Hey, Sam. Hey, Debbie. Thank you, Tom and Corey. So grateful to be up here. I'm excited, pretty nervous. Grateful to see everyone. Before I get to the text, I just want to say that not even 10 years ago, if someone would have told me that I would have been preaching in front of a congregation, I would have been just very confused. There's some people here tonight that can testify to that, I'm sure. I'll spare the testimony for now, but the direction I was pointed in was definitely away from God. But a lot of you know that I've been studying at RBC, Reformation Bible College, for the last half a year or so to become a minister of the gospel in some capacity. I'm not sure what that looks like long term, I know what it looks like right now. Just know that I consider myself a lay person by far, especially compared to some of the giants in the faith that have taken this pulpit, Pastor Dickey being one of them, and even the pastors that have come up here and preached over the last couple of months. We're so grateful to have them preach, and I'm so blessed by everything they have to say up here. So I'm grateful to be a part of that and to be preaching up here. But my experience with public speaking is very small. I've taught a couple of times at a medium-sized Bible study, and I've eulogized a couple of funerals. So thank you guys for allowing me to preach and for entrusting the word of God to me. I trust that anything that is edifying is gonna be of the Holy Spirit and not from me. So with that being said, let's pray. Father, I give you thanks. For another day, I give you thanks for this day especially. I thank you, Lord, for bringing the people here. I pray, Lord, that you would do the work that only you could do in the hearts of the unbelievers and in the hearts of those who do believe. Lord, I pray that you would edify them in some way. Thank you, Lord, and we love you. In Jesus' name, amen. So one of the funerals I spoke at was Jesse's grandmother's, Barb, and the other was my grandfather, Grandpa Beck, my dad's dad. both of which I was extremely honored and privileged to be able to speak at, but nothing quite is more honoring than eulogizing our Lord and Savior. And that's kind of what I'll be doing here tonight as I go through the, very briefly go through the person and work of Jesus and what he had to go through on this day 2,000 years ago. The first portion of this will be kind of like an apologetics slash hermeneutics lesson. I took those two classes last semester in school, so I'll be kind of putting a little bit of that fruit out in front of you, and I'm excited to do that. We'll begin at John 20. So if you guys want to get open to John 20, or at least to John. In the gospel of John, John is very pressed to demonstrate the deity of Jesus. He begins and concludes the gospel stressing the point that Jesus is divine. Towards the end of John in John 20, 30 through 31, he writes this. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. John says this book was written so that we would believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is the Christ, the anointed one. Excuse me, my mouth is really dry. I'm pretty nervous. So what I really want to do first is spend a little bit of time showing how the Bible and Jesus himself declares his divine nature. This will give us a good understanding of who the man is that died for us on this day. And it was just so perfectly providential that Pastor Dickey spoke on this last Sunday and not only told us to be ready to defend the word, but that he also set me up perfectly in introducing the divine nature of Christ. We also see just from John 20, 30 through 31 that Jesus claims to be, or that John claims Jesus to be the Son of God. But now let's look at what he says at the beginning of the Gospel of John in John 1. In the first sentence of the Gospel of John, we have a definite description of Jesus Christ being God. And this is important because the man who died for us on this day was not only man, but he was the God-man, if you will. And we'll see that here as we go through John 1. John 1.1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him. Nothing was made that was made. Right here we have some kind of concept that should be making your brains kind of work hard. If we're allowing the information to process through our brains before we allow it to seep down into our hearts. Every word should be processed through our brains. We should be thinking about these things. Let them go through your minds and ponder them over and over again before you let them sink down into your hearts. That is another sermon for another day, but it's very important to remember because there are many deceivers out there preaching a false gospel, and so we must be discerning on this topic and many others. But looking at John 1, how can something be with something and the thing that it's with at the same time? Let's keep reading in John 1, 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of him and cried out, saying, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And that was John the Baptist. And of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." So what would you call a man who was begotten by his Father? A son. The Word was the Son of the Father. And if the Son of the Father was the Word, then the Son of the Father was God. So let me break it down a little bit more thoroughly using the verses here. The only begotten Son, in verse 18, is the same begotten of the Father, in verse 14. Also, in verse 14, it says the begotten of the Father is the Word. Bring this new knowledge back to verse 1, where it says the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and there we have it. The begotten Son is God. So now we're gonna take a look at some supplemental scriptures to help us develop the answer to the dilemma. The dilemma being, who is the son? And who is the word? And who is God and who is with