We welcome you to the We Are Zion sermon podcast.
We are a church based out of Chennai, India.
We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will
be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.
Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of
purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.
The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess
our promise. This Good Friday we look at
Jesus, our substitute who took our place on the cross.
It should have been us, but he bore it for all our sakes.
How do you look at the cross today?
Does it bring remembrance of all that Jesus has done for you or
have you become immune and apathetic to it?
High Church, what a joy it is to bring God's word to you on this
very Good Friday. You know, whenever we celebrate
Good Friday, I think the world, those who don't know Jesus,
don't know about what he has done for us sometimes wonder why
we celebrate on this Friday. They say, well, it's such a sad
day, how are you celebrating? But we know that this day marks
God's victory through his Son Jesus over sin and death.
It is such a victorious day. We have every reason to
celebrate and you know, I want to really bring our focus today
to the cross because that is the epicenter of where everything
changed. That is the epicenter of
transformation for us. That's where we actually
experience something so life transformative and life changing
that we have never been the same again.
And I was reading the story about this French policeman
called Arnold Beltram. And he became world famous
because he stood his ground against a terrorist who had
actually stormed into a shop, taken people hostage, killed a
couple of people, had some homemade bombs.
And he was just on the verge of creating a lot of harm.
And Arnaud was the policeman in charge who entered that place.
And actually, when it came to a stand off where the the
terrorists had actually taken a woman cashier as his hostage.
And he was, you know, you know, holding her at gunpoint as a
body shield. And the amazing thing that
Arnaud did, which the whole world heard about through media,
was that he said he would exchange himself for that
hostage. He said, you let her go, you can
hold me as a body shield. And in the ensuing scuffle of
what happened, the the hostage went free.
She was safe. But Arnold Beltrum ended up shot
and stabbed multiple times and didn't make it.
And I wonder if that hostage remembered that.
I'm sure she remembers the day. But whenever she sees a picture
of Arnold Beltrum, I wonder if she wonders.
That should have been me. That should have been me.
He took her place and this is such an inadequate example of
what Jesus did, but it helps us better understand the magnitude
of what Jesus did. When we look at the cross, what
do we think? Is it just a fashion symbol?
Is it just a, is it just this a symbolic thing that we wear
around our necks or carry on our bags or have as a, as a profile
picture? But do we actually understand
all that it symbolises for us? Do we realise that whenever I
look at the cross, I'm saying that should have been me on it.
That cross should have worn me. And so today I've titled my
sermon. It should have been me.
You know, Jesus is sacrifice,
perfect sacrifice on that cross. The way he was harassed,
brutalized, traumatized, attacked, made to suffer in
dignities of all kind, and then paraded through the city of
Jerusalem and then taken to the outskirts and hung on the cross
at Calvary. All of that was actually a
substitute for the sacrificial system that was just steeped in
Jewish culture. You know, they had these Rams
and goats and pigeons, and based on your economic status, you
could go and sacrifice something.
Jesus was the substitute for that sacrificial system.
But if I have to bring it into today, right where we are at
Jesus death on the cross was a substitute for each one of us.
We deserve to be punished for the sins we have committed.
We deserve that indignity for the way we have harboured sin,
for the way we have perpetrated sin against others.
But yet it was Jesus who stood in on our behalf instead of us.
He took the brunt of the punishment.
He offered us mercy. Mercy is the withholding of
punishment. He showed us grace, unmerited
favour. We didn't deserve this favour.
And yet because of this act on the cross, today you and I who
call on Jesus get to call the Father God, our very own ABBA
Father. We now have access to him
because of what Jesus did on the cross.
Isn't it amazing? And today we're going to be
looking at Isaiah 53 to understand better what it looks
like when we say it should have been me.
This is not some self pitying statement, it's a realistic
statement. It's to better understand how
Jesus was a substitution for you and me.
So let's read Isaiah 53 reading from the NIV version.
It says who has believed our message and to whom has the arm
of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a
tender shoe and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in
his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind.
A man of suffering and familiar with pain, like one from whom
people hide their faces. He was despised and we held him
in low esteem. This definition, it starts off
with the arm of the Lord. And generally when the arm of
the Lord is mentioned in Scripture, it indicates power,
it indicates might, it indicates the supernatural elements of who
God is. And yet the lines after that
reveal the very human side of Jesus.
He says he was ordinary, nothing much to look at.
