Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Mark chapter 15 on this Good Friday 2006. We are going to be looking at what our Lord and Savior did for us, the work He completed. In saying that, let me share with you a medical doctor’s physical description of what took place, all He endured for us to finish the work the Father sent Him to do. Because there are many who feel that He did not complete the work, only started it. We are told:
The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement. The cross is then lifted into place.
The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed. The victim is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain- the nails in the wrist are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of his feet.
As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.
Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.
It is now almost over – the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level – the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues – the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air.
He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues . . . Finally he can allow his body to die.
All this the Bible records with the simple words, “And they crucified Him.” (Mark 15:24). What wondrous love is this?
- Adapted from C. Truman Davis, M. D. in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 8
The problem we are seeing, like I have said, is that some are denying the work was completed, that our sins were paid in full or they were partially paid. In other words, Jesus did His part and now we must do our part and if we do, we might make it into heaven. You see, there is no substitutionary atonement in some people’s minds.
Let me give you an example of this theology from Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, and they are not alone in this, but it is the doctrine of the Catholic Church. They state that:
. . . If at the end of our life on earth God judges us worthy, according to our faith and the way we have lived that faith, He will admit us to the kingdom of heaven. That decision is God’s alone to make and it will not be made until we appear before Him for our particular judgment. . . . We have no absolute assurance of our salvation, but we do have the hope of salvation and perseverance in witness and service and Christian growth. . . . His death and resurrection gives us assurance that our salvation is possible.
Did Jesus take all our sins upon Himself when He died on the cross? It is true that Jesus died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). It is also true that Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross so we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). When we read these verses without the benefit of an Old Testament understanding of what is being addressed, it certainly would make Him a scapegoat, a substitute for us and our sinfulness.
There are absolutely no Biblical texts which when read in proper context portray Jesus as a scapegoat or state that He supplied total satisfaction for our sins. We are required to become living sacrifices (Romans 12:1); to join our sacrifice with that of Jesus the Christ which is being offered perpetually in heaven. Jesus death on the cross accomplished our redemption and made our salvation possible, it opened heaven for us, a heaven which had essentially been closed to mankind since the sin of Adam and Eve.
. . . He paid the price so we may one day enter the kingdom of heaven. This does not mean however that there is no need for us to recognize our individual sins and make restitution for them. . . . God demands repentance and atonement from all sinners. Sins are not ‘covered’ by Jesus’ blood and thus made invisible to God.
- Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Picayune, MS, USA
If that is true, if the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary did not pay in full the debt of sin, then we are still lost in our sins with no way out. My desire this evening is to show you clearly from the Scriptures, not the doctrines of man, that Christ completed the work, our sins have been paid in full as He hung on that cross and you can leave here with the full assurance of your salvation because it is based upon His faithfulness, His finished work and not mine and not yours!
With that said, let’s begin reading in Mark chapter 15, starting in verse 6, and look at the crucifixion story and how it unfolded and then we will see what it all means to us!
When you look at all God did, all He endured, how can people say that Almighty God didn’t finish the work or wasn’t able to finish the work that He started? A. W. Tozer said, “All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all Hell is terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.” May we not do that because outside of Jesus there is nothing. You see, He came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay! Praise the Lord for His love for us!
The first issue I would like to look at is good works because many believe you need Christ and good works to be saved, He did His part and now we must do our part! Or you just need to be good enough in this life and you will enter into heaven. The problem with that is it goes contrary to what the Scriptures teach. Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9 makes this point and he is very clear on it. He tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Do you see how clear that is, not of good works, that does not save us but the grace of God that we believe by faith in Christ.
But what about what James tells us, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:17. Isn’t he saying that without works, our faith is dead? Please understand that James is not speaking of works for our salvation, but works as the evidence that we are saved, it is the fruit that is born in our life! So we are saved by Grace through Faith and not by the Law through Works and the evidence that we are saved is seen in the things we do. It is Grace alone in Christ alone by faith alone that saves us but saving faith is never alone, there is always the evidence born in our lives!
Notice what Jesus said in John 3:14-16, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus speaks of an event that occurred in the wilderness with the children of Israel. They once again complained about dying in the wilderness with no food, no water and God sent a plague of fiery serpents and many of the children of Israel died as they were bit.
And the people saw their sin and they repented and Moses interceded before God for them. And the Lord told Moses to make a bronze serpent and place it on a pole and whomever these snakes bite, if they look upon the serpent on that pole they will be healed! If they didn’t, they would die and I am sure that for some, this was the most foolish thing ever, they needed a doctor not to look upon this bronze serpent on a pole! Those that refused did die! You see, there was no works involved in this, but just faith in what the Lord has said.
Now Jesus says that He will be lifted up, and bronze is a metal of judgment and sin will be judged on the cross. Thus, all who look upon Jesus will have the sting of death removed from their lives. If you reject Him, if you reject to look at Him, if you think it is foolish, you will die in your sins! You see, there is no works involved here!
