If the YouTube video above is not available, here are two other ways to view:

160325GF What He Did.docx

2016MAR25

MISC-08

What He Did:

Christ Died For Our Sins

1 Cor. 15:1-4

 

Tonight we are in the midst of our journey of remembrance through the greatest week in the history of the Universe, Christ’s Passion Week:

He Came, He Died, He Rose

Paul explains the events of this week as the Gospel. Using nine words recorded in 1 Cor. 15:1-4, God explains to us what Jesus did.

On Good Friday, this is What He Did: on the Cross, Christ died for our sins. Please stand with me, follow along with me in God’s Word as we examine the summary God gives us of this great event, in this greatest week:

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (NKJV) Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

Pray

Tonight at this Good Friday communion we have gathered to remember that Jesus died for our sins. For our meditation this evening, turn back with me to the clearest and most amazing description of Christ’s death on the Cross for us in Psalm 22. Here we see God using David to describe how:

Jesus Was Horribly Crucified for Us

The awful details of His sufferings on the cross are portrayed graphically in the 22nd Psalm, written by David over 1,000 years before its fulfillment.

As I point out the details in Psalm 22, you can put your finger in the Gospels starting in Matthew 27:46, as we see what God perfectly described through David, was happening to Christ over a thousand years later.

Look how Psalm 22 begins:

Psalm 22:1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?

This predicted event in Psalm 22, is directly recorded as happening by the eyewitness account in Matthew 27:46.

Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

Psalm 22 begins with Christ’s agonizing cry from the cross here in Matthew 27:46: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

God Gave Amazingly Precise Details

Then the Psalm continues to unfold as each of the previous dreadful events on the Cross are detailed, as Christ’s suffering is captured. Here is a summary of what Psalm 22 describes:

·      The unnatural darkness;

·      The mocking of the priests at the foot of the cross;

·      The cruelty by those passing by on the road who looked up, jeered, and mocked;

·      The fact that even the thieves, both of them, were mocking Christ as He hung there.

Then Psalm 22 also captures the sufferings caused by the crucifixion process. These are also recorded in precise details:

·      The piercing of His hands and feet;

·      The stripping of His garments, and the gambling over His possessions;

·      His awful thirst, and despite the intensity of His sufferings, none of His bones would be broken, is foretold.

Psalm 22: Prayer & Praise

Psalm 22 has two parts. Verses 1-21 are a prayer, and verses 22-31 is a praise. Taken against the events of this week we see Jesus praying from the Cross, and praising as he steps from the Tomb.

This Psalm that is surely one of the most marvelous passages in all the Word of God. Each moment reflecting on these truths will richly repay our attention tonight as we gather, and remember What He Did as He died for us.

Prayers from the Darkest Hours

Psalm 22:2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.

Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.

Jesus had cried loudly as He was being crushed in Gethsemane (Mt. 26:36-46) by the weight of the sin of the world slowly descending upon Him as He went towards the Cross. Now, Jesus cried in the deep darkness sent by God, as He turned away from His Son.

The next section in verses 3-8, is the first of three subsets of this prayer.

Each section is marked by what is translated in your Bibles as either the conjunction “but” (NKJV,KJV) or the conjunctive adverb “yet” (NIV, ESV,NAS).Those sections are:

·      God is Enthroned in Heaven v. 3-8

·      God is Guiding Each Event v. 9-18

·      God is Always Near v. 19-21.

Those three elements of prayer contrast the goodness of God seen by the evil of humanity. As Christ hung there and prayed, mankind’s darkest deeds flow around Him.

God is Enthroned in Heaven v. 3-8

Psalm 22:3-8 (NKJV) But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. 4 Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them. 5 They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed. 6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. 7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

Enthroned Above The Mocking Spectators

Psalm 22:7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

Note how each group is singled out in Mark 15:29-31, turn there with me, or just listen as I read these words.

Mark 15:29-31 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save Yourself, and come down from the cros
s!” 31 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save.

Wow, while the Holy God is enthroned above, God the Son is mocked below.

The most stunning group are the priests and religious leaders of Israel. These men worked for God Himself at His establishment called the Temple. Their lives were completely tied to Him. Yet when God came to His own, His own received Him not. Instead they mock and scorn the Christ.

Psalm 22: 8 “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

Matthew 27:49 The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”

God is Guiding Each Event v. 9-18

Psalm 22:9-18 (NKJV) 9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. 10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God. 11 Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help. 12 Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. 13 They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.  16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.

God was Guiding the Horrible Crucifixion

Psalm 22:14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me.

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

Psalm 22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.

John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”

Psalm 22:16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;

Matthew 27:35a Then they crucified Him,

Psalm 22:17-18 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.

Matthew 27:35b … and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”

Every detail, every event, all carefully guided by His Father above, enthroned in holiness, praised in His majesty. The first half of Psalm 22, the prayer from the Cross on Good Friday section ends with this affirmation, that:

God is Always Near v. 19-21

Psalm 22:19-21 (NKJV) But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me! 20 Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. 21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me.

