All For Us

[0:00] Hey, good morning. My name is Ray Sweet from First Christian Church in Greensburg, Indiana. We're so thankful that you have tuned in to this radio broadcast. We would love for you to connect with us, whether that's through our FCC Greensburg Facebook page or by going to our website, FCCGreensburg.com.

[0:20] But we're just so glad you're listening today. And here's the heart that we have, and I know that you do as well, to grow closer in our walk with Jesus every day as we get into the Word of God.

[0:32] And most importantly, we let the Word of God get into us and transform our hearts more and more into that image of Christ. Now, after eight years in our first ministry that we loved, we felt the Holy Spirit preparing our hearts for a new opportunity to serve.

[0:48] And God led us to connect to a church in East Tennessee where talks quickly became serious. And as we scheduled a time to make the five and a half hour trip to meet the leadership and to see the church building, we were quickly overwhelmed with how they pursued us.

[1:04] The best way I know how to describe it is by saying they truly rolled out the red carpet. And while we didn't expect that or ask for that kind of treatment, it felt good to be loved that kind of way.

[1:17] And it didn't take long for us to say, wow, God has just proven himself and swung these doors open one after another and made it so clear this is where he wants us at.

[1:29] So give me the pen. I'm ready to sign. But here's a few of the ways that they flooded us with love and showed us the love of Christ. As we arrived, they not only paid for our gas money, our food, our hotel stay, but they also went above and beyond to make sure that we didn't spend a penny of our own money.

[1:48] They also put us up in a suite at the hotel. You know, the ones that got all this extra room for at the time we had one kid at the time, Joas, and he was almost two at the time. So he had room to run around and that helped.

[2:01] They gave us a tour of the town and plenty of helpful info about the city. If we were going to be moving there, when they were talking to us, they would have someone watch Joas in the nursery so that we could truly focus on our conversation.

[2:16] As we accepted the position, they were prepared to even pay a mortgage if our house didn't sell quickly so that we wouldn't have a financial burden. They even offered to come up to Indiana and drive the U-Haul down to Tennessee so we could ride together as a family.

[2:33] And as we got there, they had people ready to carry boxes, set up our beds in our house. They also did this amazing, instead of a meet and greet, it was a sweet and greet playing off our last name where they got punny and they had sweet baby Ray's barbecue sauce on each of the tables.

[2:50] They even asked the church family to bless us with a card and a gift. And you might say, man, I bet your head began to swell with all that attention they gave you.

[3:01] But to be honest with you, it was quite the opposite. It was extremely humbling to be loved that way by people who barely knew us. And I remember Bethany and I sitting on the couch, opening a mound of cards and gifts with tears streaming down our faces, saying to each other, really? All for us? We don't deserve this?

[3:25] And yet as great as our experience was with these church people who loved us so well and taught us how to do the same, it doesn't even begin to compare to the love that God lavishes on us through Christ Jesus.

[3:38] So grab your Bibles for me today and start to turn to Mark chapter 14. And as you do, I have to tell you that today's message may feel a little different and be a little more somber than normal as we're simply going to sit back, take in seven words that show us what Christ did to set us free from our sin.

[3:58] And I hope as we talk about his suffering that we can realize that he did that all for us. Now, welcome back here to the 11th week of our series in the Gospel of Mark, talking about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

[4:15] Because listen, the world has its own false definitions of a disciple, and yet we're not led by the world. We open up the God-breathed scriptures, and we see the key verses that have led our series here in Mark 8, starting in verse 34.

[4:32] Jesus says, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it.

[4:43] But whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, he says, and yet forfeit their very soul?

[4:53] So let's fast forward our way through Jesus's ministry that we've been talking about for almost three months now. And let's start here in the darkness of the wee early morning hours of that Friday of Holy Week.

[5:07] Jesus is focused. And as hard as this cup was for him to drink, he is prepared and motivated by love for all of us.

[5:19] And as I simply opened up the Word of God this week, and I began to read through our passage, certain words just began to pop off the page to me. And what I want you to do today is simply sit back and listen, maybe for the first time, possibly for the 3,000th time, listen one more time to what Jesus did for you.