He was despised, He was afflicted, He was rejected.
People didn't actually look at him.
You wouldn't take a second glance at him.
And it's talking about how Jesus is the source of unlikely power.
Who would have thought this man is truly the Messiah?
Well, he called himself that. He attested that He was the one
promised in Isaiah 61, but no one really believed it.
They took the miracles, they took the signs, they took the
healing, but I don't think it sank into them as to the
magnitude of who He really was. Verse 4 Surely he took up our
pain and bore our suffering, Yet we considered Him punished by
God, stricken by Him and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his
wounds we are healed. Look at the the usage of the
word our He took up our pain. He was pierced for our
transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His
wounds we are healed. Do you see that transference
which is happening there? It was my pain, it was my shame,
it was my suffering, it was my transgression, it was my
iniquity. But He took it up on my behalf
because I couldn't bear it. You wouldn't be able to bear it.
The weight of our sins is so much that we couldn't have borne
it. And so Jesus bore it on himself.
He was the substitute. He was the substitute.
And if you notice that He didn't just step in, He took it up.
It was actually an active taking up of what actually belonged to
us. He took up, crushed, pierced.
Punishment was on him. He actually stepped in and took
everything that we deserved unto Him.
And that's what a substitutionary sacrifice really
looks like. Jesus stepped in.
We could step down from that place.
He bore it all. Verse 6.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray.
Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on
him the iniquity of us all. This is the human condition.
The best of us cannot assume that we won't wander.
Everyone of us are prone to wander.
Everyone of us, every last one of us.
The the default state of our mind is to wander.
The default state of our heart is to wander.
And so He says, because of that inherent condition of all
mankind, He laid on Jesus. The iniquity of all of us was
seven. He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet He did not open His mouth. He was like a lamb led to the
slaughter. And as a sheep before a Shearer
is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgement He was taken away.
Yet who of His generation protested, For He was cut off
from the land of the living. For the transgression of my
people, He was punished, oppressed, afflicted.
All of these adjectives, right? They indicate heavy pain.
They experience. They're they're expressing to us
an experience of pain and suffering.
And I'm sure you're able to relate to at least one of these.
You're probably gone through pain.
You've probably had a bit of suffering.
Maybe you've been oppressed. Maybe you've felt afflicted.
And here was someone who felt all of that and took it off of
us and laid it on himself. He bore it in silence and with
humility. Isn't that amazing?
Verse 9. He was assigned a grave with the
wicked and with the rich. In his death, though he had done
no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth, yet it was the
Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer.
And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he
will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will
of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
This sinless Jesus came as a rabbi was the Messiah, the one
promised. 1 The Saviour of the world was allowed by his
heavenly Father to walk this road of suffering, so that the
joy set before him was that he would gather many children unto
him. We, those of us, have said yes
to Jesus. Those of us have brought him
into our lives, into our hearts are the ones he talks about as
his offspring. So this was the aim of all of
what Good Friday is about. It wasn't for the moment, it
wasn't a short term gain. It wasn't to display Jesus, you
know, humility or sacrifice. Well, all of that was there.
It was for a larger purpose. The purpose was the salvation of
the world, salvation of all who believed.
Verse 11 after he had suffered, He will see the light of life
and be satisfied by his knowledge.
My righteous servant will justify many and he will bear
their iniquities. Look at how he's communicating
what was going to be achieved. He would die, He would suffer,
and yet he would see the light of life.
He's talking about the resurrection and he's saying
that this servant, this righteous servant, Jesus the
righteous servant, will justify many.
All our credits, all our accounts are credited fully.
We are counted as righteous because of what Jesus did.
He will justify us and bear our iniquities.
This is the purpose of what happened on that Friday 2000 odd
years back. This was the purpose, the
justification of all mankind. Because you know, on our own we
cannot justify anything. We can try to justify our
actions, but it will not add up. But Jesus blood shed on that
cross justified everyone. Verse 12.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he
will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out
his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors,
for he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors. The rewards that Jesus received
was eternal. Did the Son of God receive
rewards? Yes, because it says His name is
higher than every other name and that the name of Jesus, every
knee will bow on heaven and on earth.
This was the exaltation and the glorification which Jesus
received because of the obedience that He had and
displayed. The submission to the Father
exalted and glorified Him to the highest name ever.