Another point that we need to deal with is that some believe we have no assurance of our salvation, that we will not know if we are saved until we go to be with the Lord. I once again disagree, we can have full assurance of our salvation. Jesus tells us in John 5:24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” In John 6:47 Jesus tells us, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.” And in I John 5:13 John picks up on this and tells us, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
To me, that is a great comfort to know that I have eternal life, I don’t have to fear when I die if I have been good enough to enter in. You see, I can tell you right now, I am not good enough and you are not good enough and that is why Jesus has come, to cleanse us from our sins and we can have full assurance that we will enter in if He is our Lord and Savior. It is because of His faithfulness, because He has finished the work, I can have this assurance of my salvation and so can you!
Now some believe that the sacrifice of Jesus is offered continually for our sins in heaven, it is a perpetual sacrifice. But, once again, that is not what the Scriptures teach us. Paul, in Hebrews 9:24-28 tells us, “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another — He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”
Notice carefully that the sacrifice that Christ made for our sins was made only once because it fulfilled the requirement for our sin. Yes, the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament and in the New Testament times were offered daily because they could never take away a persons sin, they only covered their sin for a time, more of a ceremonially cleansing. But the blood of Christ has paid in full the penalty for our sin. That is Peter’s point in I Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”
And thus, it is not a perpetual sacrifice that Christ is making for us, He died once for our sins and we can appropriate that gift into our lives by faith, asking Jesus to be our Lord and Savior!
But does His shed blood truly cleanse us from our sins; does it remove that sin from our life? Yes it does! You see, in a positional sense, as the Father looks down upon us, He sees us as perfect, as white as snow. But, on a practical day-to-day level, we know we sin, but the blood of Christ covers it. Think about it, when Jesus died on the cross how many of your sins were future? All of them and Jesus died for all our sins, not just some of them, we can’t atone for our own sins!
Notice what David said in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Folks, David did not say as far as the north is from the south because that can be measured. He said as far as the east is from the west, they don’t meet and thus they can’t be measured and that is how far He has cast our sins away!
In Isaiah 38:17 we are told, “Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” Notice, if they are cast behind Him He can’t see them and that is the point! If that still doesn’t convince you, in Isaiah 43:25 we are told, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.” So God has taken our sins, He has cast them into the sea of forgetfulness, and has placed a sign there that reads, “No Fishing!”
You see, it is what Christ has done for us, He broke the power of sin in our life and folks, when you think about it, the only thing we brought to the table in regards to our salvation is our SIN! Not much to brag about! It is the Lord who cleanses us as white as snow. Let me explain it this way:
It was May 21, 1946. The place – Los Alamos. A young and daring scientist was carrying out a necessary experiment in preparation for the atomic test to be conducted in the waters of the South Pacific atoll [isle] at Bikini. He had successfully performed such an experiment many times before. In his effort to determine the amount of U-235 necessary for a chain reaction – scientist call it the critical mass – he would push two hemispheres of uranium together. Then, just as the mass became critical, he would push them apart with his screwdriver, thus instantly stopping the chain reaction. But that day, just as the material became critical, the screwdriver slipped! The hemispheres of uranium came too close together. Instantly the room was filled with a dazzling bluish haze. Young Louis Slotin, instead of ducking and thereby possibly saving himself, tore the two hemispheres apart with his hands and thus interrupted the chain reaction. By this instant, self-forgetful daring, he saved the lives of the seven other persons in the room. . . (A)s he waited for the car that was to take him to the hospital, he said quietly to his companion, “You’ll come through all right. But I haven’t the faintest chance myself.” It was only too true. Nine days later he died in agony. Nineteen centuries ago the Son of the living God walked directly into sin’s most concentrated radiation, allowed Himself to be touched by its curse, and let it take His life . . . But by that act He broke the chain reaction. He broke the power of sin.
- George Vandeman, Planet In Rebellion
That is what our Lord has done for us, He broke the power of sin in our life. He has cleansed us as white as snow!
The last point I want to deal with tonight deals with those who believe Jesus was not a scapegoat, He did not take our place on the cross for us, He did not receive the wrath of God upon Him, the wrath that I deserved, the wrath that you deserved. Again, that is not what the Scriptures are teaching us.
Remember one of the seven cries of Jesus from the cross of Calvary, “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which is translated, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” Mark 15:34. Why did Jesus say that? Because as the sins of the world were placed upon Jesus, my sins, yours sins, the sins of the world, the Father turned His face from the Son, fellowship was broken because God cannot look upon sin with favor, He does not approve and sin separates man from God! This was something that was never experienced between the Father and Jesus in eternity past and will never be experienced again in eternity! It is as Paul said in II Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us , that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” He became sin for us, He bore the sins of the world to cleanse us from our sin!