[5:40] So if you're a note taker, you can get to our outline this way. You can go to the YouVersion, Y-O-U-Version Bible app. It's a free download on your phone, on your tablet.

[5:54] Go to the YouVersion Bible app. Go to the menu in the bottom right-hand corner. Go to events. Go to First Christian Church of Greensburg, Indiana. And you can get to it that way.

[6:04] But here's the first word I want you to see. Betrayed. Betrayed. Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, spending intense time in prayer with the Father.

[6:15] And around midnight, as he's speaking with some of his disciples, here comes Judas. And let's start here in Mark 14, verse 43. It says, Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, appeared.

[6:30] With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them, The one I kiss is the man, so arrest him and lead him away under guard.

[6:47] Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, Rabbi. And he kissed him. The men seized Jesus and arrested him. Now people often get confused why Judas needed to identify Jesus to the guards.

[7:02] But we have to realize it's right after midnight. It's dark. The only light. They don't have like streetlights like we do, okay? The only light are the torches that they're carrying. And Jesus would have looked like any other first century Jewish man.

[7:15] And while they may have been able to quickly distinguish him from others in the daylight, it was harder at night. And they didn't want to arrest the wrong man. And so for 30 measly pieces of silver for leading them to Jesus in the quiet of the night, outside of the city where they wouldn't cause a revolt, Judas betrays his Savior who had poured into him for over three years.

[7:41] So, what about the kiss? I'll never forget when I was in college my senior year. I started preaching at a small Christian church outside of, or actually in Granite City, Illinois.

[7:54] Probably talking 30, 40 people on a Sunday. And while I had a lot of room for improvement, and I appreciate their grace they showed me as I grew, they wanted me to preach my last couple of semesters and kind of commit to their church for at least, you know, the school year.

[8:11] And over that first month, I really connected with the husband and wife who kind of led things. And one day after church, I was getting ready to leave. And so I went to tell the husband by, and he gave me a hug.

[8:24] And I'm a hugger, so no problem with that. But then he kisses me on the cheek as he's hugging me. And I'll tell you, it freaked me out. I was like, what kind of church is this, right? But come to find out, he came from a very close-knit family, and that's what they did.

[8:39] If they considered you a close friend or family, then they gave you a holy kiss on the cheek when you parted ways. At least that's what I continue to tell myself, all right? But this kiss from Judas was even different.

[8:51] In the first century Middle Eastern culture, a kiss was normal, kind of like this guy and his family I just told you about. A kiss was a sign of respect and affection. And a kiss on the cheek symbolized close friendship and mutual affection.

[9:07] And while this should have been the case with Judas, his heart was wicked. And while he should have been transformed by the love of Christ, like all the other disciples when they had grown leaps and bounds, he wasn't transformed.

[9:21] His selfishness, his sin had consumed his heart. Even though he saw all these miracles that Jesus did, he still turned his back on Jesus, and he betrays Jesus as the guards stood ready to arrest him and take him to stand trial.

[9:38] So first word today is betrayed. All for us. Second word, deserted. We know that as the guards grab Jesus to arrest him, Peter pulls out a sword and cuts off the ear of a servant to the high priest.

[9:54] And not only does Jesus tell him to put it down, but he heals this man's ear like it never happened before. And then Mark 14 50 puts it like this. Then everyone deserted him, deserted Jesus, and they fled.

[10:10] Now, they were scared. I get it. They knew that Jesus wasn't the only target. They could have been too. And so the disciples, in their fear, take off in the dark of the night and leave Jesus there.

[10:23] Now, imagine how hard this had to be for Jesus. Not only is he betrayed by one of his very own, in his circle of 12, one of the guys he had poured himself into for years.

[10:36] But now when everything goes down, like he had been telling them was going to happen, the inner circle takes off in fear and leaves him to face this alone. Have you ever been a part of a group before?

[10:47] I know I have, where everyone kind of unites on a certain mission. This is what we're going to stand for. But the first time the going gets tough, you look around and nobody else is standing up like you are.

[10:59] You ever been there before? I mean, it's hard. But now magnify that times a thousand. Not only was Jesus carrying the weight of the sin of the world, which we will never understand what that feels like.