And so this is how we, when we look at the the culmination of
this chapter, all of it was lived out on that Friday, that
day when Jesus was crucified, when Jesus was tortured, he was
crucified. He was made a spectacle.
But what was actually happening was this huge substitution was
taking place. He was standing there instead of
you and me. He was standing there instead of
every man, woman and child of that time.
He was standing there as a substitution for everyone who
had gone before him. He was standing there to say, I
have now stepped in. You don't bear the brunt of what
you've done. I will.
And that's the beauty of being a substitute.
You know, none of us can be a substitute for anyone else.
You know, I remember during COVID, all our children were
online and each of them were struggling with different
subjects and being at home watching, I was juggling, you
know, going between 3 systems, making sure all of them were
logged in, all of them were getting there, you know,
finishing up their work. I remember there was a time when
all of them were having tests and one of our children hadn't
prepared for a test. And I remember so desperately
trying to coach the child before the test and but no matter what
I could do, I couldn't substitute for him.
I could see the child needing help, but I couldn't take his
place and answer the questions. I couldn't step up and be for
him what only he could be for himself.
And I realise just as we grow our children up, as we do our
lives as married couples, as we are children of ageing parents,
or whatever your role in life is, I cannot substitute for
anyone else. And I realise with greater
gratitude than ever before that Jesus, what you did for me is
unbelievable. No one can stand in for anyone
else the way Jesus did for me. So if you are today standing in
this place of trying to be a bridge for someone, if you're
trying to be a Redeemer for someone, you cannot, we cannot
redeem anything. You're trying to be someone's
saviour. You cannot because we already
have all of that in Jesus. We have all of that in him.
And I just want to encourage you that when we look at Jesus, we
don't look at him anymore as on the cross.
But when I look at the cross, I remember that it should have
been me on that cross, but it was Jesus instead.
And he stood in for me and achieved for me what I could
never have achieved for myself. And today when you go through
suffering and pain and shame and torment, you probably think,
well, if Jesus took it all on the cross, why am I still going
through it? Well, this is the side effects
of living in a broken world. All of these things will happen
to us. They will touch our lives.
We will walk through it. But it's beautiful because I
believe that so much good comes out of all of the hard stuff.
And that is because of the hands of the Redeemer on us.
I believe that from all our afflictions, God can save us
because He is our Saviour. I believe that he can wash us
clean and make us pure because He is the one who refines us.
He's the one who consecrates us. I believe that from the ailments
we go through, we can experience healing.
I believe that our inner man can be healed from the stuff that
has afflicted us for years because He is our healer.
But the important thing to realise is that when I say it's,
it's all about him. I really need to stop making it
so much about me. It should have been me.
If that is your resonating chorus when you look at the
cross, let us also change the narrative to say it should have
been me. But it isn't.
It wasn't. It was Jesus.
But we need to go to the next stage where we don't make it all
about ourselves. Sometimes we tend to say, oh
wow, this life is so hard. This is written on my forehead.
This is my life. This is what I meant to carry
this hardship, this suffering, this pain.
It seems to follow me around. It seems to have my name on it.
It should have been me, but it wasn't.
And I don't get to make it all about me.
I have to make it all about the one who did it for me.
I need to make it all about Jesus.
I'm not the hero of my story. I'm not a Redeemer of anyone.
I'm not a saviour for anyone. I'm not the atonement for
anyone. I can't be paying the price for
someone else's sins. I cannot even pay the price for
my own sins. And that's when I come to the
one who actually did take my place, the one who substituted
for me. You know, when I make everything
about myself, it's so easy to make our stories about
ourselves. Oh well, I'm self-made this.
I achieved it on my own. The minute we start doing that,
we take the divinity out of the substitution that happened on
the cross. What happened that day was a
divine moment. Jesus was 100% human, but he was
100% God. He was perfect.
And yet in that complete weakness, he submitted and
surrendered himself to what God had allowed.
And so today I want us to look at the cross with fresh eyes.
I want us to look at the cross for what it really is.
Because Jesus very clearly told his disciples way before he got
crucified. He said take up your cross and
follow me, right? This is what he said.
And I want to ask you, what have you been taking up?
Many times it feels heavy. So if we assume it's a cross,
but sometimes sin can feel heavy, guilt can feel heavy,
shame can feel heavy. The labels people have put on us
can feel heavy. The labels we have put on
ourselves can feel heavy. The dysfunction that we have
allowed into our lives can feel heavy.