In Psalm 22, written by David some 1000 years before Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, gives to us a vivid picture of that day. It is a picture of Jesus as He hung on the cross looking down below at those that put Him there! The verse I want to focus on is verse 6 of Psalm 22, which says, “But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.”
Why in the world would Jesus, God Almighty, the creator of Heaven and Earth, call Himself a worm? Let me explain. The Hebrew word for “worm” is TOLAATH, (tolah’-ath) or a scarlet worm. This worm was used to dye the curtains of the tabernacle scarlet. To do that you had to crush this worm and as you did the scarlet would be released and the curtains could be dyed.
How does that relate to Christ? Think about it for a minute. Before the blood of Christ could cleanse us He had to be crushed for our sins. In Isaiah 53:5 we are told, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” Thus, as He was crushed for our sins His blood can now flow into our lives and it will cleanse us of all our sins if we apply it to our lives, if we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. It is as Isaiah 1:18 says, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.’”
This Tolaath or scarlet worm is very interesting because, when it is time for it to give birth do you know what it does? It will use its remaining strength to crawl up the side of a tree and will attach itself to the outer bark as it prepares to give birth.
Jesus, after He was scourged and beaten by the Roman soldiers, carried His cross through the streets of Jerusalem as far as He could go, with all of His strength as He was going up to Calvary. He carried that wood cross, that tree as He prepared to birth the church. But it does not end there!
As the young grow inside this Tolaath, they grow and grow and grow until finally the mother’s body swells so much that it bursts, killing the mother and leaving a dark red stain on the tree. The newborn young feed upon the remaining body of the deceased mother.
This again fascinates me because as Jesus hung upon the cross of Calvary, as He cried out before He gave up His spirit, TETELESTAI or “Paid in full!” or “It is finished!” As He died the Roman solider thrust a spear into His side and water and blood came out, the church was birthed and we now feed upon Jesus, the Bread of Life and as we do we grow and mature in Him. And as Jesus was taken down from the cross, there was that scarlet stain upon the cross that He left. It is as Peter tells us in I Peter 1:18-21, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
Yes, there is death, there is sorrow, there is blood that was shed, but without it new life could not have come forth as Jesus said in John 3:3-8, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’”
Thus, for all who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior you have entered into that abundant life with Him, you are saved! But what if you reject Jesus, what if you reject His finished work for you, what happens? In Isaiah 66:24 we are told, “And they shall go forth and look Upon the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” The Hebrew word for “worm” is also Tolaath but in this instance it does not die. Thus, instead of dying and giving birth, bringing forth life, it is a tormentor and it consumes the body of that person, his eternal body, and thus, that is a picture of Hell and Jesus spoke of it in Mark chapter 9!
And so every person has a choice to make for salvation is available to all, but not all will receive it, which is very sad. If you reject Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior then you allow the Tolaath to live forever and you will enter into Hell. But if you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior this Tolaath will cover you with His blood and nourish you in this life. Jesus became a worm for us so that we may live in Him!
Thus, it is the work of Christ that allows us into the presence of God. Paul tells us of this in Hebrews 10:19-22, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” The only way to the Father is through the Son, through Jesus and His atoning work that He has done for us!
In I John 2:2 we read, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this; “And He [that same Jesus Himself] is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours alone but also for [the sins of] the whole world.” In other words, the word “propitiation” speaks of the atoning sacrifice for our sins made by Jesus, He is our mercy seat and by His shed blood He has reconciled us back to God!
Folks, we are not saved by good works, but by the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary! We can have full assurance of our salvation because it is not based upon my faithfulness but upon the faithfulness of God! The sacrifice of Christ is not made continually but once for all sin! And we are not partially cleansed by His blood, by the work that He did, but we are cleansed as white as snow as our sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more! He took our place on that cross to pay in full the penalty for our sins and in that the Father was satisfied with the sacrifice! As I said before, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” II Corinthians 5:17.
Maybe you heard the story of the English soldier who was converted in the trenches during the First World War. He wrote home to his mother and said, “This war had to occur that I might be saved.” The mother showed the letter to her pastor, remarking that her boy was unduly magnifying the importance of his salvation. The pastor agreed with the boy and said, “Madam, not only this war, but Calvary had to occur to save your boy.” God used the wrath which raged both at Calvary and through that awful war experience to bring the lad to his Savior! What will it take you to come?
You see, that is what this is all about, what are you going to do about Jesus, who is He to you? I pray that He is your Lord and Savior, that you are drawn to Calvary! If you have not received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, ask Him to forgive you of your sins, to cleanse you and be Lord of your life and it is done, you are saved and now walk accordingly!
Folks, it is a very humbling experience to look at the pain, the shame, the suffering, all that He endured for me, a miserable, a wretched sinner, and yet, He did it because He loves me, He loves you. Don’t ever lose sight of that fact and remember Calvary, remember what the Lord did for you so that you can live in Him, so that you can have fellowship with the Father. Calvary had to occur to save us, don’t lose sight of that!