Today on Summit Life with Jiddy Greer. You see, when you go through pain, you got two choices. Choice number one is you can conclude that your pain means that Jesus really is not who he says he is and that he lacks the power to save you. The second option you have is you look at the cross and you say, wow, he really does love me. He really does care.
Look, he's dying for me. Welcome back to Summit Life with Pastor Jiddy Greer. I'm your host, Molly Vitovich, and we're so glad that you're back with us today. You know, sometimes I find it helpful to place myself into the stories of the Bible to see how I might have seen them in the moment.
Well, have you ever thought about how you might have responded if you had been present during Jesus' crucifixion? I know that's a hard one to maybe start with, but there are four different characters and responses that Pastor JD is going to walk us through today to give us pictures of how we might have responded then and how we can still respond to Jesus today. Are you up for it? As always, if you miss any of our programs or if you're in search of our new featured monthly resource, you can find it all online at jdcreer.com.
Now let's rejoin Pastor JD as he teaches from Matthew chapter 27. What Jesus said from the cross as he died was the opposite of what every other religious leader has given as their final message. Buddha, for example, the Buddha. The Buddha's last words were. Strive without ceasing.
Jesus' last words were the exact opposite of that. It wasn't strive without ceasing. It was, I have done all the striving for you. And now it is finished. And you will be saved not because you strive hard enough, but because I have finished it for you.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes. Believes means you understand that he is the payment for your sin, that it was done in your place, and you rest in it. And when you claim that as yours, all the victory of Christ, all the striving of Christ, all the things that Christ did for you, they become yours when you believe and you will not perish, but you will in that moment have eternal life, not because of what you do, but because of what Jesus has done. Salvation is the free gift to all who simply put their trust in Jesus. The gospel, we say, is in four words.
Jesus in my place. Jesus did not merely die for me. Jesus died instead of me. He took my place and was abandoned, beaten, killed, and condemned in my place. my place.
That's what happened.
Now, like I mentioned, not everybody there saw this happen, saw this in the same way. And so, what Matthew does is he puts at least four different characters there in this story to give you ways that people respond to the cross.
So, I want you to see yourselves. represented in different ones of these. Number one, Around the cross we see the suffering criminals. who rage against God. Verse 38 tells us about two criminals that were crucified there beside Jesus, one on the right and one on the left.
And it tells us that they were yelling insults at him and shaking their heads and saying, You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days? Save yourself if you are really the Son of God. Then come down from the cross.
Now according to Luke One of these criminals, as the crucifixion went on, would eventually have a change of heart. But what Matthew shows us is that here at the beginning, these criminals are both. Raging against Jesus and calling him a fraud and a phony because he won't save himself or them. I want you to understand that these criminals, listen, represent people who in pain. Curse God.
for not delivering them from that pain. And say to God things like: if you really are who you say you are, then you would make this pain stop. Think about it. If you were dying like these men in agony, why would you hoist yourself up through all that pain and use that breath just to hurl an insult at the man who is dying beside you? I'll tell you why.
Because when you're in pain, Nothing makes you angrier than the idea of a God who could relieve that pain. But does it? I want you to see in these two men every single one of us who has raged against God in a moment of pain and said, God, if you are who you say you are, why don't you fix this issue? Maybe you're not really God after all. Maybe you don't even exist.
Now, like I said, eventually one of those criminals came around, and what he said was so important. Because it shows you what real repentance looks like. What he said, Luke tells us this. He looked at the other criminal and he said the suffering that we're undergoing. We deserve.
This man does not deserve what is happening to him. He is dying for us. This is the confession of every person who finds repentance and faith. They basically come to a place where they acknowledge, I deserve my suffering, but Jesus didn't.
Now, in saying that, please hear me. I do not mean that you conclude that every single moment of you pain that you've been through was in direct response to something that you've done. Because that's not true. What I mean is that you confess that ultimately you and I live in a world that is filled with pain and suffering. Because we live in a world that is condemned because of our sin.
