Brother Gary Sunday Morning 4/20/14

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 4/20/14

Mat 28:1  In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

Mat 28:2  And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

Mat 28:3  His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

Mat 28:4  And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

Mat 28:5  And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

Mat 28:6  He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Mat 28:7  And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

Mat 28:8  And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

Mat 28:9  And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

Mat 28:10  Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

I would like to do my best to bring the thoughts of an answer to Pilate.  He asked the question, “What is truth?”  That is a question that every one of us needs to ask and find the answer to according to what the Word of God teaches.

I want all to understand how to weigh in the balance of the Word of God what truth is:  All the truth that is revealed from Matthew to Revelation is also revealed in Genesis through Malachi.

What is truth today was prophesied in the Old Testament so that we have two witnesses.  It is important that what you believe is truth, and that you know the truth.  If you know the truth the promise is that the truth will set you free.

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Isa 53:5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isa 53:7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Isa 53:8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isa 53:9  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Isa 53:10  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Isa 53:11  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Isa 53:12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

This is a description of Jesus Christ and especially of His last days.  The prophet Isaiah left these prophesies so that you and I would know who the true Christ is.

There is nothing sadder in all creation than an individual with a broken heart.  There is nothing sadder than the realization that, “My dream is broken.”  Isn’t it wonderful that you don’t have to bear it all alone?  You may be disappointed in yourself or others, in the choices that you or others have made.  God doesn’t want you to bear that all your life.  His son carried our griefs and sorrows.

There are two sorrows that we are all faced with in life: the sorrow of the world, “I goofed up and I’m in trouble.”  It is a sorrow of, I really feel sorry for myself and I hope I can find someone else to feel sorry with me.

The other sorrow is Godly sorrow: that brings repentance not to be repented of. 

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Isn’t it wonderful that there is a sorrow that works good in our life.  Not the sorrow, “I failed here or there.”  But the sorrow of “I failed God, I failed His son.”  Godly sorrow works repentance.  Unless you repent there is no salvation. 

When we cry out to God with all our heart, we gain audience with Him.  He will forgive you.

You cannot have enough money or work hard enough to pay for sin.  You cannot join enough churches to pay for your sin.  It is only through the blood of Christ.  He paid for your sin.

Jesus was crucified hanging only about one foot above the earth.  While he was on the cross a soldier came by and pierced his side and out of that side came water and blood.  This was prophesied of:

Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

The cleansing fountain was opened there on Calvary.  It is the most marvelous thing in the world that for every individual, whatever their case may be, he was wounded and the blood and water came out for our sin.

He suffered the stripes.  The Roman law had it set that there could not be more than 40 stripes.  They stayed within the law and gave 39 stripes.  On the whip they used, there was a handle and a rope with a sharp object on the end.

The prophesy puts it, “The plowers plowed my back.”  It was not the little taps that a mom and dad give their children.  That is nothing compared to those stripes that Jesus suffered.  Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would give his back to the smiters. 

The stripes left him without strength and exhausted.  He suffered those stripes that we could be healed. 

God wants you well mentally and emotionally.  We have a God that knows the healings that we need.  If you have been beat up emotionally this morning then God wants you healed. 

You may be here and say, “I was never loved by my mother or father.”  Or, “My companion was unfaithful and a lot of bad things have happened.”  It is wonderful that we don’t have to go through life wounded.

The song says, “Jesus took my burden I could no longer bear; Jesus took my burden in answer to my prayer.”  They were able to write this song because they went through some things and Jesus came to their rescue.

Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This is the reason that there is no big I or little you.  Everyone went into sin and there is only one way out of it.  That is turning from our sin to Jesus and having Him forgive us and cleanse us.  Jesus gave His life an offering for our sin.

Probably it is a part of life to be betrayed.  Jesus was betrayed by his very own, the Jews.  Who should we release?  The thought was, “Release Barabbas and crucify Jesus.”

While Jesus was being mocked and scorned and abused, prior to this occasion He was in a garden called Gethsemane.  I don’t know where your secret place of prayer is but we stress because Jesus stressed, “Have a closet to pray in.” 

It is not the thought of having a literal closet, which wouldn’t be wrong.  But have a place where you can get alone and pray to God.  When you get to that secret place of prayer, learn how to close the door, shut your mind down to all the cares and pleasures of this life and say, “God I want to talk to you and I want you to talk to me.”  I want to not just usher up requests, I want to hear from you.

Jesus prayed earnestly and diligently in the garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus had asked his disciples to pray with him and they fell asleep.  He prayed, “Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me.”  He prayed again and again.  Then He said, “Never the less, not my will, but thy will be done.”

