The Way of the Cross: Part 3 -- Sacrifice

Church this morning. They can be dismissed at this time and if you'll take your Bibles then and turn with me. To back to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Amen.

Jesus Christ did not come just to be an example of righteous living. That was a purpose for Jesus coming but that was not the only purpose. No, not at all. Where Jesus came off, Jesus also came to be the sacrifice that God's righteousness demanded for our redemption from sin and hell. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for your word. We pray that you would bless it as it goes forth, that you would move in hearts and lives to bring lost souls to the savior and to conform us more to the image of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, we pray. In Jesus name, amen.

Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus Christ, as we learned a few weeks ago, surrendered to that purpose. He surrendered to that purpose as recorded in Philippians chapter two. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God but he made himself of no reputation. He took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross.

It was the purpose for which he came to die on the cross for the sins of mankind. He surrendered to that even in eternity past as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He surrendered again in the Garden Of Gethsemane as he prayed not my will but what? But thine be done. The way of the cross is a path of surrender.

The way of the cross is a path of suffering. For Christ, of suffering unimaginable. For that very same purpose to redeem us from our sins. This is declared as we looked at by Peter. First Peter three eighteen.

Where it says, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins. The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit. What's quickened mean by the way? It means to be made alive.

Yes, Jesus Christ suffered and he died but he is our risen savior. The way of the cross is a path of surrender. The way of the cross is a path of suffering and our savior suffered more than any other man. Well, how can you say that? Well, it wasn't just the physical suffering which was unimaginable.

But it was also the suffering that he took upon himself as the wrath of God the father was poured out on his son on that cross as he paid the price that we could not pay. The righteous savior for unrighteous people. He suffered for us. It is a way of surrender. It's a way of suffering and is the way of sacrifice as we learn today.

He became the sacrifice that we read about in Isaiah 53 just a few minutes ago. Let me read again verses four through seven of Isaiah 53. We'll see that it is a way of sacrifice. Surely, he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did assume him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes, we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity, the sin of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet, he opened on his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the what?

Slaughter and as a sheep before her shears is dumb. So, he opened not his mouth. The way the cross is a way of sacrifice As Jesus became that sacrifice for us. Jesus did not suffer on the cross just suffer on the cross but he died in a specific manner so as to be the sacrifice for the sins of his brethren. Yes, his brethren.

Who's that? You and me. Lost humanity. We read that again. Jesus did not suffer, did not just suffer on the cross.

In any way, in just any type of suffering but he died in a specific what? Fashion, in a specific manner so as to be the what, the sacrifice that was required to redeem his brethren. Why do we say brethren? Because Jesus became a what? Because Jesus became a man.

So that he could die for the sins of mankind. The Bible says in first Timothy two five, I think they have that up there. Yes, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the what? The man, Christ Jesus. Though Jesus was still God, he was also man.

He refers to himself often as the son of man. To emphasize this aspect of his nature. We often refer to him as the son of God but Jesus just as often referred to himself as the son of man because he was both left my microphone behind Because he was both the son of God and the what? And the son of man. He is unique.

He is the only one who is both God and man. He was the only one who could take our place and sacrifice himself on the cross of Calvary. He became a man in order to suffer and die for the sins of mankind and he had to become one of us. As a spirit in heaven, he could not suffer. He could not die but as a man, he could.

In behalf of all men, who were condemned. Like a criminal on death row, condemned to die. So were we condemned in our sin. So, Jesus did what? He came to Earth.

The son of God became a man. He lived a righteous life and then voluntarily died in our place. He sacrificed who? What? Himself.

For us. The righteous man for unrighteous men. First, second Corinthians five twenty one, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus became the sin offering for us.

As he offered himself there on the cross, in our place. So that we could be forgiven. But let's go back for a moment. This sacrificial theme takes us back all the way to the book of Genesis. Following Adam and Eve's sin and the curse of God and the separation from God which followed.

God promised to send the seed of the what? The seed of the woman to bruise or to crush the head of the serpent. Who is the seed of the woman? Jesus. Who is the serpent?

Satan. God promised there in the garden. One day, he would send the seed of the woman. To bruise, to crush, to defeat the serpent. The seed of the woman is Jesus Christ.

It says in Galatians four, four, and five, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the redemption of sons. When the time was right, God kept his what? He kept his promise to send his son, the seed of the woman and how did he defeat Satan? He defeated Satan by becoming a sacrifice for sin on that cross and making a way for humanity to once again be reconciled with who? Be reconciled with God.

For their sins to be atoned. Then, before casting Adam and Eve out of the garden, God did something both sad and yet necessary. I grew up on a bit of a farm. My dad worked for General Electric but we also had geese and chickens and about an acre worth of garden and various and other sundries you would find on a farm. Every now and then, my dad would take one of the chickens and he would take it to a specific spot and there, he would take a hatchet and he would do away with the head of that chicken.

He'd hand it to me and I'd hang it up on a tree that was there. It was a locust tree that was nearby that it was the place we hung the chickens after dad cut their head off and some of those chickens were my pets and I was not happy when I was a kid when dad sacrificed when when he killed slew one of my favorite pretty chickens. But chickens were food. And I didn't like it too much. Well, before Adam and Eve left the garden, God did something sad.

He had to kill one of his precious creations. He shed its blood. He took its skins and with the skins of the animal that he slew, he clothed Adam and Eve. Their shame in being naked was indicative of their shame for sin which symbolically God covered by clothing them in the skins of a blood sacrifice. A life for a life.

The innocent to cover for the sins of the what? Of the guilty. As we leave the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter four, we see Abel bringing a sacrifice to the Lord and what did he bring? He brought a lamb. An innocent lamb.