And that you and I, because of our sin, we deserve the judgment of God and we deserve to go to hell. And so, yes, even the pain and suffering that we live with in the world is part of that judgment, and that is a judgment that ultimately we deserve. And then we acknowledge that the only one in history who actually deserved to feel no pain, Jesus, because he'd never sinned, voluntarily chose to enter it for us for no other reason than that he cared for us and wanted to save us. That's what repentance looks like. You see, when you go through pain, you've got two choices.
Choice number one is: you can conclude that your pain means that Jesus really is not who he says he is. and that he lacks the power to save you. The second option you have is you look at the cross and you say, wow. He really does love me. He really does care.
Look, he's dying for me. You see Michael Greene, the Christian philosopher from Cambridge over in Great Britain. It says, whether you believe in him or not. The God of the gospel is the only God that doesn't simply offer platitudes or perspective about pain. The God of the gospel is the only God that doesn't merely say to us, here's an explanation for your pain.
The God of the gospel is the only God that came down and shared in the forsakenness voluntarily that we feel in a universe gone wrong. And see what that means is that when I look at him and I believe in him, I may not understand. I may not understand everything that's happening in my pain. I may not know what God is doing. But I know what my pain in light of the cross when I see Jesus there, I know what my pain cannot mean.
My pain cannot mean that God has either forsaken me or that God lacks power to deliver me. The cross shows me that my pain cannot mean that. God. Of all things, has demonstrated his love to me, and I can trust him even when I don't understand, and even when he's not delivering me from the cross that I'm buried at that moment, because he bore my ultimate cross so that he could save me eternally.
So we see criminals that rage against God. Number two, we see creation itself. that quakes under the weight of glory displayed. Verse 45, from noon until 3 in the afternoon, darkness comes over the whole land. Verse 51 tells us this is accompanied by an earthquake.
It is as if creation itself has to respond. I mean, think about the image of an earthquake.
Something quakes. when it encounters a force that it cannot withstand. It is as if creation itself cannot withstand the weight of glory that is being displayed on its surface. And so it's like the sun itself, and Matthew's telling, has to turn away. And the earth itself cannot withstand it, it has to respond.
I point this out. To show you what Matthew is saying, basically, is this: the cross demands some kind of response from you. You simply cannot look at these things and pass on by. You have to ask yourself, was this true? Is it true?
Listen, if you're not a believer, this is not a historical curiosity. If this is true, it means that the God who created everything, the God who created you, Came down and bore the penalty of your sin and your place so that he could save you forever. That is beyond a historical curiosity. If that's true, it changes everything. And you've got to decide if it's true or not.
It deserves more than just a passing on by. You either quake in front of it or you ignore it as the worst lie of history. Believer, do you understand? It demands a response from you. Do you understand how insulting it is to God?
For us to sit in a place and hear about these things unmoved by them. Or maybe to sing about them while barely moving our lips, hands in our pockets, holding the coffee cup with expressionless faces. These things demand a response. Not even creation can withstand the weight of glory being displayed. And Jesus said, if they were silent, the rocks would have cried out.
That's what the rocks are doing, they're crying out to this. And Matthew's saying it demands something from you. It demands some kind of response where we say, God, this is what you've done. We're the whole realm of nature, mind. That would be a present far too small.
Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. I love this one right here, by the way.
Next verse, for 52, the tombs were also open. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and they came out of the tombs after his resurrection and entered the holy city and appeared to many. Honestly, I'm not totally sure what to do with that verse. I really am not. I don't know what that was like, but what it tells me.
Is that Jesus' death was so amazing that it was like Some of the dead couldn't even contain themselves.
Some of the dead believers just leapt out of the graves. And they had to run around. Leaping and praising and telling people. And what Matthew is doing is he's saying, you who have been raised from the dead by Jesus Christ, can you hold yourself back from leaping and praising God in worship? And don't you have to run around town just telling somebody?
