The Jews’ at the Cross

Because the Jewish people starting in the verse verse all the way through to the end of the chapter, loom large. Are are they are an important character, if you will, of the crucifixion. Now, other thing before we start reading in verse number one is this, is I want you to remember the two attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ that have come to the fore, that have come up and been repeated and emphasized and focused upon over and over as we’ve approached the crucifixion. If you remember in chapter 26, in chapter 20, and and also in chapter 27, we’ve seen it. The the two attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ are are these that we see over and over, and we’ll see today again.

Which is number one, his identity. That Jesus Christ is the son of God, which is a claim to his deity. He’s not just another man. He’s not just a historical figure. He is the son of God. He is very God in the flesh. That’s one thing we see. And another thing that comes up very very frequently is his sinlessness. The fact that the Lord Jesus had no sin whatsoever.

And we will see both of those this morning as well. So let’s take a moment and pray, and then we’ll begin reading verse number one. Our father, we thank you for the opportunity to read again Matthew 27 and to learn from it and to grow from it. Lord, I pray that you would by your spirit make us absolutely stand in awe of what you have done for us.

I pray the truth of the gospel would come out clearly. Lord, help me to say the things that each person here needs to hear. Lord, the burden of the Lord. And I pray that you would guide me to speak in the tone that you would have me to speak. And I pray for the hearts and the minds of each person that’s here that they would be open and receptive to your word. That they would, as the scripture says, receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save the soul.

So Lord, guide us in our study. Lord, we thank you for our church and for the fifty three years that this church has been in existence and for all of the truths that have been preached here and all of the peoples whose lives have been affected, that have been part of our church. And we thank you, Lord, for the labors of those who have gone before us, who have served you, who have ministered you, not just the pastors, but also the servants of God among the people of God, who have served one another, who have served you in various ways throughout throughout the the decades. So Lord, we ask you that you would continue the work that you have begun here, that you would perpetuate it, you would continue it, and you would grow it so that your name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, would be glorified here in Greenville and all around the world.

And so Lord, we pray for your blessing upon our time in your word, we ask in Jesus name, amen. As I said, the the Jewish people loom large throughout this whole chapter. You’ll see what I mean in just a minute. Verse one, the Bible says this, when the morning was come, so what morning were are we referring to? We’re referring to the morning after this fake, illegal trial that the lord Jesus suffered at the Jewish council which is the Sanhedrin that is the Jewish council where the religion, it was the religious council. Of course, the Jews are under the domination of Rome at this point but they have their own council. Well, they they they exercise some level level of of independence and liberty and the council has now condemned the lord Jesus Christ mostly because he said that he was the son of god. They went back and forth and had, if you remember false witnesses whose whose testimonies did not agree with with one another, and in the end, it came down not to the witnesses of the of the those who testified, but it came down to the words of the Lord himself.

Just cut to the chase, they said, I’m paraphrasing, art thou the son of God? And Jesus said, essentially, I am. And they said, what need have we anymore of witnesses? You have heard out of his own mouth what he said, and and from that point they condemned him to death. But the Jews, if you remember, had no power at this point in history to execute, to fulfill a death sentence.

That has to be given to Rome. And so that’s where we read here. So they had this trial overnight, and in the morning, the sun’s coming up, and so it says, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. This is the Roman governor now. So, this man is not a Jewish man. We’ve already covered Pilate. He’s a Roman.

He was appointed by the by the emperor of Rome, the Caesar, to fulfill his this position. And really he’s disinterested in this whole matter. He doesn’t want, he doesn’t want his hands in it at all, but that he doesn’t have a choice at this point. And so the Jewish people have have delivered him over. They have delivered him over. When I say the Jewish people, understand what I mean by that is I’m referring at this point in verse number one to the Jewish leaders. It it says, the the chief priests and the elders of the people that those on the council, those leaders of the Jewish people, those that the Jewish people in general look to for their leadership. They have they have turned the lord Jesus over to be put to death.

And so, every step of the way, as we go through chapter 27, I’m going to say something about this, so hang with me until I get until I get to my point. But every step of the way, you see the Jewish people are the ones who are instigating and driving this persecution, this crucifixion, this event that is the most important event in human history. They are the ones who are driving it. It’s not the Romans who are driving it. It’s not the Romans who are pushing for this. In fact, you see it in verse one and verse two. It is the Jewish leaders who are turning Jesus over to the Romans. It wasn’t the Romans coming to arrest him, it was the Jewish leaders turning him over. Now, before I go any further, let me remind you that pretty much every figure in our New Testament is Jewish.