[11:11] He was carrying the weight of the sin of the world on his shoulders, where he just swept blood in the garden of Gethsemane. But now the people that he was the closest to have either betrayed him or deserted him.

[11:23] He faced this all for us. Third word, condemned. Condemned. Let's just say this wasn't innocent until proven guilty.

[11:35] With Jesus, it was guilty, even if you're proven innocent, which he was. And that's exactly what happened, is he's taken before the high priest and the other leaders. And Mark tells us, as they're breaking their own Jewish law to condemn him, their stories are false and inconsistent.

[11:51] In other words, this stuff in our court systems today would fall apart upon further examination because no one's stories match. So these religious leaders, who are supposed to be a picture of morality and righteousness, they see it's not going well.

[12:08] They convince two guys to lie and take Jesus's words and twist them. And still their words aren't consistent as they plot his murder. Now, let's pick up here in Mark 14, verse 60.

[12:22] Mark 14, 60. Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, are you not going to answer? What is the testimony that these men are bringing against you? But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

[12:35] Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed one? By the way, the blessed one refers to the father, the heavenly father. Are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed one?

[12:46] I am, said Jesus. And you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven. The high priest then tore his clothes.

[12:57] Why do you need any more witnesses? He asked. You have heard the blasphemy. So Jesus basically just claimed to be the Messiah, the son of God. He says, you've heard the blasphemy.

[13:08] What do you think? They all condemned him as worthy of death. So betrayed, deserted, and now condemned all for us.

[13:19] And as we know, with the Jews being under the Romans, they couldn't sentence someone to execution without Roman authority. So they bring Jesus before the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, who really could care less about their religious squabbles, but he did care about maintaining order.

[13:36] And so Pilate listens to their charges against him, questions Jesus for himself, but honestly finds no fault in him. Apparently it was custom at the festival to release a prisoner that the people wanted to release.

[13:49] So he tries to give them a chance to release Jesus. And instead they call for the release of Barabbas, a true criminal who you would not want on the streets. And because the crowd is growing more and more unruly and an uprising could cost Pontius Pilate his political career, he gives in to the crowd and we come to the fourth word.

[14:12] And that word is flogged. Flogged. So here's what Mark 15, 15 says. Now flogging isn't something we understand in our culture today because it's not like the switch that your mom or dad made you take off the tree out in the yard when you got a spanking, okay?

[14:39] But let me explain what Jesus would have endured. They would take what you would call, what you could call, I guess, an instrument of death called a flagulum or a cat of nine tails.

[14:51] And this was a wooden handle with long pieces of leather attached that were embedded with bone and metal so that it could easily rip through the flesh. And it worked.

[15:02] And they would have tied Jesus to a post, his hands extended high over his head, his feet off the ground. And as John MacArthur put it, as the scourge or flogging, as the scourge tore into his back, muscles would have been lacerated, veins cut, and internal organs exposed.

[15:21] Intended to hasten death on a cross, flogging itself was sometimes fatal. And Jesus did all of that for all of us. Fifth word, crucified.

[15:33] Give you a second to write down crucified if you're taking notes. And now I want you to pick up with me here in Mark chapter 15, verse 22.

[15:43] It says, They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull. Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him.

[15:56] Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read, King of the Jews.

[16:08] Now, Golgotha was located outside the city gates next to a major roadway so that the crucified victims would be visible to those passing by. It was a warning not to mess with Rome or this would be the result.

[16:23] In fact, crucifixion was described by the Roman writer Cicero as the cruelest and most hideous punishment possible. It was designed to inflict the maximum amount of suffering and pain.

[16:36] And when Jesus arrived at Golgotha, they would have forced him on his back, nailed him to the cross as it laid on the ground. The nails measured about five to seven inches long and sort of similar to the width of what we would call like a railroad spike, something similar to that, probably much sharper.

[16:55] And those would have been driven through his wrist to support the full weight of a victim's slumping body. We often say hand, but it was kind of the wrist area. And Jesus' feet would have been secured with a single spike.

[17:08] I mean, can you imagine the pain of that? And the pain from those nails would have been so excruciating to him. And then they raised the cross until it was vertical, so straight up and down.

