Sermon Archive 10 - Trinity Fellowship

THE RECONCILIATION OF THE CROSS

The Teaching Ministry of Rick Trice

March 20, 2004

Trinity Fellowship Church

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE:

ISAIAH 53

WE’VE BEEN LEARNING WHAT JESUS WAS UP TO DURING THE LAST WEEK OF HIS LIFE ON EARTH. AND WHAT HE WAS “UP TO” WAS HIS FINAL MINISTERING OF GOD’S LOVE TO THE WORLD.

TODAY, WE GO TO THE CROSS WITH JESUS. AND IN SO DOING WE’RE GOING TO SEE THAT HE WAS STILL, EVEN IN THE MIDST OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL AGONY, MORE CONCERNED ABOUT OTHERS…MORE CONCERNED THAT WE WOULD SEE GOD’S LOVE…THAT WE WOULD “GET IT.”

WHEN MY KIDS WERE LITTLE, I USED TO LOVE HOW THEY WOULD TELL ME JOKES THEY’D HEARD. “DO YOU GET IT, DADDY? DO YOU GET IT? YOU SEE, THE CHICKEN HAD TO CROSS THE ROAD TO GET TO THE OTHER SIDE, BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, CHICKENS CAN’T FLY, DADDY. SO DO YOU GET IT?”

THE FIRST THING WE SEE JESUS DOING ON HIS FINAL STEPS TO THE CROSS ARE ABOUT RECONCILIATION. HE BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER!

DO YOU KNOW THAT MANY OF YOU IN THIS ROOM, PRIOR TO COMING HERE TO WORSHIP GOD TOGETHER, YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW EACH OTHER? MORE THAN THAT, MANY OF US WOULD NOT HAVE HAD MUCH TO DO WITH EACH OTHER.

THAT’S JUST HUMAN NATURE. SOME OF US DON’T RUN IN THE SAME CROWD. WE DON’T RUN INTO THE SAME PEOPLE. WE HAVE DIFFERENT SCHEDULES TO KEEP. EVEN IN LIL OL’ RATON, USA, POPULATION 7000, OR WHATEVER…I RUN INTO PEOPLE EVERY WEEK WHOM I HAVE NOT MET BEFORE…I’VE LIVED HERE 23 YEARS…AND SOME OF THEM HAVE LIVED HERE 80 OR 90 YEARS!

IT DOESN’T MEAN WE DON’T LIKE EACH OTHER…WE JUST HAVEN’T RUN IN THE SAME CIRCLES BEFORE.

…SOME PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING RECONCILED IN CHRIST WOULD’VE HATED EACH OTHER OUTSIDE THE CHURCH…MAYBE IT’S FAMILY HISTORY…MAYBE IT’S RACIAL…MAYBE IT’S CLASS OR ECONOMIC PREJUDICES…SOME OF YOU MAY BE STILL STRUGGLING WITH THESE ISSUES TODAY WITH SOMEONE.

YOU KNOW WHAT\? JESUS SAYS, “GET OVER IT!”

THE POINT IS, ONE OF CHRIST’S MOST VALUABLE MINISTRIES IS RECONCILEMENT.

HOW? BY DYING FOR THE WHOLE WORLD:

AT THE TRIAL:

*JESUS BEFORE CAIUPHUS AND THE COUNCIL (RELIGIOUS)

*JESUS BEFORE THE PILATE (ROME)

*JESUS BEFORE HEROD ANTIPAS (ISRAEL)

AND ON THE HEAD OF HIS CROSS, PILATE HUNG A SIGN THAT READ “KING OF THE JEWS!” AND HE NOT ONLY PUT IT IN HEBREW, HE PUT IN LATIN AND GREEK, TOO! HE WOULD’VE PUT IT IN ENGLISH, BUT HE DIDN’T HAVE THE KING JAMES BIBLE YET.!

NO, SERIOUSLY…HE PUT IT IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE THREE MAJOR WORLD TONGUES OF THE DAY…IF ENGLISH HAD BEEN AS WIDESPREAD THEN AS IT IS NOW, HE WOULD’VE ADDED IT IN ENGLISH.

THE POINT IS, JESUS DIED FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD; IT CAN’T BE SAID HE DIED ONLY FOR THE JEWS.

THE SECOND THING HE DID TO RECONCILE PEOPLE WAS TO FORCE THEM TO COME TOGETHER.