And maybe it's time that we need to come and lay down some of
these things so that we can actually take up the cross.
I remember last year teaching about how the cross symbolizes
our weighty assignments. The Kingdom assignment that is
marked for everyone of God's children is weighty.
It's heavy. We cannot carry it on our own,
which is why he says, take my yoke upon you, learn from me.
He says he cares for us and he shares the load, which is why we
need Jesus so much because this assignment is all about him.
It's all about him needing us to to help a hurting world.
But I want to bring us back to something more when it comes to
the cross. Every time you look at the
cross, I want you to understand there are certain things that
are implied about this cross because the cross will change
your life. When we keep the cross of Jesus
in in the forefront, it changes so many things.
Many times we we emphasize on the cross and not the the
command that Jesus gave off. He says take up your cross.
When I take up something, I have to lay down something.
What are you willing to lay down?
Are you willing to lay down the baggage that you have assumed
you needed to carry? Are you willing to lay down the
identity that you have assumed for yourself and take up the
cross? But it doesn't end up with end
up with just you taking your cross.
You need to follow Jesus because the one we follow is so much
more important than what we carry.
So the weighty Kingdom assignment is very, very heavy.
But I want us to be challenged today to do 4 things to
understand the cross and take it up for four reasons.
Because when you take the cross up, the first thing is the cross
is a separator. What does that mean?
What does it mean? The cross is a separate?
I want to read from Hebrews chapter 13 verses 11 to 13.
It says the high priest carries the blood of animals into the
most holy place as a sin offering, but the bodies are
burnt outside the camp and so Jesus also suffered outside the
city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
Let us then go to him outside the camp bearing the disgrace he
bore. The cross is a separator,
meaning there was there is no way if you're carrying your
cross, you will fit in with the crowd.
There is no way when you're living the way Jesus wanted you
to live, the narrow way that you will be able to do the things
that everyone else is doing. You will not be able to attest
to their lifestyle choices. You won't be able to do the
things that they are saying is OK.
It will separate you from the madding crowd.
It will set you apart. The whole of last year our team
was set apart being consecrated and and each of us in our church
experienced a kind of refining so that he actually set us
apart. He actually moved us away from
what was fancy, what was comfortable, what was famous
into what was now seclusion. And was it lonely?
Was it hard? Yes.
So many times when I go for youth retreats, the question is
asked when you know, they know we are Christians.
They don't invite us out for, you know, drinking parties and
things. And you know, all we, we as
youth leaders always have these, you know, bad answers that we
give. But I remember reading this once
before a youth and I asked them, do you really think that Jesus
wants you to be part of the in crowd or would you be OK to let
Jesus suffer outside the gate alone?
Would you be OK in a bit of loneliness?
Because it's interesting. God will arrange for encounters
in those moments of being separated.
God will arrange for you to be nurtured and to be a nurturer
even in those moments of separation.
The cross will bring separation. You know, too many of us are
dying to be included. We want to be part of every
conversation. We want to be part of every
catch up. I want to encourage you that if
your faith, your convictions, your lifestyle cause you to be
evicted, cause you to be excluded, it's OK.
Because the cross is a separator.
Because once you choose to identify with Christ alone, once
you choose to live in a way that glorifies Him, once you choose
the narrow way, you will find that your delight is for the 1.
And so many times you'll find that you're the only one.
And that's OK. That's OK.
Why are we so desperate to be loved by everyone when we were
created for the enjoyment of the One?
God will separate you from certain people in certain
seasons. There are some seasons where the
whole crowd cannot come with you.
He will actually remove certain people from your life so that
you can be faithful to the calling, faithful to the path He
has cut out for you. He could separate you from
certain family members whose views are toxic, whose thoughts
are toxic, whose ideas are not biblical, whose ways would
grieve the Holy Spirit. He may remove those people for a
season, 4 seasons to come. And that's OK.
Because the cross, first of all, is a separator.
The second thing that the cross is, is a connector.
Isn't that, you know, it feels a little more comfortable.
Separator feels hard but connector.
Hebrews 13 verses 15 to 16. It says through Jesus.
Therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of
praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess His name, and do
not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such
sacrifices God is pleased. The cross is a point of the
greatest of joy, greatest of peace and greatest of connection
because others who are carrying the cross of Jesus, others who
are choosing the way of Christ, just connect with you over the
cross. It's amazing because when we
travelled abroad, we went to study with the children and we
were in the US for a year, we were in Australia for a year and
many times we would just be in common areas.
