Sunday, March 23, 2008
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Good Friday/Easter Sunday
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wanted to post this on good friday. but it must have slipped off my mind or i must have been busy.
sermon on good friday.
Title: Are you the Son of God? by Rev Alvin Chan (for those who know him)
Luke 22:66-71
Jesus Before Pilate and Herod
(v66)At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. (v67)"If you are the Christ," they said, "tell us."
Jesus answered, "If I tell you, you will not believe me, (v68)and if I asked you, you would not answer. (v69)But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God."
(v70)They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?"
He replied, "You are right in saying I am."
(v71)Then they said, "Why do we need any more testimony? We hacve heard it from his own lips."
2 things to look out for:
1) did Jesus really say it?
2) why did Jesus say what he said?
1) Yes he did.
The soldiers asked him twice (v67, 70) and Jesus asked them in 2 different ways (v69, 70b).
2) why?
[why did Jesus say v67 - 68? cf to matt 21:23-27. If they believed that Jesus was the son of God, they wouldnt crusify him but instead worship him for they were so many prophecies abt 300< years before this and so much anticipation happening and about accuse him of blasphemy.]
this is a question that all christians should be able to answer. All christians must fully understand and mean it in his heart as this is the fundamental to our christian faith.
Mark 14:55 "The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidenc against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they could not find any."
Jesus knew that if he says he is the son of God, he will be put to death. He could just said no and get off scot-free. But why did he say that?
This is because God loved us so much, that he gave his one and only son to die for us
so that we do not have to die (eternal death in hell)for our sins.
"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did this to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Romans 3:23-26
"...,faith without deeds is dead." James 2:26
"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
So since God gave his all, how can we make a lesser sacrifice than to give Jesus our all? Our Lord's command is to "take up our cross daily" and learn what it means to follow in His footsteps. (Luke 9:23)
There was this story told that in Malaysia, the officers found a whole group of abt 50 christians worshipping God in a room. They all led into a room with no windows, nothing. After some time, the officer-in-change came into the room with a wooden cross in his hand, put the cross on the floor and said,"Im giving all of you this chance to get out scot-free. Just trample on this cross, and you are a free man."
So the 1st stood up, trampled, and went. So did the 2nd. The 3rd stood up, walked up to the cross, held the cross in her hands and said "How can i stoop so low and trample all upon the cross?" and she walked into the execution room. All the other 47 did the same and they all perished that day.
Another story was told in China, last time, a soldier handed a civillian a sword and asked "Are you a christian?" and he said yes. If a general was walking pass, he would have ordered that man to be killed. But the soldier asked him, "Why can you say that with so much conviction to the extent of losing your life?" He replied,"I have read about what Peter went through when he denied Jesus, and I dont want that to happen to me." The pastor didnt continue the story, but I think he got scot-free.
I think you get the point.
aaron chua thanked jesus at3:17 PM