The Lord himself was born into a Jewish family. Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ mother, Jesus’ stepfather legally was a Jew were Jews of the tribe of Judah, right? Paul was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. And these were, so so it’s not like, you know, well, you you know, we’re kind of down on the Jewish people. Our savior’s Jewish. Yesterday, were talking to that fellow Scott, and we were talking to him about, know, kind of veered off into a political kind of discussion.

And he said a few things, of course, politically I wouldn’t agree with, but I just ignored it, Ben and I, we just ignored it, and turned right back and I reminded him of the fact that Jesus was not a white guy, he was not an American guy, he wasn’t a European guy. Jesus was in all likelihood a curly headed, dark curly headed, probably rather short, that makes me feel a little bit better, dark skinned Jewish person.

He was from The Levant as they say, that fertile crescent. That’s where his blood was, right? And so all of this stuff that he was saying, I just kinda ignored it all and say it reminded him of the fact that Jesus was, he was one of those brown people, know, that’s a political term I’m saying, I don’t use it disparagingly, but that’s the term he used. I said, he was that.

So when we talk about the Jewish people here, we have to be reminded of the fact that it was the Jewish people who are driving the essentially from a human perspective, the execution of one of their own people, right? It wasn’t an outside force, it was it was John chapter one verse 11, he came unto his own and his own received him not. Now we know the Romans had a hand in it, they were the ones who held the hammer, and they were the ones who held the nails that nailed him to the cross. That was a Roman cross. The Jews did not crucify, the Romans did. So, we know the Romans had a part in it, and by extension, all of us, you know, being most of us here being non Jews, we we all had a part in that. Christ was dying for the sins of the world, not just for the sins of the Jews or for the Romans, but for all of our sins.

But the hands that that created this, that drove it and and kept the foot on the pedal, that would eventually lead to his death, were Jewish hands, every step of the way. And this is actually a major theme of this chapter. When the Jews turn the Lord Jesus over to the Romans, this is a demonstration of their greatest and their ultimate rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who is one of them? The one who came to be their savior. They mocked the fact that he’s referred to as the king of the Jews. You know, we know during the life of Christ at various other times, they rejected his teachings and they got angry at him and they tried to stone him once or twice and they rejected his claims and they even rejected his miracles and said that he was being motivated. And even in some Jewish circles to this day, there are some that believe that Jesus was actually a witch, a wizard.

And that was But that’s something that goes all the way back to the first century when they said that he performed the miracles by the power of the devil. And so, are not new ideas.

And so, they rejected him, the nation rejected him from time to time, but now at this point, at the end of his life, when he gives himself over to them and lays his life down, the nation here is in mass, both the leaders and we’ll see later the people, the common man are rejecting him dramatically once and for all. Now, here’s what you have to remember.

And the Lord takes that personally. This is the savior sent into the world. Well, don’t believe that. That doesn’t change the fact. And the Lord who sent our Lord Jesus Christ into the world would hold them accountable to that, to what, to their rejection of Him. Look if you would, very quickly at John chapter 18. John 18. Just to reiterate this point, look at verse 35. Now, this is the same account, this is before Pilate, but notice this little thing that Pilate says, verse 35 of John 18, he says this, Pilate answered, am I a Jew? He’s speaking to Jesus now. He says, am I a Jew?

Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? In other words, what did you remember, at this time in history, you know, the idea of racism and all that is is is definitely not new and it’s not unique to our country at all. At this time in history, the racial tensions were through the roof. The Jews hated anyone that wasn’t a Jew, they referred to them as dogs.

And the Romans knew that, you think they took a liking to that? They did not like that. So, you had this racial tension going on between between the two. And here Jesus, was a Jew standing for Pilate and he’s like, what are you doing? What are you doing here? Your own nation delivered you to me. Which is to say, that would never happen because he was one of them, you see. And so it kind of heightened the rejection of him.

Now, if you would go back to Matthew 27, and I’ll go to I want to go a little bit further. And this what is essentially a Jewish plot against our Lord.

Look at verse 12. Or verse 11 says, and Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him saying, art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, said unto him, thou sayest, and when he was accused, notice what it says, of the chief priests and elders, that’s of the Jewish chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. I want you to see that. He was accused.