If that's what the dead happen, then we who are spiritually raised from the dead, that's how we ought to be. You are listening to Summit Life with J.D. Greer. You can always find more resources online free of charge by visiting jdgreer.com. We'll return to our teaching in just a moment, but I wanted to remind you about a daily email devotional from Summit Life that you can sign up for today.
I know the busyness of life can quickly grow up like weeds and choke out any joy that we feel in our walk with God.
So, why not take out our spiritual weed whacker and cut them down with a special word from the Lord? These daily devotionals even follow along with our current teaching here on the program.
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Now let's return for the final moments in our teaching today. Once again, here's Pastor JD. Number three, we see the outsiders. We see the outsiders in this story who recognize But he's doing this for them. In verse 46, when Jesus calls out, Eli, Eli, Lema Sabatani.
Says that a lot of the people were standing around, a lot of the Jewish leaders. Looked at each other and said, He's calling for Elijah. Eli is short, you know, it's like the nickname for Elijah. The point is they're totally clueless. They have no idea he's even quoting scripture.
They have no idea he's talking about being abandoned by God. They think he's just calling out in the prophet's name. Watch this, verse 54, but when the centurion and those with him When they saw the earthquake and they saw the things that had happened. They were terrified. And they said, truly this man was the Son of God.
Many women, next verse, who had followed Jesus from Galilee and looked after him were there watching from a distance. Where were the disciples? Why is it that the only people around the cross who get what is happening? Are those whom the Jews consider to be outsiders? Second rate.
Gentile soldiers, no less. and women. The disciples don't get it? Chief priests, they're the one, the religious and moral leaders, they don't get it. Here you got the Roman soldiers.
They spit out the first line of the Nicene Creed. And the women refused to leave. Why them? I'll tell you why, listen to this. Because the gospel can only Be seen.
from a posture of humility. And the weakened Those who recognize their need of Jesus. The guilty, the ashamed, the despised, the discriminated against. They're more likely to perceive him and lean into his grace than the proud will be because they never feel any need at all. When my oldest daughter was about three years old, I always noticed that she'd be walking outside, I'd be holding her hand, and she would.
Always point out to me, dad, a plane, a plane. And she knew I love planes, so she'd always point them out. But I was like, how does she always see the planes, and I never do? Does she have really good hearing and she can just hear it way up there? And she looks for it.
And then one day I was like, no, duh, I know why she sees it. It's because she's always looking up. At three years old, the whole world is up to her. And because she's always looking up, Then she's able to see that thing which is high above. Both of us.
But me, I'm always looking down. And because I'm always looking down, I never perceive what's there above us. C.S. Lewis, not using that analogy, but something similar, C.S. Lewis said, that's why the humble always see Jesus and the proud never do.
Because the humble are in a place where they know that they need help, and so they're naturally in a place where they perceive the grace of God. But the proud, the rich, those who feel no need, they're always looking down, and so they miss the God whose grace they desperately need, which is why Jesus said, listen to this. It is easier for the camel to go through the eye of the needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And that means rich in money. It means rich in power.
It also means rich in religiousness. I am talking to a group of people, many of whom have been raised in church. You are among the most religious people on the planet. I'm also talking to a group of Americans. You are in the richest, most powerful nation on the planet.
I am talking to people in that very nation that are among the richest of the people of that nation. It means that it is easier for the camel to go through the eye of the needle than it is for you to go to heaven. Which means that you ought to be very, very careful. Just because you have assented mentally to the doctrines of Jesus does not mean that your soul has ever come to a place where you realized how desperately you needed the grace of God. Simply confessing Jesus as Lord is not what the Bible is talking about when it means confessing it with your heart.
