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The New York Daily News published an interesting article two weeks ago. It seems that the nation’s oldest library, the New York Society Library in Manhattan still has an old ledger that contains the records of all the books that were checked out from the library between July 1789 and April 1792. At that time, New York was the nation's capital and Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay are all included in its pages as patrons of the library. They each borrowed books and returned them. However, one very prominent figure from American History wasn’t so faithful. On Oct. 5, 1789, President George Washington borrowed the "Law of Nations," a treatise on international relations, and Vol. 12 of the "Commons Debates," which contained transcripts of debates from Britain's House of Commons.
The entry for that transaction contains no return date. Recently, the long lost 14-Volume set of “Commons Debates” was rediscovered and Volume 12 was missing, lending credence to the supposition that the books were never returned. The books were due by Nov. 2, 1789, and have been accruing a fine of a few pennies per day ever since. If the library were to try to collect the late fees that have accrued over the course of 220 years, the inflation adjusted total would be somewhere around $300,000. It was suggested, by one writer, that the only recourse was a presidential pardon. A pardon would totally wipe away the vast, outstanding debt.
If, indeed, the descendants of President Washington sought a pardon and if the current administration were to grant such a pardon, it would be the first pardon issued by President Obama. Although the Constitution provides the president virtually unlimited power to "grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States,” presidential pardons have long been the source of much controversy. Because of this, first-term Presidents have traditionally shown a great reluctance to wield the power of the pardon.
A presidential pardon signifies an official forgiveness for a federal crime and restores forfeited civil rights such as the right to vote or bear arms. It is, essentially, the only means by which a person can escape judgment for the wrongs they have been convicted of. Once a person is pardoned, there will be no further judgment for their crimes. If their sentence has not been fully served it is commuted. If they have not yet begun to serve their sentence, then it is completely wiped out. A pardon removes judgment from the equation, allowing a crime to simply be forgiven without satisfying any verdict.
When it comes to matters of sin and salvation, there are some who believe that salvation is, in effect, God’s version of a pardon. There seems to be, in some circles, a prevailing belief that God can just dismiss sin without any consequence at all. Forgiveness has been equated to the idea that God, in his great mercy, can determine to simply “overlook” sins. Nothing could be further from the truth! I want to go on record, loud and clear, with the statement that God doesn’t pardon sin. He can’t. If He did, he would cease to be God.
In order to understand this it is important that we fix in our minds the nature of God’s reaction toward sin. Sin provokes the wrath of God. It demands judgment. The problem with sin is the fact that it does violence to the constitution under which God and humans live. Sin is rebellion against God, it is an attack against God’s honor and holiness. If God could tolerate or condone sin in any measure, He would no longer be God because sin usurps an authority that belongs only to God, it is an affront to the very nature and character of God.
Sin asserts the idea that the sinner is, in some way, above God and outside of the realm of God’s authority because sin ignores the laws that God has imposed in our lives. It says to God, “I know better than you do what is good for me and my life.” This is why sin demands the destruction of the sinner. This also explains why the wages of sin is always death, and the soul that sins must surely die. The only way in which the honor of God can be satisfied and sin can be atoned for is through death. The wrath of God demands it.
God’s wrath is not like human wrath. God doesn’t lose His temper and become enraged, like we do. He doesn’t fly off the handle and go into a fit of rage. God’s wrath is a deliberate, controlled, unwavering kind of anger. It is not an inconsistent passion that can be turned on and off or one that diminishes with time. It is the automatic, deliberate reaction of a holy God to sin. After Israel fashioned the golden calf and worshipped it, God said to Moses, in Exodus 32:10, “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them.” This controlled aspect of God’s anger against sin is expressed clearly in Jn. 3:36, where the wrath of God is said to “abide on” the individual that doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ. Where there is sin, there is, of necessity, the abiding wrath of God.
This is where the mercy of God comes into the equation. We are all sinners and have all fallen short of the glory of God. Because of this, each of us is under God’s wrath. The cross was God’s answer to sin and Paul indicates in Romans 3:21–26 that our justification is based on the removal of God’s wrath through the propitiation of the blood of Jesus. The blood of a substitute removes the wrath of God. It satisfies the need for judgment and death. In this manner the offering of an atoning sacrifice at Calvary appeased the righteous wrath of a holy God.
Here’s the truth of the matter: For God to be God He has to judge sin. He cannot and will not simply “pardon” sin. He will not commute the sentence. If God is to remain holy and just, then every sin must be judged. Calvary provides a place of judgment where the penalty for our sins is fulfilled, a place where the wrath of God is appeased. God’s controlled wrath was poured out at Calvary. It was fully satisfied at the cross. This is the miracle of Calvary! The judge that demanded judgment also became the one upon whom that judgment was executed. To keep from pouring out his wrath on us, God became a man, and poured out that wrath upon himself. Through faith in and obedience to the plan of salvation, our sins are judged and we go free. There is no other way. There is no pardon for sins. When it comes to sin, God will always judge it. His holiness demands it.
God’s mercy is holy and righteous because it is based upon the fact that sin has been judged and His wrath has been satisfied. God’s judgment will be holy and righteous because all sin that stands before him will be judged. Some will come before God in judgment and will have already applied the blood of Jesus. When God looks at them He will see that sin has already been judged and His justice and his mercy will be in complete harmony when He pardons that individual and says, “Well done my good and faithful servant.” However, some will come before God with sin in their lives that is not covered by the blood of Jesus due to the fact that they have not believed in and fulfilled the plan of salvation. Once again, His judgment and His mercy will be in harmony. The judgment of God will condemn sin, the wrath of God will be poured out and the mercy of God will be fully aware that a way of escape was made but the sacrifice was either neglected or ignored.
The estate of President Washington may have a pretty good case for a presidential pardon and there is probably a pretty good chance that, if they ask for one, they will receive it. However, the fact remains that God issues no such pardons. He has made a way for the price to be paid through the cross. Through the plan of salvation, which appropriates the work of Calvary into your life, He will bear your burden for you. He will bear the judgment for your sins, but He will not overlook sin or fail to judge it. In every case, His wrath will be satisfied, His justness will be appeased and His righteousness will be intact. The price will be paid, one way or the other…
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Doing the best that I can do...