CHRIST UNITES PEOPLE EITHER FOR HIM, OR AGAINST HIM

*KING HEROD AND PONTIUS PILATE, WHO HAD BEEN ENEMIES, BECAME FRIENDS THAT DAY (lUKE 23:12): “THAT VERY DAY, PILATE AND HEROD BECAME FRIENDS WITH EACH OTHER, FOR PREVIOUSLY THEY HAD BEEN AT ENMITY WITH EACH OTHER.”

*THE JEWS AND ROMANS: LUKE 23:34 “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.” JESUS RECONCILED HIS ENEMIES TO THE FATHER!

*MOTHER MARY AND JOHN, THE BELOVED. (JOHN 19:26-27) JEWISH LAW REQUIRED THE ELDEST SON TO MAKE SURE HIS WIDOWED MOTHER WAS TAKEN CARE OF. EVEN IN THE MIDST OF EXTREME AGONY, JESUS IS STILL A GOOD JEWISH SON! HE’S FULFILLING HIS DUTY, SO EVEN NOW THEY CANNOT SAY HE BROKE THE LAW! HE’S TAKING CARE OF HIS MOTHER.

*THE THIEF ON THE CROSS…A SINFUL, CRIMINAL…HE RECONCILED WITH HIMSELF, PROMISING THAT VERY DAY HE WOULD BE WITH HIM IN PARADISE!

“PARADISE” IS THE THIRD HEAVEN; FIRST HEAVEN IS THE SKY, CLOUDS, BIRDS, ETC.; 2^ND HEAVEN IS THE STARS AND SPACE; 3^RD HEAVEN IS THE PLACE WHERE THE SAINTS DWELL WITH GOD HIMSELF. (PAUL SPEAKS OF VISITING PARADISE IN 2 COR. 12:1-6)

THIS LAST IS PROBABLY THE MOST PROFOUND RECONCILIATION. YOU SEE, IN A A WAY, THE THIEF ON THE CROSS IS THE FIRST ONE TO BE BORN AGAIN! UP TO NOW, YOU HAD TO GO TO THE PRIESTS TO GET YOUR SINS WASHED AND FORGIVEN.

BUT HERE, JESUS IS BOLDLY ASSERTING THAT THE MAN IS GOING TO HEAVEN WITH HIM. NOT JUST GOING FOR A VISIT…NOT JUST GOING TO LIVE, THERE…HE IS GOING WITH JESUS…TO LIVE WITH JESUS…TO BE WITH JESUS. FOREVER.

YOU SEE, THIS THIEF REALLY REPRESENTS YOU AND ME. THIS IS THE FINAL WORK OF THE CROSS…THE FINAL RECONCILEMENT…JESUS IS SAYING TO US…”HAVE THE SIMPLE FAITH OF THIS THIEF, AND MY WORK HERE IS WORTH IT ALL..”

IN FACT, THE VERY NEXT THING HE SAYS IS “IT IS FINISHED.”

USUALLY TOOK A MAN SEVERAL DAYS TO DIE ON THE CROSS. DEATH WAS BY SLOW SUFFOCATION. TOOK JESUS 6 HOURS TO DIE.. AND THEY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO BREAK HIS LEGS.

WHY ONLY SIX HOURS? WELL SOME WOULD SAY BECAUSE HE WAS SO WORN OUT AND EXHAUSTED BY HIS BEATINGS, AND HAD ALREADY SHED MUCH BLOOD, WHICH IS TRUE.

BUT AGAIN, EVERYTHING JESUS DID THIS LAST WEEK OF HIS EARTHLY LIFE HAD A SPECIFIC PURPOSE. REMEMBER, JESUS AND FATHER GOD WERE THEIR OWN WITNESSES AGAINST HIM. HE WASN’T ARRESTED UNTIL HE WAS READY TO BE ARRESTED.

AND HE DIDN’T DIE UNTIL HE WAS READY TO DIE. “IT IS FINISHED,” HE SAID.

THE ETERNAL WORK OF THE RECONCILIATION WAS DONE; THE ETERNAL WORK THAT GOD BEGAN THE MOMENT THAT ADAM FELL FROM GRACE IN THE GARDEN WAS NOW COMPLETE.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE RECONCILIATION THAT JESUS COMPLETED FOR YOU?

DO YOU GET IT?

(Return to "Sermon Archives")