R711 Why Jesus Was Crucified, Pt.3

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton. God has taken the place of everything else, every one else, and all things else. He has removed all the other things, the trappings of our religion, and they have all come into the cross of Christ.

He's the one. In fact, from time to time, you may hear people say this to you. They'll come up to you and they'll say, the one thing I don't like about Christians is they are so narrow-minded.

Well, could I help you with something here? If somebody says that to you, you say you're exactly right. But then you need to follow it up and say to them, actually, I'm not narrow-minded.

It has nothing to do with me. God is narrow-minded. Did you know that our God is a narrow-minded God? Did you know that? Did you know that God is a jealous God? Now, what does that mean? Well, God said, thou shalt have no other gods before me.

That's a jealous God. Jesus put it like this. He said there were two roads. One was a broad road that led to destruction. The other one is a narrow road that leads to life. Few there are that find it. After Jesus, when Jesus was headed to the cross, he turned to his disciples and he said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come to the father.

How? But by me, that's narrow-minded folks. Now, what does it mean? It means that as far as God is concerned, there is no compromise. There is nothing that you can add to salvation other than through Jesus Christ.

Not only is there nothing that you can add to it, you may not do anything. That even carries the semblance of flying in the face of a God who loved us so much that he gave Jesus Christ to die for us. Let's take me for example. Here I am preaching this morning. I am the pastor of First Baptist Church and part of my responsibilities, joyful responsibility is to preach the Word of God.

So if we could just put it down into ordinary terms, I'm kind of working right now. I want to tell you, my friends, there can never be a moment in time that I could ever possibly allow myself to think that because I am preaching or because I'm the pastor of a church, that I'm doing anything remotely that is earning my salvation. Because I could preach morning, noon and night.

I look at this wonderful choir here today. Let me tell you the reason why I am a pastor and a minister of the gospel. I'm doing these things because that is God's assignment for me. And I am preaching the gospel and I'm pastoring this wonderful church, not in order that I might earn my salvation. I'm doing these things because I have already earned my salvation and I did nothing for it.

Jesus Christ did it all. And so when Jesus Christ came into my heart because I am a saved man, I do what God calls me to do. I look around this congregation, I look at this wonderful orchestra. There are people who play music instruments, sing in the choir. There are some who love the Lord Jesus, God calls them to be deacons.

Others who go on mission trips, others who serve in different capacity, walk with our young people, drive buses, help our senior adults, sing in retirement centers and minister to others and do everything you could possibly imagine. Why do we do these things in order to earn our salvation? Are they the trappings of our religion? Absolutely not. You see my friend, anything that takes away from who Jesus Christ is concerned is unacceptable as far as God is concerned.

We've got to be very careful. It doesn't matter if you're a Baptist or a Methodist or a Presbyterian or a Lutheran or an Episcopalian. It doesn't matter what, this is not about denominations or anything. This is about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So what is the letter to the Hebrews all about? It's about Jesus.

Everything focuses on Him. So now this morning as I stand here today, I feel very privileged indeed to tell you about Jesus Christ. And some of you today who are worshiping with us, you've never given your heart to Jesus.

You must do this. Jesus put it like this. He said, you must be born again. Unless you are born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. You're not born again because you're a member of this Baptist church. You're not born again because you do some ritual or you say a prayer. You're not born again because you preach. You're not born again because you sing in the choir or play the trumpet. You are only born again because Jesus Christ by His Spirit has drawn you into the heart of God. You have repented of your sin and by faith trusted in Him.

I'm going to ask you to come out publicly. Jesus Christ did this publicly for you and me. Well, let's read about this. Hebrews chapter 10, the law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason, now watch this carefully, it can never by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who desire to be drawn near to God in worship. Now watch the next verse. If it could, all right folks, everybody watch me now. If it could, here's the operative question. If making sacrifices, if you could come to me as your preacher or your priest, and if I had the authority to forgive you for your sin, to absolve you of your sin.

If the Old Testament means of sacrificing the blood of bulls and goats and of going through rituals, if that could have brought people into the presence of God, why do they carry on doing it? Jesus put a ring on our fingers and he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. There is no compromise, there is no alternative, there are no trappings, there are no extra additives.

It doesn't matter about religion or tradition or your denomination or what you think about or who voted on what. I want you to know that I am who I am. I am Almighty God, I am the Alpha and the Omega and there is none other like me. And because of my love and my grace, I have chosen to send my only begotten son to die for you.

And there is no other way. Now let's read together. What God says, verse two, if it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have filled guilty for their sins.

But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. For when Christ Jesus came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me with burnt offerings and sin offerings. You were not pleased. And I said, here I am.

It is written about me in the scroll. I have come to do your will, O God. First he said, sacrifice and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them.