God? And just to be crystal clear, all these gospels are talking about Jesus Christ. The entire New Testament is talking to Jesus Christ, or talking about Jesus Christ, and the entire Old Testament is pointing to Jesus Christ. So we know that's who we're talking about here. And again, we already see in John 20, 30 through 31 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. But I'm trying to make the point for anyone here who does not believe that Jesus is God, and also to strengthen the believer's argument so that you can be better equipped when you go out into the world. There are a lot of really smart and clever people out there who can twist God's word just enough to let some doubt creep in. And so I want to deepen our understanding a bit. First we're gonna deal with the Son of God. There are some verses where demons are calling Jesus the Son of God. Matthew 8, 29. And suddenly they cried out, what have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Mark 3, 11. And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him and cried out, saying, you are the Son of God. And Luke 4, 41. And demons also came out of many, crying out, saying, you are the Christ, the Son of God. So these are some of the demons calling Jesus the Son of God. And nobody would know better about who Jesus is than the demons. They were with him in heaven before they fell. That's what demons are, that's what Satan is. They were all in heaven, they were created by God, they were angels, and then they fell. We also have Peter, who in Matthew 16, 16 confesses Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God, when he answers Jesus. Then Jesus says, And not only the last verse, but we have several verses where Jesus declares his Father in heaven. Besides these, there are many, many more scriptures where Jesus is called the Son of God. Now we also have Jesus himself claiming the actual title of God, just as Pastor Dickey preached last week. But I want to call your attention to another passage, John 8, where first Jesus refers to himself as God, and then he calls himself the I Am. And this takes us back to Exodus 3.14 and 15, and we're going to read this because it's really going to help us to tie the Old and New Testaments together. I'm just hammering home the point that Jesus is the same God that has always been. There's no old God in the Old Testament and now we have a new God, Jesus, or anything like that. I know some people like to do that as if the God of the Old Testament was this angry God and now we have, now we have some new God, this all-loving, hippie Jesus that just wants to be friends with everyone. It's not a thing. There's one God and that's it. So now let's go to John 8.37. And the verse that is gonna be the home run hitter is 858. But there's one before that where I wanna see if you can pick up on and I'm gonna start in verse 37 and read through. They answered and said to him, And Jesus said to them, A man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God, Abraham did not do this, you do the deeds of your father, Then they said to him, we were not born of fornication. We have one father, God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? There it is. That's the verse. Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father, and you dishonor me. And I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death. Then the Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets. And you say, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead, and the prophets are dead? Who do you make yourself out to be? And Jesus answered, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father who honors me, of whom you say he is your God. Yet you have not known him, but I know him. And if I say I do not know him, I shall be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Then the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Then they took up stones to throw at him. The Jews had already made up their minds about Jesus, about killing Jesus and wanting to kill Jesus before this exchange. We know that because we see it at the beginning of the passage. It says, you seek to kill me. But now we see the Jews picking up stones to actually commit the murder, to follow through. Why? The Jews knew who Jesus was referring to when he said the, I am. Now let's go back to Exodus 3.14 and 15 and find out for ourselves what the Jews knew Jesus to be referring to. For those of you who don't know, this is Moses as an adult now. He had fled from Egypt and was living in Midian. The Lord appeared to him in a burning bush that was not consumed, and this is what the Lord said. Verse 14. Now putting this all together, In Exodus, we see God, the same God as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, declaring, I am to be his name forever. Fast forward to John 8, and we see Jesus referring to himself as, I am. This is why the Jews picked up stones to kill Jesus. They fully understood what he was claiming. And the reason God can go by this name is because he never was or he never would be, he simply has always been. I am, I be, I am being, nothing created me. And this is what Jesus was boldly claiming. His fullness of God manifested in the flesh. So hopefully this is helping us to see the continuity between the Old and New Testaments as far as Jesus being God eternally. and as well as him being the son of God in his person. And to recap, we have the examples of John, Peter, and even the demons calling Jesus the son of God. We also have Jesus boldly proclaiming the title of God for himself. And as I said before, this should have our brains kind of working hard. This can and should be a little confusing to all of us. This is the doctrine of the Trinity, or the triune nature of God. Jesus is claiming to be the Son of God, and he's claiming to be God. And in John, it says he is with God and was God. And to be honest, our finite minds cannot completely