them from resting on their feet which led to their suffocation. In thirty minutes they were dead. They didn’t break Jesus’ legs because He was already dead.
- THE SUFFERING OF SICKNESS AND ALL KINDS OF HUMAN ILLNESS. Isaiah 53:4 declares, “Surely He has born our GRIEF and carried our SORROWS.” The word, “Grief” in Hebrew means “physical illness;” the word “Sorrow” in Hebrew means, “all kinds of emotional and mental illnesses.” Matthew 8:16-18 declares that Jesus healed the mentally and physically sick in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4. God is still in the healing business. Sometimes He heals through prayer, and at other times through prayer and pills, but whatever healing takes place it is because Jesus bore them on His cross. I have witnessed the healing of Jesus Christ many times through my ministry. Some of these were terminal illnesses. On the other hand I have seen many that God did not choose to heal in this life, but were healed in death (Psalm 116:15; Rev. 14:13). The bottom line in healing is simply this: Jesus is the Healer which He made possible through His atoning death on the cross, and His glorious resurrection from the dead.
- THE SUFFERING OF SIN. Isaiah 53:5 states, “He (Jesus) was wounded for our transgression, He was bruised for our iniquities, the punishment for our sins was upon Him.” Verse 6 continues, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to His own way, and the Lord has laid upon (literally “to strike upon Him”) the iniquities (the guilt) of us all.” “It pleased the Lord to crush Him.” (verse 10). In these three words – Sin, Transgression, Iniquity – is a summary of every sin human kind has ever committed, from Adam to Billy Graham. Thus all the sins of the world – murder, rapes, fornications, adulteries, robberies, cheating, lying, incest, homo-sexuality, hatred, unforgiveness, pride, self-righteousness, gossiping, back biting, unfaithfulness, hypocrisy, etc. You and I should appreciate this more than ever today when we see excesses of evil running rampant in our world. Example: A man strolled into a funeral home and said, “I have just killed my four children and they are in the car.” When man sinned, God might have conceivably done one of two things:
- He could have overlooked our sins and taken to Himself an unholy race for all eternity. But He could not because He is holy and cannot tolerate even one sin.
- Or He could have consigned every human being to hell. He could not do that, for He is loving and compassionate.
What did He do? He willingly went to the cross where He paid the prices for every single sin ever committed, including every sin you and I have committed or will commit. Indeed, “He paid a debt He did not owe; I owed a debt I could not pay.” Hallelujah what a Glorious Savior and what a Gargantuan Price He Paid!
- THE SUFFERING OF SEPARATION. At the cross we see the Scourging, the Stripping, the Spittle, the Suffocation, the Sickness, the Sin, and yet all that suffering was nothing compared to His Suffering the Separation from His heavenly Father. This He dreaded above all. He pleaded with the Father in Gethsemane, “Lord, let this cup pass (Matthew 26:39) – the horror of being separated from His Father. Darkness falls over the cross and engulfs the Savior. In that horrible moment the Father turned His back on Him, for He could not look upon sin. And in that dark hour of all hours, Jesus cries out for everyone present to hear, and for now the whole world, these frightful words, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” (Matthew 27:46).
What was He experiencing when He spoke these words? Certainly not just the sins and sicknesses of the whole world, but the very wrath of God in hell upon His innocent soul. Let’s remember the somber words of Romans 6:23, “The wages (the pay) of sin is DEATH, and death here means ETERNAL HELL or SEPARATION FROM GOD. In this moment Jesus is experiencing the same wrath that lost sinners will suffer for all eternity because they did not let Jesus pay a debt they could not pay. In fact the cry of Jesus from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” will be the cry of the damned for all eternity.
WHAT SHOULD BE OUR RESPONSE? I read of a pastor who preached a sermon on the sufferings of Jesus – straight from the Bible. But as He spoke, his people were totally unmoved, even resentful, restless, and hating all they heard. Then the pastor told of a man who was fishing in a pond. He took with him a little dog which began to bark and disturb the fish. The fisherman scolded him and told him to quit barking. The little dog kept on barking and the man took a dull ax and cut off both the hind and front legs of the poor critter, and then threw him into the water, and he drowned because he could not swim. While the pastor was telling the story, the girls and women were crying and the men were clinching their fist to kill that man. Then the pastor said, “How strange and how sad. When I told you of the suffering Jesus went through to save your lost souls, you were bored and resentful, and now I tell you of the mistreatment of a dog you are ready to fight.”