So on Good Friday we remember what He did. He died for our sins.

Christ died praying to God the Father who was enthroned in holiness and praise.

Christ died hanging on the Cross as His Father was guiding each horrible detail of the crucifixion.

Christ died trusting that God His Father was always near, even though at that moment He was forsaken by God who made Christ sin for us.

The Praise from the Cross

The second half of Psalm 22:22-31 now unfolds. This is the praise. These is the results of what happened on the Cross. This is the praise for the Empty Tomb, for the fact that he is Risen indeed.

The praise ending of Psalm 22 is amazing. David was writing about the amazing details of what Christ’s work on the Cross accomplished. In such astounding details God revealed that the Risen Christ would come and announce His victory, just like He did in the Upper Room to the disciples cowering in fear, doubt, and discouragement. Listen as:

Jesus Announced His Sacrifice Bought Our Eternal Life v. 22-26

Psalm 22:22-26 (NKJV) I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. 23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. 25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. 26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever!

We can almost see the wonder on the faces of His disciples as He stepped into their room through the closed and locked door.

He declared He was Risen. He declared that the father has received His sacrifice and the price of sin was paid.

He declared they now had that endless, overflowing, abundant life He had promised.

Wow.

Jesus announced His sacrifice bought our eternal life! But He is not finished. There is a second half to this praise section, as:

Jesus Announced the Gospel was Going Global v. 27-31

Psalm 22:27-31 (NKJV) All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. 28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth Shall eat and worship; All those who go down to the dust Shall bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep himself alive. 30 A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, 31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this.

This is an amazing description of what we are doing tonight.

At this communion we remember what He did and turn towards Him in worship tonight.

At this communion we eat the pictures of His body and blood, and worship Him.

At this communion we are part of the people who will be born, we are 20 centuries downstream from that first communion.

At this communion we all have gathered to praise Him that He has done this: Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. He was buried, and as we will celebrate on Sunday He rose
from the dead, alive forevermore.

APPENDIX:

Jesus Was Crucified on Our Place

THE SUBSTITUTIONARY DEATH OF Christ The 53rd chapter of Isaiah (actually beginning at Isaiah 52:13) is also a marvelous chapter devoted to the future death of the Savior, written by Isaiah 750 years before it came to pass. Especially emphasized in this chapter (which is quoted in at least six different places in the New Testament) is the fact that the death of the Messiah would be a substitutionary death, offered up in sacrificial substitution for the sins of others. Turn there with me please, to Isaiah 53.

Paul summarizes the Gospel as “He gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20b). This emphasis on substitutionary suffering is repeated over and over in Isaiah 53. It says, for example, that:

  • v. 4 “He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”.
  • v. 5 “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, chastised for our peace, and striped for our healing”.
  • v. 6 says “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
  • v. 11 says “He shall bear their iniquities,”.
  • v. 12 that “He was numbered with the transgressors, and bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

 

THE DETAILS OF CHRIST’S TRIALS AND DEATH: The details of His trial and death are also given in this chapter.

  • The abuse He bore at the hands of the soldiers and others is graphically portrayed in 52:14: “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.”
  • The serenity He exhibited before His accusers at His trial is predicted in 53:7, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.”
  • The verdict of that mock trial is given in verse 8, “He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.”
  • Then, death with the criminals, and His burial by a rich man, is recorded in verse 9, “And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.”

o   Finally, Christ’s resurrection from the grave is promised in verse 10: “He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days.” 

 

 

Jesus Died & Was Buried

The great defining passage on the Gospel is 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. Here, the Gospel is defined as the good news that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” Thus the Gospel involves three main parts—the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ—and further emphasizes his post-resurrection physical appearances in confirmation thereof.

So the Gospel we declare affirms that it is absolutely vital for all men to know beyond any doubt that it was the human Jesus who rose from the grave. Therefore, it must be certain that His body was carefully buried after His death, and that this burial was known to all, both friend and foe. Then, on the great morning when He arose from the dead, the emptied tomb would stand forever as the infallible proof of His bodily resurrection. Look at Matthew 27:62-66.

Matthew 27:62-66 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

Such an important ministry as the burial of the body of Jesus could not be entrusted by God to the Roman soldiers, who would merely further defile it and then throw it in with the bodies of other executed criminals, nor to the Jewish authorities who would probably do even worse. Nor would these authorities have permitted it to fall into the hands of His disciples, as they were afraid they would seek to hide it and then claim He had been resurrected (Matthew 27:62-66).