He was accused. Now I won’t go into it for time, but the accusations of the Jews, remember, again, do you see this? Who are laying the accusations? Who are leveling the accusations? It’s not the Romans, it’s the Jewish people, right? And the accusations were were numerous, but I’ll just kind of give you a summary of that just for time. They accused him of being of of claiming to be the son of god, which was true, that was a true accusation.

They accused him of trying to make himself to to trying to speak against Caesar, the emperor. They accused him of of of telling the people not to pay tax. Now, we we’ve already studied that. That was a outright falsehood.

They accused him of all of these kinds of things in order to drive the narrative forward. In fact, in in fact, what they did is they used a politically charged accusation of treason against the emperor to try to cajole, to try to prod Pilate to do their will. They were willing, in other words, they were willing to say anything. They were willing to lie, they were willing to twist and manipulate. They’re willing to do anything and I’m going somewhere with that but just remember that, they were willing to do anything to get to the end goal.

And it was again, the Jewish people that brought these accusations. Remember, without these accusations, there is no case. And without a case, there is no judgment, and there’s no crucifixion, there’s no death. And so they have their foot on the pedal driving this narrative forward. Look if you would at verse number 20.

I’ll read down to verse 25, but the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, we already covered Barabbas before, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, what shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, let him be crucified. Stop a minute.

Did you know this is the first time that they have requested the specific manner of his death? Even though crucifixion is Roman method of execution, it is not the Romans idea to do this to Jesus. It is the Jews idea to do this to Jesus. You see this? They are driving it. In fact, there’s another place in, I won’t go to it for time, but there’s another place I think in Luke where the where where Pilate, the governor actually suggests that he just whip Jesus with a, know, scourges Jesus and then let him go. In other words, it wasn’t even in his mind to crucify Jesus. No, it was the voice of the Jewish people that cried out, crucify him.

Now, you’ll notice in verse 23, the Bible says this, and the governor said, why? What evil hath he done? But they cried out the more saying, let him be crucified. There’s a mention of the sinlessness of Christ where Pilate asked, what evil? And they weren’t of course interested in that. Verse 24, when Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it. Then answered all the people and said, and this is so important, note this, note this.

His blood be on us and on our children. So I say this, and I don’t say this lightly. The ultimate and final rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ from a human perspective, the guilt and the responsibility of that event rests primarily upon the Jewish people. And they willingly accepted that guilt. And not only accepted the guilt, but then willingly received it to be passed on to their kids. Now this is a quotation, remember Matthew, he’s a Jew, okay?

These are his people. Jesus, a Jew, his people. And this is what Matthew’s testimony of that day, what he’s saying. We are willing to receive whatever responsibility comes from this matter. You know what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to urge and force Pilate to actually follow through.

So indeed, I say very soberly, the Jewish people bear the primary and overwhelming guilt of Christ’s death from a human perspective. And if you look at Acts chapter two, and let’s just look at one of these examples. Look at Acts chapter two real quick.

Acts chapter two Now, don’t forget what I’m about to read in Acts chapter two is spoken by a Jew also, Peter. Acts two verse number 23, the Bible says this, him speaking of Jesus Christ, this is Peter’s sermon on Pentecost, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye, he’s speaking to the Jewish crowd, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it.

So even and I could read Acts chapter three, Acts chapter five, Acts chapter seven, where in every case without exception, a Jewish Christian lays the blame for what happened to the lord Jesus Christ on the cross at the feet of the Jewish people.

Now, there were others involved as I mentioned the Romans, but the ones, the one who bore the guilt were the Jewish people. Now, some people have take that, listen, that is a fact of scripture. An unpleasant fact, but that is a fact. But it fulfills what the Bible said would happen to the Lord Jesus when he said his own would reject him. So it’s no wonder it’s there, but it is a historical fact and it is a scriptural fact.

But some people in years years later, some religious people in in Christian religions have used that fact as an excuse to seek to harm or persecute the Jewish people.

Did you know that’s true? The Jewish people have been have been persecuted over the years by churches because of their responsibility and what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s wicked. In fact, was it not our Lord Jesus in the sermon on the mount that he said, speaking to his disciples who also were Jewish, speaking to them saying that they would be persecuted. And here, years later, people under the banner of Christ are are then now persecuting the very people who are the blood brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, that that that is never right, that is not right.

The fact that our Lord died, he died is a fact of history that the Jewish people were the ones behind it, but the Christian response is a response of compassion. Loving one’s enemies, seeking their salvation.

