Cross, Resurrection and the Gospel of God

Where In the Bible: Latter chapters of the Gospels, unpacked in the Epistles

In the previous sermon, we saw that Jesus had come into the world as the Son of God to make all things right, proclaiming God’s perfect kingdom. The sermon follows on by looking at what Jesus did to fix the problems we are facing, and how we can respond to this now. In Mark 10:45, Jesus explained that he had come to give his life as a ransom for many. The death of Jesus on the cross is at the heart of why he came. He died as a substitute, in our place and for our sins. Sin had caused a rift in our relationship with God, and this needed to be dealt with. On the cross, Jesus took that sin upon himself, and in his death he faced the punishment that we were due. In exchange, his perfectly righteous life is accredited to us as a gift, and God sees us as perfectly righteous. As well as the death of Jesus covering our sin, Jesus also gives us the power to live a new and righteous life by his resurrection. We share with him in his risen life and are born again, empowered to live the kind of life that we never could by our own strength.

Jesus Died to Reconcile Us to God (Mark 15:33-39): The death of Jesus was no ordinary death. On the surface he was crucified by the Romans (in collaboration with the Jewish leaders) for proclaiming a subversive message of a new kingdom. As Jesus was being crucified, however, there were a number of strange happenings, all of which point to something far more profound and significant taking place than first met the eye. To start with, the land went dark between noon and 3pm (v33). This is something that the Old Testament associates with the day of God’s judgement (see Amos 8:9 and Zephaniah 1:15). As Jesus died on the cross, the judgement of God was taking place. This is further backed up by the cry of Jesus – ‘Eloi, Eloi, Lema Sabacthani’ (my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?). In choosing the opening of Psalm 22 to cry out, Jesus is no doubt bringing the whole Psalm to mind, including the hope for the future that it expresses. Nevertheless, this opening of the Psalm is the words of one forsaken by God. Jesus is no longer experiencing the relational closeness to the Father that he is used to, but is now facing the wrath of God on the sin that he is carrying instead. The effect of this is shown by the final strange occurrence (v38) with the temple curtain being torn from top to bottom. We saw in a previous sermon that the temple signifies the place of God’s presence, but because of sin access to that presence was restricted. This was the role of the curtain. Now the way has been opened. Our sin is no longer the barrier that it was, because Jesus took that sin and died to bear the punishment for it. Having seen all this happen, the Roman Centurion who had been overseeing the execution had no choice but to conclude ‘this is the Son of God’.

Jesus Rose and Gives New Life (John 20:1-2, 11-18): If Jesus was still dead and in his grave, then faith would be pointless (see 1 Cor. 15:17). It would mean his claims about his identity were false, and his atoning work had failed because he was unable to defeat death and sin. The incredible news that changes everything is that Jesus is not still dead. When Mary Magdalene went to the tomb on the first easter morning, she was confused to find it empty. In her moment of grief, the risen Jesus met with her and called her by name. The empty tomb and the appearances of the risen Jesus stand together to show that Jesus rose from the dead victorious. The resurrection of Jesus means that there is now the promise of resurrection for all who believe. His resurrection is the first-fruits of many, and our resurrections will follow on the last day. More than that, we can share in the resurrection life of Christ now. Our old sinful selves have died with him and we are born again, new creations in Christ who have been made alive in him (see Rom. 6:3-4).

We Can Be Saved Through Faith In the Gospel (Rom. 10:9-10): The death and resurrection of Jesus are for everybody, but we do not receive the benefits of them automatically: a response is needed on our part. The most famous verse in the Bible (John 3:16) teaches that in love God gave his son so that whoever believes will have eternal life. The offer is open to all, and each must choose what to do in response to what God has done for them in Christ. Romans 10 spells out for us what this response looks like, highlighting two things. The first is declaring that Jesus is Lord. This is a public profession of submitting to Jesus and wanting to be part of his kingdom. We give up the claim to do things our own way and by our own strength and recognise that his Lordship is best for us. This is often called repentance. Secondly is believing from the heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. It goes deeper than lip service, the words must come from a place of sincere faith. As we believe and repent, the result will be that we are saved, experiencing the forgiveness that comes through the cross and new life through the resurrection.

Potential Applications:

• This is a perfect moment to invite people to respond to the gospel in repentance and faith to be saved.
• The message of the gospel is what everybody needs to hear. Challenge people to think about who they can share the good news with.
• This may also be a good moment to speak about baptism. Invite people who have put their trust in Jesus to show this publicly by identifying with Jesus’ death and resurrection in baptism.