This evening as I have sought to clear my mind and prepare a thought from the word of God for a mid-week service I have found myself contemplating a verse of scripture that I have read many times and even preached from on several different occasions. However, as the word of God is prone to do, this familiar passage is communicating to my heart in a new and refreshing manner tonight. I seriously doubt that there is any student of the word of God, on any level, that has not at least considered the poetically beautiful way that Solomon addresses the cycle of life in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes. With an insight that is hauntingly familiar to every heart, the writer shares a list of opposites that illustrate the truth that there is a time for every activity under heaven.
Anyone who reads that striking poem is quickly provoked to consider the rapid succession of this fragile thing we call life. It is, at the same time, bitter and sweet. It contains, sometimes in the same moments, both hope and despair. Life is made up of both glorious sunrises and long dark nights. It is all contained within Solomon’s brief poem: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to harvest; a time to kill and a time to heal. The list goes on and on: weeping and laughing; mourning and dancing; finding and losing; loving and hating. There is an intrinsic beauty to the whole of the passage, yet there is a stirring sense of the profound that echoes through it.
This is the fabric of the life that we live. Everything has a season and a time, everything happens according to God’s grand design. Life has both pleasures and disappointments, both triumphs and defeats and they happen to each of us with the simple passage of time. No single moment is eternal no matter how pleasant or horrific it may be, with the passing of every second we march steadily forward to a different season and a different time. Through the course of a life one experiences the myriad of extremes: love that sustains us; betrayals that debilitate us; triumphs that validate us and tragedies that overwhelm us. Through it all we are left to wonder at the meaning of our lives. Questions haunt our souls and fuel our doubts and fears. Who hasn’t raised their face to heaven and mouthed the futile words: Why me? Why here? Why now?
The poet makes a comforting statement in verse 11 when he says that God “has made everything beautiful in its time.” But he also acknowledges that it is beyond the scope of our understanding to grasp the plan and purpose of God in our lives. God makes everything beautiful but he doesn’t always reveal to us the mystery of the beauty in our lives. God works everything together for good, but all too often the scope of God’s good is obscured by the harshness of our present reality. We know, in our hearts, that He makes all things beautiful. We know, by our faith, that he gives beauty for ashes and joy for mourning but the reality of this present life sometimes seems to overpower that simple assurance.
Perhaps this is why the writer comes to the conclusion in verse twelve that there is nothing better than to be joyful and to do good as long as we live. The phrase “nothing better” is an understatement of sorts. The intended sense of the verse is that “the best thing” that we can do is to determine in our hearts to be joyful and do good, no matter what this life brings us. The best that we can do is to resolve, regardless of the season and the time of our lives, that God is good and He makes all things beautiful. I don’t always understand it, it won’t always make sense, some mysteries I’m never going to solve but the best that I can do in this life is to make up my mind to be joyful in all things. I have discovered, in the course of the sorrows and challenges of my brief life, that there is, indeed, a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. There is, in the presence of God, a joyfulness that surpasses all the trials and tragedies of my life. Perhaps the greatest lesson I’ve ever learned is that I can be joyful in all things.
So tonight, as look across the landscape of my life, I must acknowledge that not everything is good, not everything is perfect, and some things simply are not going to work out the way I would have wanted them to. However, even in the face of disappointments and difficulties, I’m reminded of the promise that He makes all things beautiful in his own time. Faced with that truth, the least I can do is turn my heart towards heaven and recognize the goodness of God in my life. According to Solomon, the best that I can do, in the highs and lows of this life, is to be joyful and to do good. The best that I can do is to mingle a measure of joy with my sorrow, mix some gladness with my heartaches, and merge a little praise with my multitude of pains.
Somewhere in the midst of all the mysteries of this life there awaits the simple understanding that, in time, God makes all things beautiful. With that truth in mind, I have determined to do the best that I can do…
Anyone who reads that striking poem is quickly provoked to consider the rapid succession of this fragile thing we call life. It is, at the same time, bitter and sweet. It contains, sometimes in the same moments, both hope and despair. Life is made up of both glorious sunrises and long dark nights. It is all contained within Solomon’s brief poem: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to harvest; a time to kill and a time to heal. The list goes on and on: weeping and laughing; mourning and dancing; finding and losing; loving and hating. There is an intrinsic beauty to the whole of the passage, yet there is a stirring sense of the profound that echoes through it.
This is the fabric of the life that we live. Everything has a season and a time, everything happens according to God’s grand design. Life has both pleasures and disappointments, both triumphs and defeats and they happen to each of us with the simple passage of time. No single moment is eternal no matter how pleasant or horrific it may be, with the passing of every second we march steadily forward to a different season and a different time. Through the course of a life one experiences the myriad of extremes: love that sustains us; betrayals that debilitate us; triumphs that validate us and tragedies that overwhelm us. Through it all we are left to wonder at the meaning of our lives. Questions haunt our souls and fuel our doubts and fears. Who hasn’t raised their face to heaven and mouthed the futile words: Why me? Why here? Why now?
The poet makes a comforting statement in verse 11 when he says that God “has made everything beautiful in its time.” But he also acknowledges that it is beyond the scope of our understanding to grasp the plan and purpose of God in our lives. God makes everything beautiful but he doesn’t always reveal to us the mystery of the beauty in our lives. God works everything together for good, but all too often the scope of God’s good is obscured by the harshness of our present reality. We know, in our hearts, that He makes all things beautiful. We know, by our faith, that he gives beauty for ashes and joy for mourning but the reality of this present life sometimes seems to overpower that simple assurance.
