The Cost of Grace

By Pastor Bob Rasmussen

Good morning everyone and hello to those who are watching online on YouTube, Facebook, Roku, and Christian World Media.

This is the time of year that many Christians celebrate Easter, or as we like to call it, Resurrection Sunday. It is also a season where some people who are not sure about their faith or who have been away from church for a while might be seeking.

Many times, I assume that when I preach the Word, most people know most of what the bible is about. This week, I want to take a breath and examine the crucifixion and some things about it that I believe many people take for granted.

If you are new here this morning, joining us in person or online, we are going to look at the crucifixion more closely.

If you are like me, early on in my faith, I always had this question in my mind, and that was – Why did Jesus have to die?

I mean, He is God after all. He could part the Red Sea, he made manna, or food from heaven, just appear, and feed the Israelites for 40 years. Why could He just not say, it is forgiven?

Why did Jesus have to suffer so much? Why all the blood, why all the pain, and the sacrifice? The truth that I have discovered is that when we look at sin, it is far worse than we might have thought.

Sin is not just an oopsie daisy or a mistake or some moral accident. So what is it, according to the Word of God?

•  1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

The bible says that it is lawlessness.

• Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Sin is also rebellion. It is rebellion against God. Biblical rebellion is defined as willful opposition, defiance, or disobedience against God’s authority, Word, and established divine order. Rooted in pride, it is seen as a “heart issue” that often results in idolatry and a rejection of God’s sovereignty, frequently compared to the sin of divination.(Source – Bibledictionary.info)

• Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Here, the bible is saying that when we sin, we are hostile towards God.

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

I have heard this bit of scripture thrown around carelessly. It is something people say with a wink and a nod that the sin is actually not that bad – but the truth is – sin actually is!

Since Adam and Eve, way back in Genesis, when they ate the forbidden fruit. They were declaring their independence from God. That slippery snake told them they would not die, and they would be like God Himself. Making everything about themselves.

It was a big deal because sin entered the earth, and so did death.And this sin issue is an issue for all of us. The bible warns us all to pay attention.

• Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Sin is not some abstract thing. It is not passive. It is something that infects and destroys. Sin gets its hold and corrupts our desires, making us want what will actually harm us. And sin hurts relationships.

We lie to ourselves when we say, “Well, I am not hurting anybody.” You are, and not just yourself. It will destroy relationships and can even lead others to sin.

• Luke 17 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! 2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

If you read that in your bible with the red letters, that is Jesus Himself warning us that we lead others to sin, it is better to have a millstone on our neck and be dropped into the sea, dying and never to be seen again. If you think it would be hard to swim with a millstone hanging around your neck, you should think twice before tempting a child of God. And we are all his children.

And what we can see from this scripture as well, is that sin offends a Holy God. Yes, God is loving, but He is also Holy.

 

Isaiah 6:6 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

• Psalm 96:7 Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. 8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. 9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

Because God is holy, He cannot ignore sin. Because God is holy, He cannot excuse sin. Because Jesus is Holy, He cannot pretend that sin does not matter. If He did, He would cease to be Holy. If He just tolerated sin and evil, He would not be just, and He would not be Holy, amen?

And because He is all these things, He tells us there will be a reckoning.

• Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;  

And because of sin, there was a separation between God and His people, between God and you and I.

No amount of doing good deeds could bridge that gap. You could go to church every Sunday, every bible study, every Friday night service. You could live as close to a perfect moral compass as you can, but it would not be enough to break through that veil.

Everyone is a sinner. And look what the bible says here.

• Ephesians 2 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

The bible does not say that you were sick – you were dead.

The bible does not say you were hurt – you were dead.

The bible does not say misguided or well-intentioned – it says dead.

And if you are dead, you cannot save yourself….

I am reminded of something I have heard and found to be true. Sin will take you farther than you want to go. Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay. And sin will cost you more than you want to pay.

Sin makes promises of freedom, but ultimately, it results in bondage.

• John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

Sin may sound good, sin may feel good, sin may look good, but ultimately it will become your master.

And the issue with sin is that the righteousness of God, His holiness, requires justice. He cannot just forgive and forget. It is not that simple.

• Proverbs 17:15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.

The Lord cannot contradict Himself; He is perfect in everything. And if He is perfect in everything, He must be Just.

I would say what good is a judge in our system that lets criminals go free, but that happens now. And that does not work very well, does it?

So sin must be punished. There must be a penalty for sin that has to be paid. The justice of the Lord Himself absolutely must be satisfied.

Blood sacrifice in the Old Testament expressed the gravity of sin and the holiness of God.

• Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

This demonstrates that life is in the blood and that God has designated it for atonement, thereby clarifying that sin’s penalty is death. It also shows that only a life given could cover sin.

And the only life that would be acceptable would have been a perfect and sinless man, and that is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

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

Thank You, Lord, for your sacrifice for our sins and for our healing!

As I was contemplating all this week, I kept imagining what Jesus went through for us. We often say, “Jesus died for our sins,” but those words can become so familiar that we lose sight of the reality behind them and what it was like for Jesus.

• Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Medical experts have noted that Luke’s account—where Jesus’ sweat was like drops of blood—describes a rare condition called hematidrosis. This occurs when extreme psychological stress causes the capillary vessels feeding the sweat glands to rupture. The blood then mixes with sweat and exudes through the skin.

I sweat a lot this week, but not blood! So, as Jesus is praying, before the first lash was given, Jesus’ body was already under immense strain; His body was fighting the agony and fear of what would happen.

Why such agony? Because He knew what was coming—not just the physical pain, but the weight of the world’s sin. He would have to drink the cup of the Father’s wrath, a cup filled with every sin ever committed and would be committed.

Shortly after this, Jesus experiences something we all have in our life – betrayal.

• Matthew 26:47 And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. 49 And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. 50 And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus and took him.

I try to imagine what Jesus went through, and this betrayal by one of His own. He had poured into those 12 men during His ministry. He taught them, and they saw all of His healings and miracles.

Everything He had done, and Judas just throws it away for 30 pieces of silver. The disciples fled, and even Peter denied even knowing Jesus not once, but three times.

Imagine the loneliness, imagine for a moment the disappointment. The pain of their rejection and how that must have felt. He loved them, yet when the time came, they rejected Him.

And after Jesus went through a series of trials, it was time for His punishment.

One of the things that Jesus endured for you and me was a crown of thorns, a mockery of who He was.  These were some serious thorns. We have this crown of thorns as an example. I can attest that the thorns are sharp. I can attest that I got one in my finger, and it hurt. But that is not what Jesus experienced.

The Roman soldiers pressed this down on His head, driving the thorns through His scalp, causing immense pain, and because of the way the human scalp is, there would have been profuse bleeding.

As Jesus went through more of His suffering, this crown was on His head. Imagine any time it was moved or pressure applied, more pain, more blood, and a constant reminder of the mockery of who He was.

Then Jesus experienced the next phase of punishment, which was the Roman scourging. Scourging was designed to bring a man to the brink of death without killing him. The whip, called a flagrum, consisted of multiple leather thongs weighted with jagged pieces of bone and lead.

I have a whip, not a flagrum here. It is fake and not weighted like the original Roman tool, because that would be weird.

The Romans, they were a very brutal bunch of soldiers. Most of them probably would have been happier back home with their families. I know when I was deployed I felt that way. And the Romans, they were very good at what they did. The soldiers in Judea were hardened men serving frontier duty, used to an extreme level of violence.

With every strike, the leather wrapped around the torso, and the metal tore into the skin and subcutaneous tissue. As the whipping continued, it shredded the skeletal muscles, producing torn ribbons of flesh.

Jewish law said a man should only be whipped 39 times, we do not know how many stripes Jesus was given, it does not say.  Typically, for the Romans, it was up to whoever was in charge; it could have been more or less. Regardless, it was absolutely brutal how they scourged Him.

• John 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

At any moment, Jesus could have said, ” You know what, this is too much”. At any moment, He could have ended the Romans with just a Word, but He chose love. He chose each and every one of us as he took that beating, and for everything else that was going to happen. His love was so deep for us, He endured it all!

After the brutal beating, Jesus was forced to carry the patibulum, the horizontal beam of the cross, which weighs roughly 100 pounds. Imagine Him, bleeding, in pain, the loss of blood, trying to drag this thing He would be nailed to. People were yelling as he went on this death march, mocking Him. Imagine the anguish, the fear, the utter sense of loneliness of this moment – every step a cost for Grace.

At Golgotha, the soldiers drove iron spikes through His wrists and feet. These nails would have crushed the median nerve, the primary nerve in the hand, causing “bolts of fire” to shoot up His arms. Again, these were hardened soldiers who did this all the time. As they placed him on the cross, I am sure they were not gentle. Did His crown of thorns get smashed deeper?

I imagine they treated Jesus like some piece of meat, holding His arms out without a care in the world. And when they drove those spikes in, how many times did they hit our Savior’s arms and feet? Each strike was delivered like a judgment. Each strike for the price of mercy and grace for you and me. And then He went up – the pain, unimaginable

Crucifixion was essentially a slow death by suffocation. To draw a breath, Jesus had to push up on the nail in His feet to allow His lungs to expand. This movement scraped His raw, ripped back against the rough-textured wood of the cross. Every breath was an act of excruciating labor. Every word He spoke from the cross— the seven sayings on the cross—required a monumental effort of will and physical agony. How he did any of that amazes me.

And after hanging on that cross with the weight of the sin of the world on Him, receiving our punishment, Jesus said this.

• John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Jesus did not die as a martyr. Jesus did not die to be an example. Jesus died as a substitute. He took your place. He took my place. He bore all of our guilt on that cross. He carried our shame and sorrow, and He took our punishment.

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That is the cost of mercy. That is the cost of grace. That is the love of Jesus Christ for the whole world.

There is good news, Jesus gets the victory. Pastor Jeff is preaching on the resurrection next week. But I think it is so important to understand God’s wrath against sin that we may be fully amazed at God’s mercy at the cross, amen?

• Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.