It means you are at a place where you recognize I have nothing and I need Jesus and I give him all of my life because what am I without him? He is my hope, my righteousness, my everything. Right? Be warned, be careful. One more, number four: Simon of Cyrene.
who helps Jesus carry the cross. Let me end our reflection time here by returning to Simon, the man forced to carry Jesus' cross. And we know this would have been a terrible event to have I had to watch. But you know if you had to be there and you had to play one role Isn't this the role that you want to play? I mean, wouldn't it just to think that Jesus, in his hour of weakness, his hour of need, that somehow you could do something that would lighten the load, somehow you could do something that would help him?
Well, see, I think Matthew puts this picture in there. Because he wanted to give the early church a picture. Jesus's followers of what they had a chance to do. To give them an invitation where they could willingly pick up Jesus' cross. and help him continue to carry it.
You see, it is true in one sense. But Jesus' work is finished. It is finished. There's nothing I can do, nothing I need to do that adds. To the payment Jesus made for the world's salvation, but in another sense, it is not finished.
Because it's like Martin Luther said. It wouldn't matter if Jesus had gone through this a thousand times if nobody ever heard about it. Because the only way it brings benefit to them is if they hear about it, they can only believe on the one they've heard about, and they can't hear unless we preach it to them. And we can't preach it to them unless we embrace the sacrifices that are necessary to get the gospel to them. And the early church was receiving an invitation: oh, you wanted to be there and you wanted to take up the cross?
Well, now you've got a chance. Because people around the world still haven't heard, and it's going to cost you dearly to get the gospel to them. But if you want to pick up his cross, then here it is. You can pick it up and take Jesus to the people that he died for. And what that means is that you begin to carry the cross when you choose to leave a place that you're comfortable with, like here, and you go live overseas among a group of people that have never heard the name of Jesus so that they can hear about him from you.
We got a hundred, two hundred and some members of our church that have done that, by the way, that have left this place not because, by the way, they don't like America, and not because they got a travel itch, and not because they really want to live 7,000 miles away from their parents. They've gone to live overseas in places because people there need to hear about Jesus, and they're doing it for him because they know that his death, the work of his death, is not complete until people hear and believe. And so, yes, it is a sacrifice, and yes, it is costly, but they would tell you it's worth it. It is worth it because how can they hear? How can his work be complete?
Unless I go and I share the gospel with them. You want to know why you choose to go into a ministry and stay into a ministry? It's not because it makes you feel happy and makes you feel like, oh, I feel like this is what I'm created for. It's because without that, they can't hear and believe, and it's picking up a rough hewn cross that tears your back as you carry it, but you gladly do it out of love for the one who gave his life for you. You embrace that cross when you embrace the awkwardness of talking to somebody about Jesus.
People, you know, they talk to me, they say, Well, I never get to tell anybody about Jesus. How these things happen to you? Like, people just, I'm walking down the street and people just fall on my knees and say, What am I doing to be saved? That never happens to me. In fact, it only happened one time in the Bible.
What must I do to be saved? It was after Paul had been beaten with stripes. And then, you know, put in prison overnight, and there was an earthquake. Which to me doesn't sound awesome either. The point is people just don't ask the question without our personal investment.
And embracing the cross means that you embrace the awkwardness of saying, hey, this is really important to me, and it's important to you. And I know it's going to create a weird tension here, but you've got to know this. That's what it means to embrace this cross. That's the invitation that's given to you. That is the invitation that is given to you.
to pick up this cross and carry it. Maybe it's when you extend forgiveness to somebody. That you feel like I don't know how I'm gonna forgive them, but you do it. You do it because you want them to be able to taste of the grace that you've received. My family and I saw the movie.
I can only imagine the story of the behind the song. It's, I think, the most popular song in terms of sales in Christian history. Bart Miller, there's a little section in the movie where it's like one of these live scenes for him at the national prayer breakfast, and he's standing in front of the president and members of Congress a few years ago. He explains the story behind the song and he said, I wrote this song after my dad died. He said, My dad was abusive to the point that he literally drove me out of the house.