Perhaps this is why the writer comes to the conclusion in verse twelve that there is nothing better than to be joyful and to do good as long as we live. The phrase “nothing better” is an understatement of sorts. The intended sense of the verse is that “the best thing” that we can do is to determine in our hearts to be joyful and do good, no matter what this life brings us. The best that we can do is to resolve, regardless of the season and the time of our lives, that God is good and He makes all things beautiful. I don’t always understand it, it won’t always make sense, some mysteries I’m never going to solve but the best that I can do in this life is to make up my mind to be joyful in all things. I have discovered, in the course of the sorrows and challenges of my brief life, that there is, indeed, a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. There is, in the presence of God, a joyfulness that surpasses all the trials and tragedies of my life. Perhaps the greatest lesson I’ve ever learned is that I can be joyful in all things.
So tonight, as look across the landscape of my life, I must acknowledge that not everything is good, not everything is perfect, and some things simply are not going to work out the way I would have wanted them to. However, even in the face of disappointments and difficulties, I’m reminded of the promise that He makes all things beautiful in his own time. Faced with that truth, the least I can do is turn my heart towards heaven and recognize the goodness of God in my life. According to Solomon, the best that I can do, in the highs and lows of this life, is to be joyful and to do good. The best that I can do is to mingle a measure of joy with my sorrow, mix some gladness with my heartaches, and merge a little praise with my multitude of pains.
Somewhere in the midst of all the mysteries of this life there awaits the simple understanding that, in time, God makes all things beautiful. With that truth in mind, I have determined to do the best that I can do…
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Matching Your Mountains
On July 4 1894, American folk poet Sam Walter Foss published a poem called “The Coming American”, and it went like this:
Bring me men to match my mountains, Bring me men to match my plains;
Men with empires in their purpose, And new eras in their brains.
Bring me men to match my mountains, Bring me men to match my plains;
Men to chart a starry empire, Men to make celestial claims.
Bring me men to match my prairies, Men to match my inland seas;
Men to sail beyond my oceans, Reaching for the galaxies.
These are men to build a nation, Join the mountains to the sky;
Men of faith and inspiration, Bring me men, bring me men, bring me men!
Bring me men to match my forests, Bring me men to match my shore;
Men to guard the mighty ramparts, Men to stand at freedom's door.
Bring me men to match my mountains, Men to match their majesty;
Men to climb beyond their summits, Searching for their destiny.
I have long been intrigued by the phrase “Men to match my mountains.” For many years the mighty mountain ranges of the Midwest served as barriers to the growth of the fledgling nation. Only after brave men and women forged trails through the mountains that opened the west to exploration and settlement could this great nation stretch from see to shining sea. Until that day, those mountians stood as defiant obstacles sending out a challenging cry for men to match their greatness and stature. Their very existence was a demand for "Men to match my mountains."
In religious circles we hear many references to mountaintop experiences as those high times of our lives when everything is going well. Likewise much is said about the valley as the times of trial and difficulty. However, the distinction is not nearly as simple as that. Mountains, in and of themselves, present both a challenge and an obstacle that must be overcome. The victory and reward of standing on a mountaintop is only achieved after the exhausting experience of conquering the mountain. The truth is that the mountains themselves are somewhat intimidating but their very presence calls out for men to match the mountains.
If you intend to live for God, if you have a desire to strive to do some great work for God, you might as well settle the issue right now: There will be mountains in your life. Mountains that defy you and challenge you to overcome them. Mountains that represent challenges, and struggles. Mountains that become obstacles and even, sometimes, mountains that are occupied by the enemies of your soul. It is these mountains that become the obstacles that stand between you and the things that God has for you in this life.
My desire today is to encourage you. Don't shrink away from your mountains. God has given you a faith and courage to match the mountains in your life. Blessing waits for you on the mountaintop. A fresh experience with God waits on the other side of the obstacle. A hard fought victory awaits the soul that will fight their way up the mountain. The conquering of some mountains will be a long difficult battle where every step forward is a small victory. Some mountains will be marked by the long lonely struggle of a solo climb to the summit. And some mountains will merely be obstacles in your path that simply must be overcome. Together they will challenge you, they will try your faith and test your commitment. But make no mistake about it, the mountain top is worth the struggle that it takes to reach it. If you are to obtain all that God has for you in this life, if you are to be everything He has called you to be, you will have to match the mountains that He has placed before you.
Can you hear their voices? The mountains in your life are beckoning to you. Come, climb, struggle and conquer. The mountain only yields its treasure to the soul that braves its dangers. Can you hear the cry? It echos from the hills and over the valleys, "Give me men to match my mountains..."
You, my friends are the men and women that can, indeed, match the mountains of your life. Why don't you make up your mind today to rise up and match your mountains?
Bring me men to match my mountains, Bring me men to match my plains;
Men with empires in their purpose, And new eras in their brains.
Bring me men to match my mountains, Bring me men to match my plains;
Men to chart a starry empire, Men to make celestial claims.
Bring me men to match my prairies, Men to match my inland seas;
Men to sail beyond my oceans, Reaching for the galaxies.
These are men to build a nation, Join the mountains to the sky;
Men of faith and inspiration, Bring me men, bring me men, bring me men!
Bring me men to match my forests, Bring me men to match my shore;
Men to guard the mighty ramparts, Men to stand at freedom's door.
Bring me men to match my mountains, Men to match their majesty;
Men to climb beyond their summits, Searching for their destiny.
I have long been intrigued by the phrase “Men to match my mountains.” For many years the mighty mountain ranges of the Midwest served as barriers to the growth of the fledgling nation. Only after brave men and women forged trails through the mountains that opened the west to exploration and settlement could this great nation stretch from see to shining sea. Until that day, those mountians stood as defiant obstacles sending out a challenging cry for men to match their greatness and stature. Their very existence was a demand for "Men to match my mountains."
In religious circles we hear many references to mountaintop experiences as those high times of our lives when everything is going well. Likewise much is said about the valley as the times of trial and difficulty. However, the distinction is not nearly as simple as that. Mountains, in and of themselves, present both a challenge and an obstacle that must be overcome. The victory and reward of standing on a mountaintop is only achieved after the exhausting experience of conquering the mountain. The truth is that the mountains themselves are somewhat intimidating but their very presence calls out for men to match the mountains.