And he shed its blood. And God gladly received. The sacrifice. Noah made many sacrifices of animals after he came off the ark. Abraham, when he got to the land of Canaan, everywhere he went, he built a what?

He built an altar and he made a what? Sacrifice. An animal sacrifice but then God required Abraham to sacrifice something out of the ordinary. What was that? His own son.

On a place called Mount Moriah, a three days journey from where Abraham was. Stunningly, Abraham obeyed. He would have sacrificed his son. If it were not for a ram caught in the bushes which God provided to take Isaac's place. There on that mountain, in answer to his son's inquiry, Abraham prophetically said this, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering.

Not only did God provide a lamb in Isaac's place that day but one day, he would provide his own son. On that very mountain over a thousand years later. As the sacrifice in our place. After time went by, Israel went into bondage in Egypt. For four hundred years, they were in bondage.

God delivered them after 10 horrendous plagues brought upon the Egyptians. The last one was the death of the what? Firstborn. How how did Israel escape that plague? Well, we call it the Passover.

God commanded the families of Israelites to take an unblemished lamb to slay it, to put its blood on the lintel and doorpost of their homes and the judgment of God passed over them. Israel was commanded to keep this as a solemn feast and celebration from year to year As they remembered God's deliverance and his judgment passing over them. Do you know that Jesus Christ died right around the same time? Do you know that Jesus and his disciples were celebrating the Passover when they instituted the what? The Lord's supper.

That evening. The Passover, really what that was was a feast and a celebration in advance of the lamb of God who would die on a cross for the sins of the world to deliver us all. At Mount Sinai, God gave Israel the law. They became a nation but he also gave them a regimen of sacrifices which they were to keep. Most of which reflected once again as the writer of Hebrews would later state, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission from sins.

With the sin offering, a man would bring a spotless lamb, hand it to the priest, and then he would do something kind of odd. After he handed it to the priest, he would take his hands and he would place it on the head of that lamb. Then, that lamb was slain and sacrificed there to atone for the sins of the one who brought it. The laying of the hands on the head of the lamb symbolized a transfer. The transfer of the man's sin to the innocent lamb and the innocence of the lamb to the repentant sinner.

For he hath made him to be sin for us or a sin offering for us. Who knew no sin? That we might be made the righteousness of God in him and we come to Christ by faith, the one who gave his life for us on the cross. Our guilt is transferred to him and his righteousness is transferred to us. So, Christ came into the world.

He was introduced by John to the people of Israel not as a mighty general come to conquer the Romans but as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. As Isaiah had identified him here. As a lamb to the what? As a lamb to the slaughter. He in essence was slain even before the foundation of the world.

For he knew what price he would pay. Before he even breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. And he became a living soul. A lamb like that lamb caught in the thicket to take Isaac's place who provided himself as the sacrifice on that very same mountain. For most of us know Mount Moriah is Mount Zion.

And the place Jesus died as Jerusalem. The lamb without blemish and without spot who shed his blood for the sins of mankind. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, Received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a what? A lamb a lamb without spot and without blemish. Innocent, undefiled, righteous, and he took our place.

When as the nails had been driven into his hands and he had been affixed on that cross, his blood streaming down to the ground. He cried, it is finished. He gave up the ghost as his life left his mangled body. They thrust a spear into his side as the blood and the water poured forth onto the ground. The sacrifice had been made.

The price had been paid for all. Jew and Gentile alike who would receive it. For as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them. That believe on his name. I'd like to sing just a verse or two from a song.

It's entitled, It Is Finished. It goes like this. Long ago I saw my savior bearing shame upon a tree then my heart was touched with sorrow for I saw he bled for me it is finished loud he cried oh I'd love for me he died I in my stead, he bled on Calvary once for all Christ rescued me. Free salvation. Now, he offers.

Take his gift oh hear his plea on the bloody cross behold him join his shout of victory it is finished loud he cried oh what love for me he died in my stead he bled on Calvary once for all, Christ rescued me. When Jesus cried, it is finished. What was finished? The sacrifice was finished. The price was paid.

The sacrifice that all other sacrifices were only a picture of. The sacrifice that made all the difference for the sins of you and me. Difference. It is his life and intercession for us and soon return upon which we place our hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ. For after he died on that cross, they took his body down and they placed it in a what?

In a tomb. A rich man's tomb as Isaiah had foreseen. But unlike every other sacrifice, Jesus Christ rose again. Jesus Christ came back to life. Jesus Christ came out of that tomb.

Jesus Christ saw and ministered to his disciples. Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven. Where he ever lives. To intercede for those. Fear you not.

For I know that you seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here for he is what? Risen. Come see the place where the Lord lay. He's not there.

Been to Jerusalem. Body's not in the tomb. It's not there because my savior is where? He is in heaven, seated at the right hand of the father on high. Where he ever lives to make intercession for me.

From where he one day will return to take his rightful place as king of kings and Lord of lords. We who have bowed the knee now ask you to do the same before the lamb of God. The king of kings and Lord of lords. As we sang, bow before him today before it is too late. Receive his work of grace and gift of love and offer of repentance and salvation today.

Make this Easter, this resurrection Sunday, the first day of your new life in Jesus Christ. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And child of God, remember to the sacrifice he made for you and understand that it is our turn now. To sacrifice to give our bodies a living sacrifice To take up our cross and what? And follow Jesus today.

It is but our reasonable service. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord. For your sacrifice The sacrifice of yourself to atone for my sins, for our sins, for the sins of mankind, so that all who come in faith can be saved. Can be forgiven and receive the gift of everlasting life.

Thank you for the fellowship. That we have in Jesus Christ our savior. Thank you for the eternal hope. That there is a home in heaven awaiting us and Lord, if there's one here today that's never trusted you as their Lord and savior, I pray as we sing this hymn of invitation that they would come. In Jesus name, amen.