understand this concept. And we cannot completely understand God in all of his eternal glory as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I don't really want to cover this, but I wanted to say a couple things on the Trinity, and one is that one of the eternal attributes of God is love, and love seems to need an object to be displayed to. And so if there's nobody to love, how could there be love, and how could God be love for all eternity? The other is that the Father is eternal, and if the Father is eternal, then there must be an eternal Son. If not, then the Father would not be, eternally, the Father. And beloved, if you're confused, you can rest in this. The Bible says, Romans 11.33, oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever, amen. And to drive this point home, guys, that we don't need to know everything about God and that we're not going to know everything about God, in Deuteronomy 29, 29, you guys know this one, Beloved, let the secret things belong to God. The Bible just taught us that Jesus is the Son of God, the Son of God is the Word, and the Word is God. We don't need to know how it all works. If we did, God would have put it all in the Bible for us to see and easily read and understand. Was God's grace not enough when he revealed himself through creation and through Jesus Christ and through his Bible? We don't know everything about God. And if we did, we would be like God. And we all know what happened to the creature who wanted to be like God. Satan. The most beautiful heavenly creation, in all his pride, said, I want to be like God. I will be like God. And he fell. He got kicked out of heaven for that. So don't be like him. We need this reminder because as good Bereans, we should be studying the scriptures and when we're studying and searching the scriptures, we might tend to get a little puffed up with knowledge. And not to say that knowledge is a bad thing. Hosea 4, 6 says, my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. But stay humble with your knowledge and use it for the edification of the saints. Remember, we can only boast in Christ because it is him who gives us everything we know anyway. Now that we've established the who and the what, the deity of Jesus Christ and his divine nature, we can talk about why he came down to die. And not just die, but suffer the most excruciating and humiliating death known to mankind. And I'm gonna read a little bit of information that I compiled last semester while I was defending Jesus' death by crucifixion against a claim from the Quran. Believe it or not, the Quran says that Jesus did not die by crucifixion. so I got to write a paper defending Christianity. Crucifixion was used by the Roman Empire for one purpose, to execute criminals in this torturous way in order to make a public example of what not to do, to execute them, to kill them. A Roman soldier's not going to fail at killing someone. For the most part, Roman citizens were not subjected to crucifixion, only to uphold the dignity of Rome because they couldn't possibly kill one of their own in this manner. Crucifixion was reserved only for those criminals who were merely occupied by Rome or anyone who committed treason against Caesar. Regarding the pain that the victims felt, Alexander Metheral, MD, PhD, says, it was literally beyond words to describe. They had to invent a new word, excruciating. Literally, excruciating means out of the cross. The process of crucifixion started with a flogging. And we know that Jesus was subjected to this from the Gospels of John, Mark, and Matthew. Flogging consisted of being stripped naked and being whipped with a cat o' nine tails. This device was a whip with strands of leather coming from its handle that had lead dumbbells and little shards of bones woven into the ends of the cords. The impact of the dumbbells would dilate the blood vessels and weaken the tissues all over the body, while the shards of bone would then easily tear the skin off the victim. Flogging would be done to the entire body from head to toe, therefore becoming a very bloody engagement, and in some cases would bring the victim to near death before making it to the cross. When the flogging was complete, the person would carry the horizontal piece of the cross to the vertical post that would typically already be buried into the ground. We know that Simon of Cyrene had to carry Jesus' cross, which points to the severity of Jesus' flogging. Remember also Jesus is going on no sleep. He lived out his entire day before this event. He has the last supper with his disciples and then makes his way over to the Garden of Gethsemane where he's betrayed by Judas and willfully goes with the troops to the courtyard of the high priest. There's no time lapse between the Last Supper and the crucifixion. Jesus is exhausted, brutally beaten, whipped, mocked, crown of thorns, the whole bit, before he's hung on the cross. And so after this, after the flogging, the victim, or the criminal, I should say, would typically carry their own cross, which I believe he did, I think in the Gospel of John, it records that he was led out of the praetorium, maybe, and then after that is when they grab Simon a sirene to carry it the rest of the way for him. They would typically carry their own cross to Golgotha. Their arms would be stretched out to be nailed or tied by the wrist under the horizontal beam. Of course, we know that Jesus was nailed to the cross. After being hoisted up and affixed to the vertical post, their feet would then be placed one over the other and nailed to a plank that was attached to the post. Archaeologists have found other means of attaching a body to the cross. Sometimes they would nail through the ankles, and so you would be bearing the weight from your hands or your wrists, typically, and also through the spikes that were in the sides of your ankles. Very, very painful, excruciating pain. So next