If you intend to live for God, if you have a desire to strive to do some great work for God, you might as well settle the issue right now: There will be mountains in your life. Mountains that defy you and challenge you to overcome them. Mountains that represent challenges, and struggles. Mountains that become obstacles and even, sometimes, mountains that are occupied by the enemies of your soul. It is these mountains that become the obstacles that stand between you and the things that God has for you in this life.
My desire today is to encourage you. Don't shrink away from your mountains. God has given you a faith and courage to match the mountains in your life. Blessing waits for you on the mountaintop. A fresh experience with God waits on the other side of the obstacle. A hard fought victory awaits the soul that will fight their way up the mountain. The conquering of some mountains will be a long difficult battle where every step forward is a small victory. Some mountains will be marked by the long lonely struggle of a solo climb to the summit. And some mountains will merely be obstacles in your path that simply must be overcome. Together they will challenge you, they will try your faith and test your commitment. But make no mistake about it, the mountain top is worth the struggle that it takes to reach it. If you are to obtain all that God has for you in this life, if you are to be everything He has called you to be, you will have to match the mountains that He has placed before you.
Can you hear their voices? The mountains in your life are beckoning to you. Come, climb, struggle and conquer. The mountain only yields its treasure to the soul that braves its dangers. Can you hear the cry? It echos from the hills and over the valleys, "Give me men to match my mountains..."
You, my friends are the men and women that can, indeed, match the mountains of your life. Why don't you make up your mind today to rise up and match your mountains?
Saturday, April 3, 2010
The Just For The Unjust
Easter 2010
Today, we celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter sums up the significance of the whole weekend in a single, short but profound, verse: 1 Peter 3:18, 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. This is the reason why we celebrate. Jesus Christ died on a cross for my sins and for yours, the just for the unjust. In order to bring us to God, he died in the flesh but was quickened by the Spirit.
Substitution
If we are going to grasp the significance of the cross we have to understand the biblical implication of substitution. That’s what Peter means by the just for the unjust. There are many facets to the meaning of Christ’s death, but the central element of the sacrifice that occurred at Calvary is substitution. This simply means that Christ died in our place, the just for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous, heaven’s perfect lamb for the sins of the whole world.
The cross stands at the center of the bible. The whole biblical record, up to the cross, points to the cross and everything after the cross is dramatically influenced by it. The finished work of Calvary is, bar none, the single greatest act of God in all of time and eternity and it was in the mind of God from the very beginning. This is why Rev 13:8 and 1 Peter 1:19 agree together that Jesus was the lamb “slain from the foundation of the world.” The cross wasn’t God’s way of reacting to sin. It was God’s plan to deal with sin before the first sin ever occurred. God foreordained that he would purchase the church with his own blood, he knew, from the beginning, the price that he would pay for sin.
According to Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death and Ezekiel 18 tells us over and over again that the soul that sins shall surely die. When Adam and Eve sinned, in the garden, death took a hold of their mortal bodies. It would take over 900 years for that death to be fully realized but it began to work in them immediately. However, at the same time they experienced spiritual death. The spiritual death was instant. They were no longer righteous; sin robbed them of spiritual life and severed their fellowship and communion with God. The price for sin is death. In order for Adam and Eve to be saved from their sins, something had to die. The problem is that Adam and Eve couldn’t pay that price because they were already dead. So something else had to die in their place, if they were to be saved.
Right there in the garden God introduced the concept of substitution. God slew animals and took from them bloody coats of skins that He used to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. From the very beginning God was spelling out the principle of the cross. Death, bloodshed, substitution and atonement, all occurred in those few moments at the beginning of it all. An animal became the substitute, it died, its blood was shed and its bloody coat made a covering over Adam and Eve’s sin. That’s what atonement is, it’s a covering for sin. It allows man to have fellowship with God by virtue of the fact that his sin is covered, or atoned for, by a substitutionary sacrifice.
That foundational principle is repeated throughout the biblical record. Its represented in the ram that was caught in the bush when Abraham prepared to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, out of obedience to God. The words of Abraham to his precious son ring with a strong prophetic tone down trough the pages of scripture. When Isaac inquired about the absence of a sacrifice, Abraham responded in Genesis 22:8 “God will provide himself a lamb.” Indeed, God did just that. As Abraham drew back the knife to perform the sacrifice that God had required of him, the angel of the Lord stopped his hand and revealed to him the ram that was caught in a bush, a sacrificial substitute for Abraham’s son. But the power of Abraham’s faith filled statement extends beyond that day to the day when God literally provided himself as the substitutionary lamb.
Over and over again the concept repeats itself through out the scripture. When Moses prepared to lead the Hebrews on the exodus form Egypt he was warned of God that the 10th plague would be a visitation of the death angel upon Egypt. On that dreaded night, when the death angel passed over he would claim the first born of every home. But Moses was given a promise in Exodus 12:13 that he relayed to the Hebrews, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” Every Hebrew family was to select a lamb, a perfect spotless specimen, and that lamb was to be sacrificed for their family. On that night, the night of the first Passover, the lamb became the substitute for the children of Abraham. When the death angel saw the blood on the doorposts of the home he passed over that home because the price had already been paid. The death of a substitute was the only way to escape the judgment of God.
That Passover was the first of many as God instituted a covenant with Israel through Moses, the foundation of which was substitutional atonement for sins by the death of a lamb. From that point forward the pages of the word of God are soaked with the blood of countless sacrificial lambs. Every year on the Passover, the familiar scene was played out. Each family would sacrifice a lamb to atone for their sins. As many a quarter of a million lambs were slain each Passover. Each one is a substitute for sins. The blood that flowed from those multiplied millions of lambs provided a covering, an atonement, for sins.
However, all of that blood could never fully take away sins, it only provided a temporary covering for sins. Hebrews 10:4 tells us that “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” The lambs of the Old Testament only pointed to the day when God would provide “himself” as the perfect sacrifice for sins. That’s why when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him that day in John chapter one, he looked beyond the millions of animal sacrifices and pointed to the true “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
Redemption
The death of Jesus was substitutionary. Just like the lambs of the Old Testament, Jesus died for our sins. He became our substitute as he was offered in our place, the just for the unjust. However, his sacrifice accomplished more than the atonement of the Old Testament. The blood of Jesus was the vehicle of redemption. Redemption is the concept of being set free by the payment of a ransom price. It is built upon the application of a common legal transaction of biblical times. When a man became a debtor and owed a debt that he could not repay there was a legal system in place that allowed him to work off his debt as a slave to the person to whom he was indebted. It was a type of indentured servant hood, a means for a man to satisfy a debt that was too great for him to pay in any other way.