What about you and me? What should be our response?
- If already a Christian, you should obey Romans 12:1-2.
- If not truly saved, you should transfer your sins to His cross today and be saved.
- If sick or troubled over something you cannot handle, you should come forth for prayer and healing.
- In the second word from the cross, Jesus is saying, “I am the Christ of AMAZING Grace,” for He assured the ungodly, “… today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
- AMAZING – that He would save the worst sinner in the nation.
- AMAZING – that this sinner turned and surrendered to Jesus.
- AMAZING – that this man went to heaven that very day, the very person closest to hell.
- AMAZING – for Jesus speaks to someone present here today who feels he is too lost to be saved.
In the third Word from the cross, Jesus is saying, I am the Christ of “ASTRONIMICAL love for my mother,” for He forgot His pain and said to her, “Woman, behold thy son… behold thy mother.” (John 19:26-27).
ASTRONIMICAL – for He took care of His mom when He was in such trouble Himself.
ASTRONIMICAL – for it says to us, no matter our responsibilities, we must not neglect our parents.
ASTRONIMICAL – for Jesus is speaking to someone here today who needs to do a better job in visiting and supporting his parents.
In the fourth word from the cross, Jesus speaks a word of “APPALLING WOE,” for He cries out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou Forsaken Me” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 5:34).
APPALLING – for No one ever spoke such words.
APPALLING – for He is forsaken of His heavenly Father. Luther’s “Mystery of Mysteries– God forsaken of God.”
APPALLING – for Jesus was cast into outer darkness to suffer the torments of separation from God, which was hell.
APPALLING – for He was standing or taking our place.
APPALLING – for it shows His amazing love for each of us.
In the fifth word from the cross, Jesus speaks a word of “AWFUL human suffering,” for He said, “I Thirst” (John 19:28).
AWFUL – for no man ever suffered so severely.
AWFUL – for He shed every drop of blood for you and me.
AWFUL – for it shames us when we refuse to make any sacrifice for Him. “He loves us so much that He arose from the dead, but for Him we want even get out of bed.”
In the sixth word from the cross, Jesus speaks a word of “ABSOLUTE Victory,” for He cries out, “It is finished,”(John 19:30), meaning He has defeated and destroyed Sin, Satan, and Self.
ABSOLUTE – for He forgives every sin, not omitting even one.
ABSOLUTE – for not only our sin, but self or the power of sin.
ABSOLUTE – for not only sin and self, but Satan himself.
ABSOLUTE – for not only sin, self, Satan, but death itself.
In the seventh word from the cross, Jesus speaks of “ABOUNDING Comfort in death” for He joyfully exclaims,“Father, into thy hands I commit (deposit) My spirit” (Luke 23:46).
ABOUNDING – because He shows that death is sweet victory for Him and for His children.
ABOUNDING – because He was going home to be with His Father and the great family of God through the ages.
ABOUNDING and Abiding Comfort – for since His death and resurrection, we who are trusting in Him abound in hope that “Death is but the golden key which unlocks the palace of eternity.”
DID THE RESURRECTION REALLY HAPPEN?
Both my heart and mind respond believingly to the fact that Jesus did arise from the dead because of three irrefutable evidences:
- The Disappearance of His Body. Everybody agrees that His tomb was empty. What became of it? No satisfactory explanation has ever been given, except for the fact that it was raised from the dead.
- The Reappearance of the Person of Jesus. Jesus Himself kept appearing not once but during a period of nearly six weeks – not just to individuals (Mary Magdalene, Peter, James and the Twelve) but on one occasion “to more than 500 brothers at the same time” (1 Cor. 15:6). Some have said these apparent appearances were “hallucinations.” Does any reasonable and honest person believe that tough fishermen like Peter, James and John would be susceptible to such a mental disorder? Absolutely not.
- The Emergence of Transformed lives, beginning with the apostles who were cowards before the resurrection but two months later came out of hiding, full of joy, confidence and courage, and ready to die if need be for the Name of their Risen Savior. “And with great (megas) power did the apostles give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great (megas) grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33).
What greater evidence does one need than the reality of a transformed life?