Jesus didn’t have to go to the cross; He chose to go to the cross to buy salvation for you and me.  He could have called 12 legions of angels (Matt 26:53).  Legions varied in numbers from 4200 to 6000.  He was saying, “I could have called 50 to 70 thousand angels.”

The stripes were followed by a mock crown, a crown of thorns.  The commentators believe that Jesus wore this crown of thorns even to the cross.  He is worthy to be crowned king and Lord in every one of our lives.  He is worthy for us to say, “All I have is because of thee.  I don’t even want a crown.”

He was mocked.  He was mocked because of me.  This man from heaven, Jesus, was stripped of His clothes and they robbed him in garments of scarlet because he took on those rags of our life of sin.  For however long he wore them, “Come now and let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow.”

He bore my sins.  While John lived I never forgot my sin.  He had a memory like an elephant.  From childhood to the day I got saved, any sin he knew about he remembered and felt his responsibility to keep me reminded of my life of sin. 

He bore our sin, and put on that scarlet robe not for himself, He knew no sin.

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

When we confess and repent, it is not saying, “I’m sorry that I did that; help me to get what I want.”  That is not repenting.  We must confess those sins to God.  When we do then several things begin to take place. 

Because you and I are the ones confessing then He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin.  You know when they are gone, that heartache and burden of sin is gone.  From the record book all the sin that you have done is blotted out.  Your name is written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life. 

The Lamb’s Book of Life is in heaven.  He takes your and my sin and casts them as far as the east is from the west, an immeasurable distance.  He goes further and says that He will bury our sin in the depths of the sea. 

They spit in His face.  They beat on Him with a stick.  Then they gave Him a reed as a scepter.  A scepter is a wonderful thing, they gave him an old stick but he is the King of kings.

Hebrews 1:8 the scepter of the Lord Jesus Christ is a scepter of righteousness.  He will always be righteous and fair with every single one of us.  He will not put on us more than we can bear or tell our heartache.  He has a scepter of righteousness.

Jesus Christ took all of this and then he was given a cross to carry to the top of Calvary.  Simeon was compelled to help Him carry the cross.

In the Roman Government they would have given Him a sedative so that He would not fell the pain.  He wouldn’t take it.  They made a mixture and put gall in it and when He recognized what it was, He said no.  He wanted to feel all the suffering and He did it for us.

They laid the cross down and laid him on the cross and the nails went into His hands and into His feet.  They put up the inscription, “This is the king of the Jews.”  After He was nailed to the cross, they lifted it and I can almost sense and hear and feel the thud as the cross went into the hole.

History tells us that Jesus was crucified about 9 in the morning and not long after that Jesus said, “Father, forgive them.”

If you have been trespassed in your life, if you hold a grudge, then you are always in bondage.  If you forgive, then you are free from that bondage of being trespassed.

The thieves: one said, if thou be the Christ save us and thyself.  Jesus said to the other, “Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”

Some of the crowd continued to mock Him but Jesus kept His focus in His most trying hour.  Pray for me.  I want to keep my focus.  I want to keep the focus of serving God and doing His will.  Jesus kept His focus in His most trying hour.

While he was on the cross, Jesus spoke to His mother, “Behold your son.”  Then Jesus asked John to take care of His mother. 

At 12 noon it became extremely dark and it lasted 3 hours.  During all that was going on, the Father was there watching.  At a crucial moment, the Father couldn’t stand to watch his son anymore and Jesus said, “My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me.”

Jesus thirsted: He who made the rivers.  He who was and is the river of life thirsted.  They gave Him vinegar to drink.  Jesus said, “It is finished.”  The complete plan was accomplished. 

Never again would man be able to pierce His hands.  He did it once.  Never again would there be a crown of thorns on His head.  Never again would man need to look for a savior.  The blood had been spilt. 

For every little child that hungers, a child has a compass that points toward God.  Sometimes people’s compass gets hung up on something.  You know why they can sing and play so well?  That compass was pointed toward God. 

There is something in every one of us that lets us know when we are off course.  God helps me to know when I’m off course, “Why don’t you look at the compass Gary?  Well yes.”

Jesus said, “I willingly commend my Spirit back to God.”  He said, “I am the sacrifice.”

The price has been paid.  If you need to pray you are welcome to come to the public altar, not a place of embarrassment but a place to be reconciled to God.  Make covenant with God if He is speaking with you this morning.  “I’m going to do everything necessary to know I’ve made my calling and election sure.”