Once a man entered that obligation, he was bound by it. There was only one way to terminate that agreement and that was by the payment of a redemption price. In that special allowance of the law a redeemer could pay the price that was owed by the individual thus setting them free from their debt. There was only one catch. The redeemer had to be a kinsman of the person to be redeemed. He had to be a blood relative. There was no other kind of redeemer except the kinsman redeemer. This is why the blood of bulls and goats wasn’t sufficient to redeem sins. This is why millions of gallons of blood shed by millions of sacrificial lambs would never set man free from the bondage of sin. The price could only be paid by kinsman!
This is why John started his gospel the way he did. He establishes from the very beginning the validity of the blood of Jesus. “In the beginning,” he says in John 1:1, “was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.” And when he gets to verse 14 he says, “the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” It’s the same message that Paul broadcast in 1 Timothy 3:16, " And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” In the person of Jesus Christ, God became our kinsman. He became a man so that He could become our redeemer. There wasn’t any other way. Because of sin, we owed a debt we could not pay. We were in bondage to sin. That’s why Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8:34 that whoever commits sin is the slave of sin. Because sin is the slave master that each of us was bound to from birth. And we didn’t have the resources to purchase our own freedom. It was a debt that we could never overcome!
Thank God for the precious blood that was shed on Calvary’s old rugged cross. He purchased our salvation. The cross was about more than just covering up sin. The cross was about paying the price for sin. Jesus was a man just like you and me with one vital exception. He wasn’t born under the bondage of sin. He wasn’t born in debt to sin and, although he was tempted in all points just like we are, he never gave in to sin. So when he went to the cross he was still spiritually alive. He could do what no other man could do, he could die for sins because he wasn’t already dead.
That’s what happened at the cross. A legal transaction took place. Jesus Christ took upon himself the sins of the entire world and bore them to the old rugged cross. Because he knew no sin, he could stand in my place and in your place and pay the price that we each owed for our sins. This is what Peter means when he says the just for the unjust. It was more than just another substitute. This was my kinsman. This was flesh and blood. This was Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. And when he died, he died for me. Not just instead of me, but for me. He died the death that is the price of all my sins. He paid my price. He redeemed me at the cross and not just me but every man woman and child that ever lived. Jesus Christ was the final sacrifice for sins. He was heaven’s only spotless lamb.
That’s why Peter said, in our text that “Christ also hath ‘once’ suffered for sins.” The meaning conveyed by the original language is not “once upon a time” but rather “once for all.” That’s what the writer of Hebrews is so adamant about in Hebrews chapter nine where he says, in verse 26, that Jesus has appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just two verses later he reiterates the fact that Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. The cross was God’s final answer to sin, it was where God provided “himself” a lamb. The cross is where God put on human flesh and paid the price for sin all by himself! The Holy One of heaven laid down his own life for the redemption of all of fallen humanity: one perfect lamb; one horrific sacrifice; and one final victory. The just for the unjust!
Reconciliation
As wonderful as that truth is, its not the end of the story. Peter said, in our text, “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” This is the purpose of the cross. It’s about more than just atonement. It’s about more than just substitution. It’s about more than just redemption. It’s also about reconciliation. That’s the end goal of the cross. It’s the purpose that Paul gives, in 2 Corinthians 5:19, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” God was in Christ and by his own death reconciled us to himself, he restored us to fellowship with God.
The sacrifice that happened on a hill called Golgotha was about making it possible for us to be reconciled to God. Peter said, He did it that He might bring us to God. The language there is interesting. The phrase “bring us to God” is a technical term that means “gain audience at court.” Because of the work of Christ on the cross, we now have an open access to God, we are able to gain access to his throne. We are able to enter into a relationship, a fellowship, a communion with God. The work of Calvary provides a way that we can come boldly before the throne of God!
What was accomplished at the cross allows us to have access to the marvelous grace of God to meet our daily needs. When Christ breathed his last and death claimed its only righteous victim, the veil of the temple was torn in two. That act of God symbolized the fact that the glory and presence of God that had been shut away behind the veil for all those years was now made accessible through Jesus Christ. We can enter into the Holy of Holies, we can come boldly before the very throne of God, we can bend our knee in his presence and make our very petition known and he will hear our cry and be faithful to meet all our needs. That access is gained through the application of the death of Jesus to our lives. He said of Himself, in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He is the way that we gain access to all the promises of God!
Quickening
Lets turn one more time to our text and see if we can catch a glimpse of how God, in Christ Jesus, reconciled us to himself. Peter said, “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.” To catch the significance of this we’ve got o back up to the reason why humanity needed a substitute in the first place. We, according to Ephesians 2:1, were dead in our trespasses and sins. We couldn’t pay the debt we owed for sin because the price of sin was death and, by virtue of our sin, we were already dead! But Jesus died in our stead; he died in our place. Going back to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 again, in verse 21, we learn that He, who knew no sin, became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. God, in Christ Jesus, became flesh so that He could be put to death in the flesh.
We were already dead because of sin. Death reigned in our mortal bodies and there was no hope for us without a miraculous resurrection. Dead things don’t have the ability to live again on their own. Only God has the power to speak to that which is dead and bring it back to life again. This is exactly what he did. He died for our sins. He tasted death, he laid down his life only to pick it up again 3 days later! Peter says, He was put to death in the flesh but He was quickened by the Spirit.
That’s why we celebrate on Easter morning, instead of on the day of the crucifixion. We are celebrating more than just the fact that He died for our sins. We are celebrating more than just the fact that He paid the price for our redemption. We are celebrating more than just the fact that He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. We are celebrating the fact that he brought resurrection and life! We are celebrating the fact that he conquered death and the grave. His words echo from the pages of scripture (John 11:25-26), “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” That’s more than just a physical resurrection! Whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. That my friend is a spiritual resurrection!