And even to this day, sometimes the Jewish people are targeted. But their rejection of Christ is a responsibility that they bear and I’m here to say, the Lord Jesus Christ takes that seriously. That is not a minor guilt. But notice, want you to see in back in Matthew 27, they say, His blood be on us and on our children. His blood be on us and on our children.

These people in their bloodlust for the Lord Jesus Christ so lightly passed on to their own children the guilt of this deed so that they could hasten to sin, right?

So here’s, let me explain this to you. Here’s the way sin works, okay? And this is, they’re committing a grave sin in the sight of God, they will be judged for it. But this is the deal that sin offers. Sin has a contract and it gives it, it lays out a contract. And it says this, all right, these are my terms. If you want to indulge in me, if you want to indulge in the pleasure that comes from sin for a season, these are my terms.

You have to sign over your family. You have to sign over everyone around you. Because the indulgence of that sin is going to affect all of them. You see, that’s what the Jewish people here that are crying out, his blood be on us and on our children. You know what they’re saying in essence? Think about their values now. They’re saying here, here’s our family, here’s our future generations, our posterity, here you can have it all so long as we can indulge in this wicked act of hatred against him.

We will lay them on the line. You know what? That is exactly the deal and the contract that sin requires us to sign in order to indulge. There is no free way to indulge in sin. It always comes with stipulations, and those stipulations are your family, your children. I thought about what they’re saying in a literal sense, but think about what we sign, how we sign our children away. We just came through August Family Focus, did we not? We’re talking about how our lives affect our children, what our duty is, and responsibility is toward our children.

As a mother, as a father, when we choose to indulge in sin, what we’re doing is we are sacrificing our children for that. You say, no, I’m not, it’s just about me. No, it is not. Because it will reverberate and ripple down through your life into your children and grandchildren. Sin always has that effect. It’s written in black and white in the terms.

But that’s the deterrent too, is it not? If you knew in advance how sin would wreck your family, do you think you would avoid it with more earnestness? I bet you would, I bet I would, right?

If you knew, if you knew you had to sign on the dotted line as it were in order to indulge in this pleasure for a season, but you knew what you were giving away, you’re giving away your house, and your car, and your health, and your family, and your kids, and your grandkids. If you knew all of that in advance, you’d probably be, maybe it’s not such a good idea. But oftentimes that’s exactly what we do, we blind our eyes and plug our ears and we throw ourself into it for that moment of pleasure. And we sacrifice all of these things that it affects to do it. That’s exactly what they’re doing. I don’t care who it affects, I don’t care if it affects my family, kill him.

That’s what they’re saying. But what’s more in this, is this is at its core what you see them crying out for is an attempt by darkened sinners to stamp out the light. Look if you would at John three, John chapter three. John chapter three.

John chapter three verse 17. John three seventeen. It says this, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. Note the mention of the identity of Christ. Verse 19, and this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men loved darkness rather than light. Now the light being mentioned here is Jesus himself, the person of Jesus Christ. He is the light that has come into the world. And it says, they rejected that light.

Light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God. Notice, this is So what you see in the crucifixion and what these people are crying out is they want to They want that light to be put out. And this is not just about They didn’t want to just silence Jesus.

The light is not what He taught. He is the light, His person. And so they wanted to stamp out the light. And the reason they hated the Lord Jesus Christ was not because he just because he taught the truth, and pointed out sin, because he did. Contrary to what people say, Jesus did. But that’s not the primary reason they hated him. They hated him because he was the light.

Because his person was a rebuke of their evil. And so they preferred darkness to light, which is why they cried out for Barabbas. You know what Barabbas was? He was dark. That’s They prefer that to light. Are people really like that? Oh, yes.

People prefer darkness to light. And this is a perfect example of that. Though they be of the same blood, though they be of the same nation, made no difference.

This is the attempt of man to stamp out the light, because the light of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed the ugliness of their darkness. The Jews wanted to extinguish the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, not just silence his tongue.

Now the last thing I want you to see is in verse number 39. As we read through this, you see the Jewish people pop up again and again and again. So now, we saw they delivered him to Pilate, then they accused him to Pilate. Now, and then we saw in verses 20 to 25, cry out for his method of of death, and even when Pilate is reluctant, they say, look, it’s our our responsibility, and so they take that upon themselves. In other words, do anything, say anything in order to get this accomplished, stamp out the light.

And now the Lord Jesus is he’s whipped, and then he carries his cross out to Golgotha, the place of the skull, and the Lord Jesus is crucified. So now the Lord is hanging on the cross, you with me? And here we see the Jewish people pop up again. Verse 39, and they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself if thou be the Son of God come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him with the scribes and elders said, he saved others himself he cannot save.