  1. GOD PREPARED THOSE WHO HAD AUTHORITY TO BURY CHRIST’S BODY: The solution was for God to have the body buried by one or more of the authorities themselves who were also disciples. For this purpose, God chose two of the members of the governing Jewish body, the Sanhedrin, Joseph and Nicodemus. Thus, they would have access to the necessary information about the time and circumstances of His death, they would also have access to the Roman governor in order to make the required arrangements to acquire the body before the soldiers could dispose of it, and they would have enough wealth of their own to be able to make the needed preparations for a suitable resting-place for the body until it could be raised from the dead.
  2. GOD PREPARED THOSE WHO WOULD BURY CHRIST’S BODY: Of course, they would have to be prepared ahead of time for this ministry. God therefore somehow touched the heart of Nicodemus, as he listened to John the Baptist, then later to Jesus, and as He saw the miracles which Jesus did. Eventually, he made his way into the presence of Jesus one night, where the Lord spoke to him of the necessity of being born again, even though he was already the greatest “teacher in Israel” (John 3:7, 10). The Scriptures do not tell us the outcome of that interview, except that sometime later Nicodemus defended Jesus on one occasion before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51). Similarly, we read that Joseph did not concur in the decision of the Sanhedrin to condemn Jesus (Luke 23:50-51).
  3. GOD PREPARED THE PLACE PREPARED FOR THE BURIAL OF CHRIST’S BODY: Some such background as this is necessary to understand the otherwise inexplicable prescience of Joseph. Why, for example, should he, a rich man of Arimathaea, buy a burial ground in Jerusalem instead of his own home town? And, especially, why should he purchase it in such a place as this—adjacent to the hill of Golgotha, where day after day there would come the cries of dying criminals and the wails of mourning families? Furthermore, it was a
    brand new tomb, not one in which others of the family had been buried (John 19:41), one that Joseph himself had hewn out in the rock (Matthew 27:60), perhaps not wishing others even to know about its preparation.
  4. PROPHETIC EXACTNESS IN THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE BURIAL OF CHRIST’S BODY: Strange also was the fact that Joseph knew exactly when Jesus died, and was immediately able to rush to Pilate with the request for His body, before others even realized He was dead (Mark 15:43-44). Even stranger was the fact that immediately thereafter came Nicodemus carrying one hundred Roman pounds (or 66 pounds in our terms, the Roman pound was 12 ounces) of ointment for the burial (one does not carry even one hundred Roman pounds very far!). Then, while the women watched from a distance, no doubt in amazement, these two respected members of the Sanhedrin gently lowered the body from the cross, wound it in the linen clothes, applied the spices and ointments, laid the body in the tomb, and then departed. Never, so far as the Biblical record goes, were they ever heard from again, but there can be no doubt that this one act cost them their positions and probably their possessions, and possibly even their lives.

So, as we have seen all this,

o   Is your heart strengthened to trust even more our great God?

o   Do you want to follow Him who wants to direct our paths?

o   Will we trust and obey Him who wants us to do His will, not our own!

 

So Palm Sunday affirms the Prophetic Exactness of God’s Word. How can we relate that to life in Tulsa in 2005? If God has always kept His Word—and He has, then He will continue to do so.

  1. We should live our lives yielding to God’s will–like Christ’s! Hebrews 10:7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’ ”
  2. We should live our lives obeying God’s Will–like Christ’s! Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

3.     We should live our lives wanting God’s Will–like Christ’s! Look at His life again in Matthew 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

 

Next was the actual crucifixion of Jesus. Again we see that God wrote down hundreds of years beforehand such exact details, it reads like an on the scene reporter taking notes of the crucifixion. But instead it was a prophet, listening to God hundreds of years before, and recording it in this Book, God’s Word!

Have you chosen Jesus as your Lamb? You can, just bow your heart before Him right now and admit to God that you need an offering for your sins to be forgiven and that Jesus is the Lamb that you choose!

What a day to pick Jesus, the very day He offered Himself as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Another powerful concept in the Psalms is the word “Hallelujah.”  This wordis actually a plural command, meaning something we must do together, in public.  This reminds us that Praise is not the same as thanks.  The meaning of halal is to proclaim or declare, to speak about God rather than to thank Him for something.  The object of praise is the jah part of this compound word, which is an abbreviated form of the name Yahweh. In short, praise is joyfully proclaiming, in public, the attributes of God and the acts of God. No wonder “Hallelu-Yah” is the most often repeated command in the Bible!

But most of all the book of Psalms is seen through the 23rd Psalm. The first Psalm we learn as children becomes the last word we lean on in that dark valley called death. This Psalm yields the three choice secrets of a believers life: the secret of happiness in life, peacefulness in death and security in eternity.

The best way to see this Psalm is in its context as it sits between two other Christ revealing Psalms.

 

PSALM 22

PSALM 23

PSALM 24

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

THE GREAT SHEPHERD

THE CHIEF SHEPHERD

IN DEATH

IN LIFE

IN GLORY

JOHN 10:11

HEBREWS 13:20

I PETER 5:4

MY SAVIOR

MY SHEPHERD

MY KING

THE CROSS

THE CROOK

THE CROWN

THE PAST

THE PRESENT

THE FUTURE

GRACE

GUIDANCE

GLORY