The spirit that quickened Christ and caused that dead body to live again after 3 long days in the cold clutches of death, that same spirit has the power to bring resurrection to the spiritual man. What Adam lost in the garden, Jesus redeemed at the cross! The garden introduced death in a twofold manner, spiritual death that was immediate and a physical death that was more long term. Jesus by his resurrection brought both an eternal life that is long term and a spiritual life that is immediate. This is what Paul is speaking of in Romans 8:10-11, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
Pentecost
That same spirit that quickened Christ from the dead, is this spirit that was poured out in an upper room in Jerusalem just 50 days after Easter. Acts 2 reads this way, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” The spirit of God that quickened Christ, is the same spirit of God that filled the 120 believers gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.
That’s the day the church was born. That’s the day that the wonderful miracle of what happened at Calvary was finally realized. That’s the day that God poured out his quickening spirit on humanity, bringing spiritual resurrection to that which was spiritually dead! And that my friend, is the true miracle of Easter. Not only did he die, not only was he buried, but he rose from the grave. And when he rose from the grave he not only purchased eternal life, he also opened a door by which we could enter into fellowship with God. He purchased a spiritual resurrection that we must have in order to have eternal life.
Before too long a crowd gathered in the streets of Jerusalem to see what the excitement in the upper room was all about. And Peter preached to them about the death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, which is the spirit of God. When he was done preaching they were convicted and they asked him what they needed to do to be saved. My friend, I’m here to tell you this morning that it was no accident that Peter answered their question the way that he did. He said, in Acts 2:38, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Let me tell you, this morning, how you can experience the wonderful, transforming power of Easter in your own life. Easter is more than bunny rabbits and Easter eggs. Easter is about the resurrection and life and, most of all, its about a personal spiritual resurrection that you can experience for yourself. Its what the Bible calls being born again or a second birth because it consists of new life, a spiritual life. That which is dead in your spirit due to the bondage of sin can be resurrected back to life again by the spirit of God. That’s what the Holy Ghost is, it’s that quickening spirit of God that we’ve been talking about this morning.
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we celebrate this morning, is the way that we come to God. We experience death in repentance. Repentance is all about dying out to sin. It’s about more than just being sorry that you got caught. Its about changing your direction, and reversing your course. Repentance is coming to God and saying, “I’m a sinner. And I want to change.”
After we’ve repented, we are buried with him in baptism. In repentance the old man dies with Christ Jesus. In baptism the old man is buried with Christ Jesus. That’s why Peter was very specific when he told the multitude to be baptized “in the name of Jesus.” Because we are buried with him, in his name. Peter promised that if we repented of our sins and were baptized in Jesus name, we would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. That’s the quickening spirit of God and you will know when you receive it because you will speak in tongues just like they did in the upper room! The Holy Ghost is the resurrection and the life, it is the gift of God, and it, my friend, is the real meaning of the Easter story.
New Birth
The third chapter of John contains an incredible story of an encounter between a Pharisee, named Nicodemus, and Jesus. Nicodemus was convinced that Jesus was, indeed the Messiah. Jesus spoke to him about this second birth that I’ve told you about this morning. He said in John 3:3 that “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus was taken aback and asked how it was possible to be born again. Jesus, in his answer, confirmed the message that Peter had not yet preached on the day of Pentecost. He said that being born again consisted of being born of water and of spirit.
The next statement that he made was profound. He said, in John 3:6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. In other words, that which is born of the flesh is dead, but that which is born of the spirit is life. This morning the message of Easter is simple. If you want to make heaven your home, you must experience the resurrection power of Easter! You must be born again!
Today, we celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter sums up the significance of the whole weekend in a single, short but profound, verse: 1 Peter 3:18, 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. This is the reason why we celebrate. Jesus Christ died on a cross for my sins and for yours, the just for the unjust. In order to bring us to God, he died in the flesh but was quickened by the Spirit.
Substitution
If we are going to grasp the significance of the cross we have to understand the biblical implication of substitution. That’s what Peter means by the just for the unjust. There are many facets to the meaning of Christ’s death, but the central element of the sacrifice that occurred at Calvary is substitution. This simply means that Christ died in our place, the just for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous, heaven’s perfect lamb for the sins of the whole world.
The cross stands at the center of the bible. The whole biblical record, up to the cross, points to the cross and everything after the cross is dramatically influenced by it. The finished work of Calvary is, bar none, the single greatest act of God in all of time and eternity and it was in the mind of God from the very beginning. This is why Rev 13:8 and 1 Peter 1:19 agree together that Jesus was the lamb “slain from the foundation of the world.” The cross wasn’t God’s way of reacting to sin. It was God’s plan to deal with sin before the first sin ever occurred. God foreordained that he would purchase the church with his own blood, he knew, from the beginning, the price that he would pay for sin.
According to Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death and Ezekiel 18 tells us over and over again that the soul that sins shall surely die. When Adam and Eve sinned, in the garden, death took a hold of their mortal bodies. It would take over 900 years for that death to be fully realized but it began to work in them immediately. However, at the same time they experienced spiritual death. The spiritual death was instant. They were no longer righteous; sin robbed them of spiritual life and severed their fellowship and communion with God. The price for sin is death. In order for Adam and Eve to be saved from their sins, something had to die. The problem is that Adam and Eve couldn’t pay that price because they were already dead. So something else had to die in their place, if they were to be saved.
Right there in the garden God introduced the concept of substitution. God slew animals and took from them bloody coats of skins that He used to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. From the very beginning God was spelling out the principle of the cross. Death, bloodshed, substitution and atonement, all occurred in those few moments at the beginning of it all. An animal became the substitute, it died, its blood was shed and its bloody coat made a covering over Adam and Eve’s sin. That’s what atonement is, it’s a covering for sin. It allows man to have fellowship with God by virtue of the fact that his sin is covered, or atoned for, by a substitutionary sacrifice.