[17:19] And they dropped it down into this deep post hole type of area. And that would have been so painful to Jesus when it hit, when it clunked hard. And while the nail-pierced hands and feet would have been agonizing, the cause of death would have usually been suffocation when Jesus could no longer have the strength to hoist his body up to breathe.

[17:41] And he did all of this for all of us. Sixth word, mocked. As if the injuries that would soon take Jesus' life weren't enough, the ridicule, the humiliation, and the mocking of our Savior was awful.

[18:01] Look at Mark 15, 29. Those who had passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, so you who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself.

[18:16] In the same way, the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. He saved others, they said, but he can't save himself. Now, correction to those whitewashed tombs.

[18:29] Correction. He could save himself. With an army of angels that could wipe out the best special forces the world has ever known, but he chose to endure the flogging, to brave the cross and ignore the mockery, to say even to those crucifying him, those mocking him, to say to all of us, I love you big time.

[18:49] See, that's amazing love. That's grace all for us. And number seven, that perfect number of completion, that's exactly what Jesus did on the cross.

[19:02] He completed his journey to be the perfect, spotless Passover lamb that takes away the sins of the world. The word is tomb.

[19:15] T-O-M-B, tomb. At noon on that Friday, darkness came over the whole land. Three o'clock in the afternoon, that's when Jesus cries out those famous words as the wrath of the Father was upon him because he took the sins of the world.

[19:32] In other words, he took the wrath we deserve because he loved us. And he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[19:44] And Jesus breathed his last breath. The curtain of the temple tore in two, which was humanly impossible because of that thing was so thick, nothing could have torn it.

[19:55] And it tore in two so that we could go right into the throne room of God. A centurion standing there said, surely this man was the Son of God.

[20:06] Everything he saw in that moment, what happened to the earth, what happened even at the temple that he probably wasn't aware of, said surely this man was the Son of God. Now pick up with me here at Mark 15, verse 42.

[20:20] It was preparation day. That is the day before the Sabbath. So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the council who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body.

[20:36] Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph.

[20:47] So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb, cut out a rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

[20:59] Now, I have to tell you at this point in ministry, I've stood in a cemetery next to families at the close of a funeral, I don't know, 100, 150 times probably, and it's still so hard because of the finality of that moment.

[21:15] Your heart just breaks for the family. And we read scripture, we pray, and then there's often this silence as everything starts to really just kind of sink in, the finality of that moment.

[21:28] My life will never be the same now without this loved one. And I wonder for the disciples, for Mary, the mother of Jesus, for all the others who are mourning, who loved and followed Jesus, did they feel the exact same way?

[21:42] Obviously, there was more to the story coming that they just didn't understand yet. But seeing that lifeless body would have felt a lot like the cemetery does for us. Now, what are we supposed to do?

[21:55] That's probably what they're thinking. What are we supposed to do now? And yet those seven words have walked us through how Jesus suffered and died the most excruciating of deaths with you and me on his mind.

[22:09] Betrayed, deserted, condemned, flogged, crucified, mocked, tomb, all for us.

[22:20] Why would he do that? John 3, 16. For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world.

[22:34] That's you. That's me. That he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. He died so that when we by faith surrender our lives in repentance to him are baptized into him that we can walk in his grace on this earth and in his grace and eternal life in heaven with him.

[23:00] Now, I'll never forget when I was 18 years old. I was going to IUPU Columbus with the intention to get an elementary education degree. Just a couple weeks into that school year, that freshman year, that's when 9-11 happened.

[23:15] And like everyone else, I can remember exactly where I was and the impact it made on me. Even the impact for, if you remember those next couple months, I mean, are we going to war? What's going to happen?

[23:26] It was a little scary. And I was 18 years old and I can remember while I would never take anything away from that September 11th day and honoring those who died, there's another day in September of 2001 that made an even greater impact on my life.

[23:44] It was September the 17th, just six days later. It was Sunday night into Monday morning. I still lived with my parents while I was going to school and for some reason, I was sleeping on the couch that night.

[23:56] All of a sudden, I woke up with an awful pain in my lower stomach area. I just thought maybe I ate something bad and I could sleep it off. It would go away. But after a couple hours, it was only getting worse and worse.