We wouldn't even be in Bible college, we wouldn't even be in
church, but we would just be outside and someone would just
look at us and they would talk to us, find out they're
Christian. And I remember our oldest son
being prophesied to in a, in a, it was in Walmart or Kroger's, I
don't remember. There was this man who just
walked in. He saw children and then he just
pointed Caleb out and said, can I prophecy over him?
He just looked at us. He said, are you guys believers?
We said yes. And he went ahead.
We were in the middle of of a, a shop, of a store, of a grocery
store. The connector was Jesus.
The connector was the cross of Jesus.
And so you may feel excluded, secluded, isolated, because the
cross is a separator. But the beautiful thing is the
cross is a connector. So it will connect you and me to
the people who we need to be widely connected to in this
season. He will connect us to people who
are also carrying the cross, who are also counting the cost, who
are also leaving behind the things that that attach itself
to their flesh and who are pursuing hard with God for God.
It's amazing because thanks to the work of Jesus on the cross,
even every time we have communion, when we celebrate the
table of the Lord, I love that all of us standing at church,
we're about, you know, so many of us from different parts of
the country, different language barriers.
None of it matters when we hold the elements in our hand because
that unites us across every kind of cultural, social, economic
barrier that could ever exist. This unites us.
And so the cross is a connector. The cross is a connector.
I remember when we lived in the US, we had, we lived on, on
campus in the Bible college and just across from our house.
We had Egyptians living there. We had people from north from
South Korea. We had people living from Ghana.
And just to to go out into the lawn, I would take the kids out
and to just gather with them. Lot of them didn't know the same
languages. They were people from South
America, Central America. All we connected over was the
fact that Jesus had brought us here, that Jesus was doing a
work in US, and that we were all going to take his name back into
our countries. That's all.
But I just want to tell you that that connection is actually so
deep. It's so authentic.
And I want to encourage you that the cross is a connector.
It is not only separation, it's also connection.
The third thing about the cross is that's a perfector.
What does that look like? I know that's a bad word.
We all hate the word perfection, but the cross is the perfector.
What does that mean? Hebrews 10 verses 12 to 14 it
says. But when this priest had offered
for all time 1 sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right
hand of God. And since that time he waits for
his enemies to be made his footstool.
For by 1 sacrifice he has made for a perfect forever those who
are being made holy. What an interesting verse.
For by 1 sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are
being made holy. You know, a lot of us like to
talk about how we're perfectionists.
Oh, I'm a perfectionist with how I keep my house or the way I
work or but honestly, you know, it's I feel like that's just a
bit of vanity on our part because anything that we call
perfectionism, anything that we attest as perfect is still
flawed. It isn't God's design.
God's design is so different and only God's design can be
considered perfect. Anything we call perfect becomes
imperfect. And So what is this perfection?
It is a high standard that only God can reach and only Jesus
lived a perfect life. But the beautiful thing is
through situations, through people, through the world,
through the the torment, the suffering, the trials that we go
through, God starts to shape us. He got God starts to mould us
and we become more and more like Jesus, his Son.
We grow in holiness, we grow in holiness and ultimately when we
reach eternity, we have been perfected forever.
The goal is not perfection here. The goal is to grow in holiness.
The goal is to stay pliant in the hands of God so that the
Holy Spirit can shape us into His likeness, into the Son's
likeness. That is the aim.
The perfection that God desires is such a high bar.
If I was to start to consider that, I would give up before I
even began. And which is why the job of
perfection is done by the Holy Spirit, the agent of renewal,
the one who's working on me, who's teaching me how to speak,
who's teaching me how to respond, who's teaching me to
keep quiet, who's teaching me to verbalize.
We are a work in progress. But the cross reminds me.
The cross reminds me that Jesus is the author and perfector of
my faith, not me. So often we see our children
behave a certain way. You know, those of us who are
parents of teenagers, preteens, we see certain things in their,
you know, their, their traits, the way they behave.
And you feel embarrassed. You think, wow, where did that
come from? Where did that trait arrive
from? And we try to shape it
outwardly. We try to control the
circumstances. We try to control the things
they say in response to certain circumstances.
And you find as they get older, you really aren't aren't in
control of anything. We cannot perfect anything.