That foundational principle is repeated throughout the biblical record. Its represented in the ram that was caught in the bush when Abraham prepared to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, out of obedience to God. The words of Abraham to his precious son ring with a strong prophetic tone down trough the pages of scripture. When Isaac inquired about the absence of a sacrifice, Abraham responded in Genesis 22:8 “God will provide himself a lamb.” Indeed, God did just that. As Abraham drew back the knife to perform the sacrifice that God had required of him, the angel of the Lord stopped his hand and revealed to him the ram that was caught in a bush, a sacrificial substitute for Abraham’s son. But the power of Abraham’s faith filled statement extends beyond that day to the day when God literally provided himself as the substitutionary lamb.
Over and over again the concept repeats itself through out the scripture. When Moses prepared to lead the Hebrews on the exodus form Egypt he was warned of God that the 10th plague would be a visitation of the death angel upon Egypt. On that dreaded night, when the death angel passed over he would claim the first born of every home. But Moses was given a promise in Exodus 12:13 that he relayed to the Hebrews, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” Every Hebrew family was to select a lamb, a perfect spotless specimen, and that lamb was to be sacrificed for their family. On that night, the night of the first Passover, the lamb became the substitute for the children of Abraham. When the death angel saw the blood on the doorposts of the home he passed over that home because the price had already been paid. The death of a substitute was the only way to escape the judgment of God.
That Passover was the first of many as God instituted a covenant with Israel through Moses, the foundation of which was substitutional atonement for sins by the death of a lamb. From that point forward the pages of the word of God are soaked with the blood of countless sacrificial lambs. Every year on the Passover, the familiar scene was played out. Each family would sacrifice a lamb to atone for their sins. As many a quarter of a million lambs were slain each Passover. Each one is a substitute for sins. The blood that flowed from those multiplied millions of lambs provided a covering, an atonement, for sins.
However, all of that blood could never fully take away sins, it only provided a temporary covering for sins. Hebrews 10:4 tells us that “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” The lambs of the Old Testament only pointed to the day when God would provide “himself” as the perfect sacrifice for sins. That’s why when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him that day in John chapter one, he looked beyond the millions of animal sacrifices and pointed to the true “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
Redemption
The death of Jesus was substitutionary. Just like the lambs of the Old Testament, Jesus died for our sins. He became our substitute as he was offered in our place, the just for the unjust. However, his sacrifice accomplished more than the atonement of the Old Testament. The blood of Jesus was the vehicle of redemption. Redemption is the concept of being set free by the payment of a ransom price. It is built upon the application of a common legal transaction of biblical times. When a man became a debtor and owed a debt that he could not repay there was a legal system in place that allowed him to work off his debt as a slave to the person to whom he was indebted. It was a type of indentured servant hood, a means for a man to satisfy a debt that was too great for him to pay in any other way.
Once a man entered that obligation, he was bound by it. There was only one way to terminate that agreement and that was by the payment of a redemption price. In that special allowance of the law a redeemer could pay the price that was owed by the individual thus setting them free from their debt. There was only one catch. The redeemer had to be a kinsman of the person to be redeemed. He had to be a blood relative. There was no other kind of redeemer except the kinsman redeemer. This is why the blood of bulls and goats wasn’t sufficient to redeem sins. This is why millions of gallons of blood shed by millions of sacrificial lambs would never set man free from the bondage of sin. The price could only be paid by kinsman!
This is why John started his gospel the way he did. He establishes from the very beginning the validity of the blood of Jesus. “In the beginning,” he says in John 1:1, “was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.” And when he gets to verse 14 he says, “the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” It’s the same message that Paul broadcast in 1 Timothy 3:16, " And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” In the person of Jesus Christ, God became our kinsman. He became a man so that He could become our redeemer. There wasn’t any other way. Because of sin, we owed a debt we could not pay. We were in bondage to sin. That’s why Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8:34 that whoever commits sin is the slave of sin. Because sin is the slave master that each of us was bound to from birth. And we didn’t have the resources to purchase our own freedom. It was a debt that we could never overcome!
Thank God for the precious blood that was shed on Calvary’s old rugged cross. He purchased our salvation. The cross was about more than just covering up sin. The cross was about paying the price for sin. Jesus was a man just like you and me with one vital exception. He wasn’t born under the bondage of sin. He wasn’t born in debt to sin and, although he was tempted in all points just like we are, he never gave in to sin. So when he went to the cross he was still spiritually alive. He could do what no other man could do, he could die for sins because he wasn’t already dead.
That’s what happened at the cross. A legal transaction took place. Jesus Christ took upon himself the sins of the entire world and bore them to the old rugged cross. Because he knew no sin, he could stand in my place and in your place and pay the price that we each owed for our sins. This is what Peter means when he says the just for the unjust. It was more than just another substitute. This was my kinsman. This was flesh and blood. This was Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. And when he died, he died for me. Not just instead of me, but for me. He died the death that is the price of all my sins. He paid my price. He redeemed me at the cross and not just me but every man woman and child that ever lived. Jesus Christ was the final sacrifice for sins. He was heaven’s only spotless lamb.
That’s why Peter said, in our text that “Christ also hath ‘once’ suffered for sins.” The meaning conveyed by the original language is not “once upon a time” but rather “once for all.” That’s what the writer of Hebrews is so adamant about in Hebrews chapter nine where he says, in verse 26, that Jesus has appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just two verses later he reiterates the fact that Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. The cross was God’s final answer to sin, it was where God provided “himself” a lamb. The cross is where God put on human flesh and paid the price for sin all by himself! The Holy One of heaven laid down his own life for the redemption of all of fallen humanity: one perfect lamb; one horrific sacrifice; and one final victory. The just for the unjust!
Reconciliation
As wonderful as that truth is, its not the end of the story. Peter said, in our text, “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” This is the purpose of the cross. It’s about more than just atonement. It’s about more than just substitution. It’s about more than just redemption. It’s also about reconciliation. That’s the end goal of the cross. It’s the purpose that Paul gives, in 2 Corinthians 5:19, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” God was in Christ and by his own death reconciled us to himself, he restored us to fellowship with God.