Although the law required them to be made. Then he said, here I am, the Lord Jesus Christ. I, Jesus Christ, have come to do your will. He sets aside the first covenant in order to establish the second. And by that will, we, that is you and me, Don Wilton, every person ever born into this world have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

Consider these facts. Day after day, every priest, every minister, the Old Testament, the priests stands and performs his religious duties. Again and again and again, he offers the same sacrifices.

Watch this, which can never take away sins. But when this priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. And since that time, Jesus Christ waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. Because by one sacrifice, this is the ring on the finger, folks. By one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The operative question then is why was Jesus Christ crucified? Why was Jesus crucified? What was the necessity? You see, friends, because Jesus was crucified upon the cross, there is no longer any necessity for me to do anything else, to pray to anybody else, to conduct any further other religious business as far as God is concerned.

Why? Because Jesus Christ in his crucifixion has made me perfect. Jesus Christ is the one who removes the burden of my sin. But number three, and this is where we are today, why was Jesus crucified? To give his body. You're going to notice something here in chapter 10. Because in chapter 10 and the second part of verse five, there is a statement made, sacrifice and offering you did not desire, look here, but a body.

You, oh God, prepared for me. Then he says in verse seven, Jesus says, here I am, it is written about me in the scroll. Now, what was Jesus doing there?

What was he saying? Well, if you go back, my friends, into the Old Testament, I don't have time to do that today, but if you go back to Jeremiah 36, for example, or if you were to go back into Isaiah chapter 53, verses four through seven, you'll understand what Jesus was saying. You know what Jesus was doing, folks? Jesus was connecting God past, God preordained, God from before the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ was connecting God who throughout times past and before the beginning of time predetermined his plan and his purpose and his will for the life of man. Jesus Christ was connecting what had happened back then as it is recorded for us hundreds of years before Jesus died with the present tense, which was the actual death of Jesus Christ upon the cross, as it pointed to the process of our salvation unto eternity, as we are washed and redeemed by the blood of lamb. And according to this verse here in verse 14, as we are being made holy, in other words, we are being made presentable to come into the presence of a holy and a righteous God.

Now I want you to watch this very closely this morning. This is a precious thing to think about. Jesus Christ was crucified in order to give his body. Remarkable.

I'm going to ask a rhetorical question here this morning. Who is Jesus? Well, Jesus Christ is God.

I think we would all agree with that. God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world himself. It's one of those eternal truths. God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit will always struggle to understand that with our human limitations, won't we? The three in one of the Godhead. Why was it necessary for God to present himself at the cross in Jesus Christ in the form of a body?

Could he not have had some kind of alternative arrangement? Now you just think of the significance of that. What Jesus Christ is telling us is that from before the foundation of the world, God predetermined that his Son Jesus Christ would be reduced to what? To a fetus. Now folks, I want you to think about life. Life begins with two things, a sperm and an egg.

Would fit into the palm of your hand, it is so minute and infinitesimal. And the fusing of that sperm and egg begins to develop into that fetus. I love it when moms and dads like Karen and I did three times and you go to the doctor and get a sonogram and then you get these little pictures.

And it's amazing how moms know exactly what's in that pictures and dads stand there and look and say, what in the world are you talking about? That's a blob. You're about to give birth to a blob and say, oh no, look, there's the head.

Where? Okay. And can you see that little leggy over there? You know, dads just say, oh yeah, look at that leg. But man, hey, don't you kid yourself to me, you can't see a thing. It's a blob.

I tell you, modern medicine today, it's amazing folks. And that little fetus begins to form and hands and legs and arms and eyes and ears. And then eventually that little baby is forced out of the birth canal and that baby is born and you just love them like we loved little Kyle Long this morning. And then he begins to grow and becomes a boy and all the things that go through the transfiguration and the transformation of the body. Now I want you to think about this.

Can you imagine that God allowed himself to come encased by a body? This is God we're talking about. Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with more of Dr. Wilton's message in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants you to know that this is not just a presentation, it's a conversation. If you have questions, if you want someone to talk with or pray with, we're here 24 hours a day on this number, 866-899-WORD.

Take a moment, jot it down, store it in your cell, 866-899-9673 to pray with you and connect with resources that can change your life. Now let's dive back into today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Did you know that the Bible tells us, my friends, that Jesus Christ, because of his body as the God-man, is now able to identify 100% with everything that I'm about because in his body he identifies with my body. The same Jesus suffered everything from persecution. Can you imagine the little Jesus boy in his father's carpenter shop?

By the way, they didn't have tools and blackened decker and all those other things that we've got today that I'm so brilliant at using. I want to tell you what he did, folks. Do you not suppose Jesus Christ, the son of God, got jammed in the finger with a big old splinter and said, ouch, that hurts? Jesus went hungry. He was persecuted. He was beaten and bruised. He needed his feet washed. He got tired. It all has to do with his body. It has to do with the complete identification of the son of God with the sinfulness of the human condition.