time you guys go to say this is excruciating, maybe think twice before using that word. Let me see. The feet would be fastened to the cross to ensure a slow death, sometimes spread out over days of torture. And while attached to the cross, the person could only breathe effectively as they pushed up on the plank that their feet were nailed to. They would typically be stripped naked, adding to the humiliation and pain, considering they had very little skin intact. The Bible says the Roman soldiers casted lots or gambled for his clothes, so more than likely our Lord and Savior was humiliated in this way as well while he bore our sins on the cross. Sometimes the Roman soldiers would expedite the death by breaking their legs, causing them to hang, ultimately ending the crucifixion due to a person's rapid death by asphyxiation. When you're on the cross and you're hanging on the cross, all your weight is hanging from your hands. The only way you can take a proper breath in because of all the pressure on your diaphragm is to push up to take the breath in. So they would come by, break the legs, they would hang and die very rapidly. They didn't have to break Jesus' legs because he had already given up his spirit. This is what our Lord and Savior endured on the cross. Most people wouldn't even die for a good person, let alone endure this type of suffering for the very people that were crucifying you. This is bad, guys. This is like the worst and the worst kind of sin because it's our Lord and Savior and Creator. But this is only part of the suffering that Jesus had to endure on the cross. The physical aspect. And there's a much deeper suffering going on here, something that none of us will ever have to experience as long as we're in Christ. We may face crucifixion someday, we may face persecution, I pray not. But many disciples throughout redemptive history, sad to say, have, at the hands of many different people groups, even at the hands of so-called Christians, hence the Reformation. But be encouraged, brothers and sisters, I know it's hard to be after all that, but as long as we are in Christ, we can handle persecution. He will strengthen you. He will strengthen you with the perseverance of the saints all the way until the bloody end. Always remember that while we may suffer physically, we will never have to pay the eternal penalty for our sins because Christ did that for us on the cross. Now before I gave the illustration of the crucifixion, I said I wanted to talk about the why, about why Jesus had to come down and die on the cross. We've covered the deity of Christ and the crucifixion, and now let's try to gain some understanding as to why by going back to the beginning of the Bible in Genesis. In order to understand just what in the world happened on this day, I'll kind of recap Genesis and then make my point and wrap up. So we'll start in Genesis 1-26. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. There's the triune nature again. In chapter two, verse seven, So he creates Adam. And in verse 15, God places him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And everything was good, so that's right. Work was a good thing at one point. And believe it or not, whether you're a believer or not, work is still a good thing. It's a common grace that God has given us. even after the fall to allow us to feed ourselves and to survive. So, no grumbling. So, anyway, he gives Adam a command in 2.16. And the Lord God So here we see the first command. And notice there's no woman yet. Adam is the one that receives the command. And ultimately, I believe this is why Adam is blamed for original sin. In verse 19, God starts creating all the animals of the earth and of the air. And Adam proceeds to name all the animals and discovers that there is nothing suitable for him. So God then creates woman from man and for man. And sometime after this, Satan, in the form of a serpent, comes to the woman and deceives her. And because Adam was not fulfilling his role as protector, she fell to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which gets them kicked out of Eden. thus breaking the communion that humankind have with God and beginning the doctrine of original sin. And this is what causes our natural disposition that is pointed away from God from our very conception. This original sin and all sin has this effect on us. It constantly tries to pull us away from God. And men in particular, and women looking for men, or looking for a man, I should say. Listen, this is the type of grievous sin that is happening in our day as well as Adam's day. A lack of knowledge of the word of God. We don't have men standing firm anymore in the face of sin, even sin committed openly in churches. Because there aren't enough men who know the word at a deep enough level to disciple anyone, let alone their own tribe. And this is what happens when we as men in our society and husbands and fathers fail to live out our role, to live out our role as protector, provider, and to preside over our family or to lead our families. Adam failed to teach her the one law. that God gave him before she was created, and to protect her from the sin that was crouching at her door. Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How did the woman quote God when she answered the serpent? Chapter three, verse two. And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God says, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. And this is how I gather that Adam was doing a lousy job of discipling his wife. It was a simple command, and she added the words, nor shall you touch it. Well, Satan jumps all over this opportunity. He sees weakness, confusion, and a lack of knowledge. Remember Hosea 4.6, my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Destroyed indeed. Like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, Satan pounces and twists God's words just enough, which helps her to come to the same place that got him kicked out of heaven. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. After they sinned against God, their eyes were opened to the knowledge of good and evil, and they were naked and they were ashamed, so they sewed fig leaves together. God comes, walking through the garden, plays along with Adam's little game. Where are you? Oh, there you are. And why are you covered up with fig leaves? As if God didn't know. God didn't know where they were. God didn't know anything that just happened. Adam starts a new game. I'm sure none of us have ever played this one. It's called the blame game. I'm paraphrasing, of course, by the way. Only Adam blames God for giving him the woman that would make him eat the fruit. Look at this in verse 12, 312. Then the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the fruit and I ate. Remember, God is omnipresent, so he sees everything. He's all over the place, all the time. He saw the entire event go down. It's almost like he just wanted to hear them confess. in order to make them know that these curses were brought upon themselves. But to the serpent he says this in Genesis 3.14. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field, on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you Some verses say that he shall crush your head. I like this version better because we know that Satan is still around. But this is the first time we see prophecy in the Bible of Jesus Christ. This is the prophecy. This prophecy would come to fruition in the unforeseeable future. This is what we're here today for. The prophecy is that Jesus is the seed that brews the head of the serpent. And this is partially what we celebrate on this day. But I want you to see something here in chapter 3, verse 21. The Bible says, This little verse gets glossed over frequently, and if you're not doing a careful job reading, you'll miss it. Adam and Eve had sewn together fig leaves to cover up their knowledge of their nakedness, which represented the sin that they committed against God. And God knew that these fig leaves wouldn't last, so he made them tunics with skin. And where did he get the skin? He had to kill one of his own creation. He had to sacrifice life in order to atone for the sin that was against him. You see, blood has the life in it, and blood had to be poured out for the atonement of sin. And this all points to the cross. This was the first sacrifice to atone for sin, which is a foreshadowing of the greater thing to come. Just like the fig leaves wouldn't last, God knew that the animal sacrifices that were done throughout the entire Old Testament wouldn't last. He knew that they would not fully atone for the sins of the world. Only the precious blood of God himself could do that. And this last sacrifice was the spotless lamb, Jesus Christ. This is the why. This is why we're here. This is why Jesus had to die on the cross. When Adam sinned, God imputed, God imputed or counted his sin to his posterity, which means to all future generations. So we now inherit that sin. This is the doctrine of original sin, which clearly has the penalty of death associated with it. The Bible says in Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death. And we know that everyone eventually dies, but this is also talking about a final death, a spiritual separation from God for all eternity. So Adam imputes his sin to his posterity, but what does Jesus do? Jesus died on the cross to pay the wages of sin that we all earned. Whether it be through the inherited sin of God's first created man, Adam, or if you don't subscribe to the doctrine of original sin, then any one of the Ten Commandments that we've all broken, we've earned the wages of sin. And paying for the debt, paying the debt for our sins, without a doubt, is the worst of all the suffering that Christ did on the cross. It was about the ninth hour, which would have approximately been 3 p.m. The Gospel of Matthew records in chapter 27, verse 46. Some people say this is the very moment when Jesus, when Jesus bore the sins of the world. And I have to agree. God cannot look on sin And this is why the father had forsaken him temporarily, had turned his back on him temporarily. While the one who knew no sin became sin on our behalf. And this is the moment that Jesus became the propitiation or the payment for our sins. And all he asks is that we have faith in him and he would impute his righteousness unto us. Truly this had to have been the most tremendous amount of suffering of all. And after this, with his last breath, Jesus said, it is finished. And he nailed our sins to the cross that day. And they died with him on that day. And this is all, all it comes down to, is Romans 10.9. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved. That's all he asks of us. If you have not given your entire life to Jesus Christ, I urge you now to do it. Psalm 95.8 says, Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is God. Jesus suffered not only physically on the cross to save us from the wrath of God, but was separated from the Father while he became sin on our behalf. This is perhaps one of the greatest mysteries in the Bible. However, because Jesus was obedient even to the point of death on a cross, we can now look at that verse in Romans in its entirety and have great hope and joy. Let's pray. Good and gracious Father, We thank you so much for giving us your word, for allowing the people to come today, Lord, and hear your word. I pray that you would do a work that only you could do in the hearts of the people here today. I thank you, Father, for this day especially, 2,000 years ago, when you paid the ultimate price. You suffered physically on the cross. and you were tormented, Lord, in your spirit as you were separated from the Father, and we are so grateful, grateful for lack of a better word, Lord. We love you, we thank you, in Jesus' name, amen.