The sacrifice that happened on a hill called Golgotha was about making it possible for us to be reconciled to God. Peter said, He did it that He might bring us to God. The language there is interesting. The phrase “bring us to God” is a technical term that means “gain audience at court.” Because of the work of Christ on the cross, we now have an open access to God, we are able to gain access to his throne. We are able to enter into a relationship, a fellowship, a communion with God. The work of Calvary provides a way that we can come boldly before the throne of God!
What was accomplished at the cross allows us to have access to the marvelous grace of God to meet our daily needs. When Christ breathed his last and death claimed its only righteous victim, the veil of the temple was torn in two. That act of God symbolized the fact that the glory and presence of God that had been shut away behind the veil for all those years was now made accessible through Jesus Christ. We can enter into the Holy of Holies, we can come boldly before the very throne of God, we can bend our knee in his presence and make our very petition known and he will hear our cry and be faithful to meet all our needs. That access is gained through the application of the death of Jesus to our lives. He said of Himself, in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He is the way that we gain access to all the promises of God!
Quickening
Lets turn one more time to our text and see if we can catch a glimpse of how God, in Christ Jesus, reconciled us to himself. Peter said, “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.” To catch the significance of this we’ve got o back up to the reason why humanity needed a substitute in the first place. We, according to Ephesians 2:1, were dead in our trespasses and sins. We couldn’t pay the debt we owed for sin because the price of sin was death and, by virtue of our sin, we were already dead! But Jesus died in our stead; he died in our place. Going back to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 again, in verse 21, we learn that He, who knew no sin, became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. God, in Christ Jesus, became flesh so that He could be put to death in the flesh.
We were already dead because of sin. Death reigned in our mortal bodies and there was no hope for us without a miraculous resurrection. Dead things don’t have the ability to live again on their own. Only God has the power to speak to that which is dead and bring it back to life again. This is exactly what he did. He died for our sins. He tasted death, he laid down his life only to pick it up again 3 days later! Peter says, He was put to death in the flesh but He was quickened by the Spirit.
That’s why we celebrate on Easter morning, instead of on the day of the crucifixion. We are celebrating more than just the fact that He died for our sins. We are celebrating more than just the fact that He paid the price for our redemption. We are celebrating more than just the fact that He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. We are celebrating the fact that he brought resurrection and life! We are celebrating the fact that he conquered death and the grave. His words echo from the pages of scripture (John 11:25-26), “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” That’s more than just a physical resurrection! Whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. That my friend is a spiritual resurrection!
The spirit that quickened Christ and caused that dead body to live again after 3 long days in the cold clutches of death, that same spirit has the power to bring resurrection to the spiritual man. What Adam lost in the garden, Jesus redeemed at the cross! The garden introduced death in a twofold manner, spiritual death that was immediate and a physical death that was more long term. Jesus by his resurrection brought both an eternal life that is long term and a spiritual life that is immediate. This is what Paul is speaking of in Romans 8:10-11, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
Pentecost
That same spirit that quickened Christ from the dead, is this spirit that was poured out in an upper room in Jerusalem just 50 days after Easter. Acts 2 reads this way, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” The spirit of God that quickened Christ, is the same spirit of God that filled the 120 believers gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.
That’s the day the church was born. That’s the day that the wonderful miracle of what happened at Calvary was finally realized. That’s the day that God poured out his quickening spirit on humanity, bringing spiritual resurrection to that which was spiritually dead! And that my friend, is the true miracle of Easter. Not only did he die, not only was he buried, but he rose from the grave. And when he rose from the grave he not only purchased eternal life, he also opened a door by which we could enter into fellowship with God. He purchased a spiritual resurrection that we must have in order to have eternal life.
Before too long a crowd gathered in the streets of Jerusalem to see what the excitement in the upper room was all about. And Peter preached to them about the death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, which is the spirit of God. When he was done preaching they were convicted and they asked him what they needed to do to be saved. My friend, I’m here to tell you this morning that it was no accident that Peter answered their question the way that he did. He said, in Acts 2:38, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Let me tell you, this morning, how you can experience the wonderful, transforming power of Easter in your own life. Easter is more than bunny rabbits and Easter eggs. Easter is about the resurrection and life and, most of all, its about a personal spiritual resurrection that you can experience for yourself. Its what the Bible calls being born again or a second birth because it consists of new life, a spiritual life. That which is dead in your spirit due to the bondage of sin can be resurrected back to life again by the spirit of God. That’s what the Holy Ghost is, it’s that quickening spirit of God that we’ve been talking about this morning.
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we celebrate this morning, is the way that we come to God. We experience death in repentance. Repentance is all about dying out to sin. It’s about more than just being sorry that you got caught. Its about changing your direction, and reversing your course. Repentance is coming to God and saying, “I’m a sinner. And I want to change.”
After we’ve repented, we are buried with him in baptism. In repentance the old man dies with Christ Jesus. In baptism the old man is buried with Christ Jesus. That’s why Peter was very specific when he told the multitude to be baptized “in the name of Jesus.” Because we are buried with him, in his name. Peter promised that if we repented of our sins and were baptized in Jesus name, we would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. That’s the quickening spirit of God and you will know when you receive it because you will speak in tongues just like they did in the upper room! The Holy Ghost is the resurrection and the life, it is the gift of God, and it, my friend, is the real meaning of the Easter story.
New Birth
The third chapter of John contains an incredible story of an encounter between a Pharisee, named Nicodemus, and Jesus. Nicodemus was convinced that Jesus was, indeed the Messiah. Jesus spoke to him about this second birth that I’ve told you about this morning. He said in John 3:3 that “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus was taken aback and asked how it was possible to be born again. Jesus, in his answer, confirmed the message that Peter had not yet preached on the day of Pentecost. He said that being born again consisted of being born of water and of spirit.
The next statement that he made was profound. He said, in John 3:6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. In other words, that which is born of the flesh is dead, but that which is born of the spirit is life. This morning the message of Easter is simple. If you want to make heaven your home, you must experience the resurrection power of Easter! You must be born again!
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