He was an alcoholic. He said, toward the last years of his life, he came to faith in Jesus Christ and totally transformed him. He said, but I couldn't forgive him. He damaged me too much. He said, but the last six or so months of his life He said, I saw the power of Jesus turn an abusive man into the father that I'd always longed for.
Amen, he said. I also experienced the power of Jesus through his death give me the ability to forgive my dad the way that. God had forgiven me. And he said, the reason I sing about these things, the reason that I stand in front of you right now is because I've seen the power of Jesus who can change an abusive father. I've seen the power of Jesus that can transform a bitter heart.
I've seen him transform me, and I know that's true. And I know that it can transform you as well. You see, Jesus unleashed a power through this that was more powerful than all the armies in the universe amassed together. The question is: Have you picked up that cross and begun to carry it so that others can experience it? Which brings me back finally to where I started this message.
Are you ready to be baptized? You say, well, I don't understand how that connects.
Well, The first identification that you make with Christ's cross happens through... Baptism. That's what Paul said. Romans 6:3, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. You.
Your first act of obedience as a disciple is to identify with the cross the way that Simon did. Where you stand up essentially in front of everybody and you say, I'm not ashamed. That cross was for me, and I'll gladly pick it up. I will gladly pick it up. This is my identification with Jesus.
Have you ever done that? The time for excuses for you are it's over. The time for obedience is at hand. It's like I told you, baptism is supposed to be your first act of obedience. Your profession.
That you're going all in with Jesus. How could you possibly say you understood the magnitude of the cross or feel any appreciation for it if you have not? Follow Jesus' first and clearest act of obedience. You say, Well, I got baptized as an infant. You were talking about me at the beginning.
Listen, I want you to hear this with respect. It really did. I mean, this is, I realize it's not the most important thing in Christianity, but. Just hear me. Say this, as a baby.
Were you publicly identifying with the death of Jesus? Is that the choice you were making? Were you putting your faith on display for other people? I mean the New Testament, it's always a display of your own faith. Paul, I mean, buried with him by baptism.
I'm confessing my union with Christ by baptism. Were you doing that when you were a baby? I don't think you probably had much say in it. I think somebody was doing it to you. And listen, thank God for that.
Thank God. But your parents We're doing this. With a desire that one day you would grow up and follow Jesus, and now you have. And I'm just telling you, it's time to ratify that decision. Baptism is a statement to other people and to Jesus.
If you're ready to take the step to be baptized, be sure to contact your pastor. I'm certain he'd be willing to walk you through that. You're listening to Pastor J.D. Greer on Summit Life. Today, we're introducing a brand new Bible study available immediately to our listeners.
It's an in-depth study of the book of Daniel, which we'll be working through here on the program beginning later this week.
So, Pastor JD, why did you choose the HEAR method for this new study of the book of Daniel? And how does it help people engage more deeply with scripture? Yeah, Molly, here stands for H, Highlight, E, Explain, A, Apply, or Respond. I think it's simple, it's easy to remember, but it's powerful and effective as a tool. It helps people not just read the Bible, but interact with it.
You know, I've always heard instead of reading your way through the Bible, you should pray your way through the Bible because the Bible is not a dead book that fills your mind with knowledge. It's a book where God Himself comes through the words and you interact with Him. And the whole point of the Bible is for you to learn to trust in and love and depend on God. And here will help you do that. Obviously, HERE can't automatically do that, but it can at least set you up where you have the opportunity to put faith in what you're reading and to trust God through it.
So I think the HEAR method is as usable for mature believers as it is for people who are brand new to the faith. Each of the nine sessions we're providing in the study will. Follow that here outline, and hopefully, the result is you'll not just learn a lot more about Daniel, the book of Daniel itself, but you'll learn a lot more about how to study the Bible. Take a look, and you can get your own copy of these at jdgreer.com. Thank you, JD.
It's easy to donate when you give us a call at 866-335-5220. That number again is 866-335-5220, or you can give online at jdgreer.com. I'm Molly Bidovich, inviting you to join us again Tuesday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.