If you're someone who likes to bake, you probably found this
recipe you like. You keep doing it till you
perfect it. You find that you still are in
pursuit of this for the rest of your life because nothing ever
reaches real perfection. But the cross is a perfecter.
Because the minute I take up my cross, the minute I walk in a
complete surrender to God, the minute I'm walking in obedience
to Him, the Spirit of God comes alongside me.
He who is within me is working all things so that I am being
shaped, I am being made holy. I am being made pure.
He burns the impurities of me through the refiners fire.
He washes me like launderer soap with his word, with his
convicting power and perfects me.
Isn't that amazing? The cross is the perfecter.
Hebrews chapter 10 verses 12 to 14, it says when this priest had
offered for all time 1 sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the
right hand of God. And since that time he waits for
his enemies to be made his footstool.
By 1 sacrifice he is made perfect forever those who are
being made holy. I'm reading it again so that you
understand that under Christ's feet everything has already been
placed. He is sovereign, He is supreme,
but we are still heading there. We are still a work in progress
and as much as He is perfect, he's drawing us in to holiness.
Maybe you feel you're in a season of being disciplined by
God. He is a faithful God even in
discipline. He's righteous.
He is. Just don't shun his discipline
because he's perfecting. Maybe you're going through a sea
feel a season of being ground in a grinder.
You feel like God. The the attack doesn't stop the
the the assignment feels heavier than ever.
But I want to encourage you, the crosses are perfect and God is
not done with you yet. God is not done with you yet.
Starting today, I want you to look at what you're going
through and understand every encounter, every situation,
every problem, every success is a moment by moment training in
holiness. The fourth thing about the
cross, why we must take up our cross and follow him is that the
cross is the equiper verse. Hebrews chapter 13 verses 20 to
21 says, Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of
the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, equip you with
everything good for doing his will.
And may he work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus
Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Maybe you sometimes wonder, God. Will I finish well?
Will I do all the things I was created to do?
Will I fall by the wayside? Will I give in to sin?
Will I give in to doubt? Will I lose my faith?
Will I hold on to hope? There's so many things I need to
grapple with. This is the consolation that the
cross is the equiper. When I am carrying the cross of
Jesus, when I have chosen his way, when I've chosen the narrow
path, when I am choosing Jesus again and again, when I keep my
eyes fixed on him, He equips me for the life that He's given me.
He equips me with the ability to do the things I'm required to do
in taking up the cross. We're able to actually live the
life marked out for us. You know, many times we because
we haven't fully joined the narrow way, we haven't entered
through the narrow gate. We think anything goes.
I can live however I want it's not a big deal.
Who cares Everyone lives like this, everyone takes bribes,
everyone's having extramarital affairs.
So why not me? Why do I have to be held to a
higher standard. We disqualify ourselves.
We lower the bar for ourselves, but God is calling us into a
place of carrying this cross on a daily basis.
He doesn't say take up the cross once a month and follow me.
He says take up your cross daily because when I take the cross
for of Jesus today, it strengthens me for today.
It gives me capacity for today. It gives me the ability to think
and process the things I need to do for today.
It enables me to actually accept what God is allowing in my life
to take it and sometimes just make lemonade with the lemons
given. All of that is because he's in
me, willing me, enabling me to do the things I'm created to do.
When we lay down the things you know that we thought was safe,
when we when we give up stuff that's been holding us down,
when we lay down the things that have weighed us down for too
long, you'll actually tend to feel a bit vulnerable and and
exposed. But the beautiful thing is when
Jesus says, lay it all down, what you take up equips you for
the road ahead. You are not left vulnerable.
You are not left alone and isolated.
But God equips you with his presence.
He equips you with his promises. He equips you with your with his
people. You're never alone.
So whatever the season looks
like, I want to just encourage you with this.
The cross has to remind you that it should have been you, but
it's not. It was him.
So don't make it about you, make it about him.
Make it about him what you are walking through.
Make it about him. God, what is it you want me to
do with this situation instead of making it all about yourself?
Will you start to live set apart because it's a separator?
Will you start living more connected to Him and His people?
Would you start living a life that is growing in holiness
because the cross is a perfector?
And will you start moving forward with confidence because
the cross is an equiper, It equips you for all that is
ahead. Sometimes those who follow Jesus
act like it's such a hard thing because, well, you know, our
options are so limited. Can I just encourage you, as
someone who's followed the Lord for about 30 years now, it is
the most freeing life ever. Are we devoid of stress?
