LCC Lead Minister Andy Turner continues in week 2 of our “Easter Eggs” sermon series with a passage from Isaiah 53 about the coming Messiah, who was nothing like everyone at the time expected. The suffering servant – Jesus Christ – took the punishment for all of us, not because he deserved it, but because it was God’s plan to restore the effects of sin in a fallen world. Andy challenges us this week not to “do” anything, but to “embrace” an important truth that we sometimes grow complacent about – that Jesus took OUR place.
“The tensions and the division and the brokenness and all of the pain that we experience can be traced back to the fact that we are a fallen people living in a fallen world. However… from the moment that sin entered the world, God’s plan has always been to restore and redeem the effects of sin.”
“Because of sin, the world and humanity have been cursed… but because of Jesus, the curse has been reversed.”
“The foundation of being made right with God is that Jesus Christ took the full punishment that we deserved for our sin, as a substitute in our place.”
“Everyone had a picture in their head of what the Messiah would be… and this was not it.”
“The servant is not suffering because he deserved to suffer, but because he bore the suffering, the shame, the transgressions, the iniquities… he bore the sins of the people. Of us. And none of it was by accident.”
“Jesus did not stumble into the cross. Jesus knew exactly what was taking place. Everything that happened to Jesus was intentional.”
“The death of Jesus was not an accident. It was the purpose and plan of God to restore you and me to a right relationship with Him.”
“All have sinned. All of us are guilty. All of us have turned away to follow our own path. We have all filled the role of our own master and our own treasure. We have all made ourselves our own ruler and our own authority. But in the middle of ‘for all have sinned,’ God was not willing to leave to just leave us in this guilty and condemned condition. He planned to send a suffering servant who would bear our sins, as a substitute for us.”
“A dead Christ does not justify… but a living Christ justifies.”
“Today, my hope isn’t so much that you go and do something. Today, my hope is that you embrace something. Embrace this truth. Jesus took your place, to secure your place.”
“It’s impossible to read Isaiah 53 and not be drawn to the time that Jesus was placed before a number of trials that were nothing short of a mockery. It’s impossible not to think of the rejection that Jesus must have felt whenever he was standing on a stage with Barabbas – this inciter of riots, this murderer, this heinous criminal – and he looks out at the people that he came to save, all shouting at the top of their lungs to release Barabbas in his place. We can’t miss the rejection that Jesus must have felt. We can’t miss the brutality of the flogging… the lashes, the blood and the gore. It’s impossible not to think about the insults that Jesus heard, that were hurled his way… the spit that was running down his face… the nails that were placed into his wrists and his feet… the sword that pierced his side. It’s impossible to read these words and not think of the cross.”
“Jesus took your place. Don’t you dare be bored by this. Do you care? Does it matter to you? Jesus took your place. You deserved death. Jesus took your place… to secure your place.”