That's what happened. So why did Jesus give his body? Number one, because his body bore our grief. That's what the prophet had to tell us. And that word I told you last week, but for those of you who are not able to worship with us, that word to bear or bearing our grief literally carries with it the idea of columns or pillars that support the structure within which we operate. When Jesus Christ gave his body, here's what happens, folks. Jesus Christ bore our grief. Through his body, he provides us with the support system that enables us to be able to journey through life under his protection.

It's an incredible thing. That's why he identifies with us. How do we overcome?

Where do we turn to? You see, that grief is real. Jesus Christ knew that grief was real. How is Jesus Christ able to bear this grief? He did it because he was willing to give his body. And by his body, he bore our grief. Look at verse 10. And by that will, we have been made holy.

How? Through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. Well, there's a second reason why Jesus gave his body, because his body carried and carries our sorrows.

Now, folks, I want you to watch this. The Bible tells us that the body of Jesus Christ carries my sorrows. The Bible says because his body was given for me. It is through his body that he literally carries my sorrow. Now, what does that mean?

It means three things. Carrying my sorrow speaks first of all to his capability. Jesus Christ's capability.

Friend, listen to me. There have been thousands of wonderful martyrs in this world. I could stand here today and I could tell you a lot of stories about wonderful people who have laid down their lives. You think of precious people like Mother Teresa. Often think of that lady. What an incredible person she must have been. You think of what she did in the name of Jesus Christ in India. Mother Teresa.

Now, folks, listen to me. Listen, I can tell you a lot of stories about a lot of people, even people who gave their lives for Jesus Christ. There is not one other person who laid down their bodies in order that my sin could be carried. Only Jesus Christ was capable of doing that. It speaks to his unique capability.

But second of all, it speaks of his containability. Friends, I have this thing called this body. All of us do.

It's unfair this morning because you're looking at me. We all have bodies. I've got hands and feet and all the rest of it. We've got bodies. This in a sense is a container. What does it contain? It contains my spirit and my soul.

It's my means of transportation if you don't mind me saying that. Luther Rice, that great missionary on his deathbed, and I love this. It's probably my most favorite quote of all. Luther Rice on his deathbed had worked himself to death. And his last statement, he said, God gave to me a soul and a horse, and I have killed the horse.

I want you to think about that. You see, folks, this horse, this body is the container that transports who I am, but it is dying. So why did Jesus give his body? Now, folks, listen, hold on. Why did Jesus give his body? I'll tell you why. Because he took in himself my dying body, he died, put my dying body in him in the grave, and did he leave it there to decay?

No, sir. On the third day, he rose from the grave. And so Jesus Christ now carries his resurrected body. So when I give my heart and life to Jesus Christ, what happens to me? I appropriate what God has done for me in Christ Jesus. I have hope eternal because in Jesus Christ, yes, I am being transported by this decaying body.

But in Christ Jesus, I have been made alive because I have become fused in the resurrected body of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So when we talk about Jesus Christ carrying our sorrows in his body, it speaks of his capability. It speaks of his contain ability. But number three, it speaks of his conveying ability.

His conveying ability. You see, my friends, it is through the resurrected body of Jesus Christ that paid the penalty for sin. That I am literally conveyed from death to life.

That is the means by which I am transported. Let me tell you what God has done for us in the body of Jesus Christ. He is our conveyor belt. His body carries our sorrows. He carries us as a conveyor belt from my death sentence in sin through life in Christ by virtue of the resurrection of his body unto eternal life. That's why in order to be saved, you must believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.

If you don't believe that, you cannot be saved. There's a third significance of the body of Jesus. Not only because his body bore our grief and because his body carries our sorrows, but because his body was pierced for our sin. Now folks, listen carefully. God in his divine mercy and grace has given us permission to touch him.

How was that permission granted? By Jesus Christ being willing to give his body to be penetrated and pierced by the likes of me. It's hard to comprehend all that Jesus went through because of his love for us.

You've heard Dr. Wilton as he's been teaching. Now as he steps into the studio, hear what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If God has moved in your life today and you've given your life to Christ or prayed along with Dr. Wilton to rededicate your life moments ago, we have wonderful resources we want you to have absolutely free if you'll call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. You need to know we are here for you. You know, I'd love to be a part of your daily devotional. I'd love to be able to send you the Encouraging Word daily devotional and be a part of what God says to each one of us through His Word every day.

You can become part of that and receive one yourself from me. Just go online to TEWONLINE.org. That's TEWONLINE.org and get your copy of the Encouraging Word Bible Devotion today. Our time's gone for today, but we're staying connected 24 hours a day on our website at TEWONLINE.org. That's TEWONLINE.org.