[24:08] And I started to realize as a person who had never really had any health problems at all, I started to realize something's wrong here. Like this isn't just a stomach ache. Another scary thing was how weak I was feeling.

[24:20] So I crawled over to the stairs. My parents' bedroom was at the top of the stairs. But I couldn't climb up the stairs. I couldn't. I just didn't have the strength. It was crazy. And I couldn't yell up the stairs because I tried.

[24:33] All I could really do was whisper. And so I just crawled back to the couch. And it wasn't long before my mom came down and we went immediately to the ER. Come to find out, my appendix had burst inside of me.

[24:46] And I'd been dealing with that poison in my body for probably four to six hours by the time we made it to the ER. They got me into surgery that morning. And for the next four to five days, I was in the hospital.

[24:58] And you might ask, well, what does that have to do with your relationship with Jesus? But here's the thing. Not growing up in the church or around biblical teaching, I was so lost.

[25:08] I was running after so many things, trying to fill that void in my heart that only Jesus can fill. I didn't know that then. And now my eyes had just been opened by the events of 9-11, like everybody else's.

[25:21] And most people were all of a sudden more responsive to the Lord. I had just started going to a Campus Crusades Bible study just a couple weeks before that. And now God took that recovery time to work on my heart.

[25:35] And while I don't know how to explain this real well, as a kid who was very lonely, who was battling depression at the time, I started to feel the love of God all around me.

[25:46] I started to read my Bible and I went back to that Bible study and I began to hear the story of grace that we talked about today. And I get it. It's hard to believe I had never really heard the gospel message before that.

[26:00] But I hadn't. Or if I did, I didn't listen and it didn't click. Because all of a sudden, my heart was stirred by my sin. And it wasn't much longer, maybe it was October-ish, November-ish, that I took this walk down our country road where we lived to a small cemetery, maybe a quarter mile down the road.

[26:23] And right there, this was not planned, but I just felt the need to do this. I got on my knees and I died to myself. I asked Jesus in a cemetery to forgive me, to come into my life, and to use me for His glory.

[26:40] I was baptized shortly thereafter as I started going to a church called Living Water Ministries in Greensburg with Bill and Tammy Leak. But today, if you're already a follower of Christ, this is a good day to once again remember what Jesus did for us and just say thank you.

[26:59] Thank you, Jesus. The perfect, sinless Savior who had done nothing deserving of the wrath of God, who had done nothing deserving of death on a cross and all the suffering that went along with it, and yet He did that because He loves you and He loves me.

[27:18] So this is a time for us believers to just say thank you again. Thank you, God, for that amazing grace. Or if you've never repented, which is just a word for not only feeling sorry for your sin, but feeling sorry enough for your sin to lay that at the feet of Jesus and turn and follow Him for the rest of your life.

[27:40] So if you've never repented and been baptized into Christ, if you've never surrendered and waved that white flag and given everything you are to the Lordship of Christ, I hope as you look at these seven words that you can see that He did that for all.

[27:59] All for us. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your words of life today. Thank you for just the ability to walk through this story of what Jesus did for us on the cross because He loved us.

[28:20] Now we know that He will never force us to follow Him, but the price has been paid. We gotta be willing to come by faith and accept that gift.

[28:32] Surrender our lives. So Father, I pray if there's anyone listening to my voice today that's never done that, today will be the day where they make that decision to follow Christ. Thank you for these words. Stir them in our hearts.

[28:42] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Hey, real quick invitation. If you're one of those people I just prayed about and you're ready to surrender your life to Jesus, we'd love to come alongside you and help you with that.

[28:55] Maybe you just got some questions about God. That's okay. We all do. So my name is Ray Sweet from First Christian Church, Greensburg, Indiana. I'm the lead pastor here. I'd love to come alongside you and help you.

[29:07] You can email me at ray at FCCGreensburg.com or you can call the church office, First Christian Church of Greensburg, Indiana, 812-663-8488.

[29:20] 812-663-8488. Hey, I hope you have a wonderful week as you serve Jesus. Lead Pastor Lead Pastor Ben Physician Eat Up Diamonds Up Read вниз Start Before cancel halt Here Insertボ options Oil Visit bar сос Emperor