No. Are we devoid of problems?
Not at all. But the freedom that we find in
this relationship with Him, the freedom that we have to be the
one He created us to be, the freedom I have to change for His
delight, is unparalleled. It is not a confined life.
The narrow way is actually deceptively narrow.
It's so narrow, we take it, but you find that your life is
infinitely more blessed. And so I want to encourage you
in church today. We're going to be having
communion. And I wanted to read the
Scripture then, but I'm going to read it for you just to give you
a glimpse of what Jesus actually suffered for you and for me.
It should have been us, but it wasn't.
Isaiah 52, verses 12 to 15. See, my servant will act wisely.
He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted, just as
there were many who were appalled at him.
His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and is far marred beyond human likeness.
So He was sprinkling many nations and kings will shut
their mouths because of him. For what they were not told they
will see, and what they've not heard they will understand.
I want you to look at that again.
His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and is found marred beyond human likeness.
Maybe you say you have been so badly shaken up.
Maybe you say I've been so deeply marred.
Maybe I've been so traumatized. God is saying that Jesus knows
Jesus stood in for you. Nothing you and I have walked
through on this earth. Nothing, absolutely nothing is
beyond what Jesus endured for us on the cross.
He was the perfect substitute. And look at the confidence we
have. He has sprinkled many nations.
He has shut the mouth of kings. It's not just earthly rulers
he's talking about. He's talking about
principalities and powers have to shut their mouth because of
the blood of the Lamb, which was sprinkled over the earth through
Jesus. Even as we get into a time of
just quietly looking into ourselves and saying, Lord,
where have I become so complacent that I fit in into
the world? Where have I become so caught up
with living how I chose that I forgot that my task, my calling
is to take up the cross daily and follow you?
Where have I made this life about myself, my needs, my
desires, my appetites, instead of what you wanted?
God, could we spend a minute? And even as we just Mull over
that, I'm just going to pray over you.
I'm going to pray that you will begin to experience Jesus and
all His goodness and all His glory.
But today he is no longer marred and beyond recognition.
Today he sits on the throne, the King of all kings, the Judge of
all judges, Ruler of all the earth, Creator of the heavens
and the earth, the one who holds the world's with the word of his
mouth, the one who sends his word and heals, the one who
comes to fight for us. He rides a White Horse.
He is righteous and true. From his mouth comes a sword.
He slays his enemies with the breath of his mouth.
This is the God who sits on the throne.
He's alive. He delights in you and me.
He died for us even before we made a choice to follow him.
That's how great His love for us is.
And God, I just pray that you would enable us.
You would enable us to take up our cross daily and follow you.
God, I pray for those who have rejected the separation that
you're trying to bring. I pray in submission they will
allow you to do what you have to do.
I pray for those, Lord, who are longing for the right connection
at this time. I pray that God, you would bring
into their lives those who are choosing to carry their cross,
that you would surround them with those who you have marked
for them in the season. God, I pray at this time for
those who need the refining of heaven upon their lives.
I pray, O God, that You will begin to do that great and
mighty work within them without them.
I pray that you would strengthen hearts, Lord, through the
sifting, through the shaking, that God, you will preserve
them. And Lord, I just pray right now
for those who feel ill equipped, at a disadvantage, inadequate.
God, I thank you that the cross equips us for all that's ahead.
I thank you that they are not alone.
I thank you that they stand with boldness because you are within
them. We thank you, we love you, We
thank you, Lord, that it should have been us, but it wasn't.
Forgive us when we have made it about ourselves.
Forgive us, Lord, when we have thought this story required me,
the hero in it. Forgive me.
We thank you God, for you are the one that we follow.
Help us God, to just obey and submit and run behind you.
I love you. In your precious name I pray.
Amen. Amen.
God bless you as you head into this weekend.
I just pray that you will keep Jesus at the focus, that you
have two more days to just really lean and ask Jesus, you
know what, I've got the rest of the year to run.
I want to run. Well, God, show me yourself.
Show me your face. I believe it's a great place to
begin. The cross can be a great place
of meditation. Ask God to show you where you
have discounted the cross. Show.
Ask Him to show you where you haven't picked up your cross.
And I pray that this weekend would be one that's full of
victory, full of joy, full of celebration.
God bless you. Thanks for listening to this
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