If he be the king of Israel, let him come down, now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him for he said, I am the son of God. You see that again, that characteristic, that identity. The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth. They had no idea, but they were fulfilling Psalm 22, which was a prophetic Psalm about Jesus where it says, Psalm 22, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him. They had no idea what they were doing. They were filled with with satanic rage against the Son of God, and yet they are in that fulfilling the scripture.

They think the Son of God could never suffer shame, this kind of shame and death, therefore He cannot be the Son of God. Isaiah 53 verse four tells us that, it says, surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. What’s interesting is in verse 40 when they say, come down from the cross two different times, come down from the cross and we’ll believe you. If you’re the son of God, come down from the cross. You know what, that’s a satanic temptation.

While the Lord is on the cross, because it was the devil in Matthew four at the temptation that said, if thou be the son of God, what? Command these stones to be made bread. If thou be the son of God, prove it. Which the temptation is this, if you are who you say you are, then do something that is not the will of your Father.

Prove yourself by doing wrong. And here Jesus is on the cross, through the mouth of His own flesh and blood, the satanic temptation comes. If you’re the son of God, come down from the cross.

Before, if if you’re the son of God, command these stones to be made bread. Now, if you’re the son of God, come down from the cross. But let me ask you the quest a question. Does his father want him to come down from the cross? No. The will of his father is the cross. So you see this is a satanic temptation. What would have been the effect had the Lord Jesus come down from the cross?

There’s not a person here who would ever have had one nanosecond of hope of going to heaven and standing before a perfectly holy and righteous God. Not one of us, every one of us that if our Lord had yielded to that temptation and had come down from the cross to prove and it would have proven himself that he was who he said he was. But had he done that, not one soul would have been able to be forgiven of their sin, not one soul would have been able to be pardoned.

Every one of us would have had to suffer the just punishment that our sins had earned before God. Because God is holy. Verse 42, they say, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross and we will believe Him. And I say to In answer to verse 42, they say He cannot save Himself. And I say, No.

I tell you no, he cannot save himself. Because if he he is to save the world, he cannot be saved himself. You see our Lord at this moment had a binary choice, and that choice was stay on the cross and save the world, or come down from the cross and save Himself. And is that not in one sentence, the whole of the gospel? Is it not? Is that not in one sentence the whole of Christianity?

Is our Lord sacrificed Himself to save the world? He refused to come down from the cross. That would have been the loss of the world. It was either He or they.

Now I want to say something, and this gets to the gospel, this is my final point, so just if you can hang with me just five minutes. Notice what they say. Two times, If thou be the son of God, come down from the cross. Verse 42. If he be the king of Israel, come down from the cross and we will believe him. So the question is this, why didn’t Jesus just come down, save himself all that trouble, and they say, listen, you come down, we’ll believe you. You will have proven yourself, why don’t Just come down. Now I know they don’t mean it in that tone at all, but why didn’t he just split the difference and and come down and say, hey, just believe in me and everything will be fine.

For our last passage, I want you to look at Romans chapter three. Here’s the point I want you to wanna make and I want you wanna show you in the scripture why this is true.

If the Lord Jesus Christ had come down, and they had followed through and believed on him, as a result of that, their faith would have been useless. If Jesus had come down from the cross and they then believed on Him because He proved Himself, their faith would have been useless. It would not have saved them, it would not have helped them, they would still have perished and gone to the lake of fire.

Romans three, look at verse 24. Being justified freely. Justified means declared righteous. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God had set forth to be a propitiation. Somebody tell me what the word propitiation means.

Cat got your tongue. We covered this on Friday in our in our class, on our Romans class. Propitiation, yes ma’am? Right. It’s it’s the appeasement that the righteousness of God demanded. You see it says this, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That redemption is on the cross, that’s His bloodshed, right? By the blood of Christ, whom God has shut set forth, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. You see, you take out that in his blood, faith may may makes no difference, because there’s no propitiation. There’s no satisfaction. There’s no appeasement. There’s no sacrifice. There’s no way for a righteous god to forgive a guilty sinner.

Jesus comes down from the cross. Guilty sinners stand before a righteous god and get the full wrath of everything that we have earned. He comes down, you can believe in Jesus all day long with all of your heart, with all sincerity, and it is all smoke and mirrors, it is all blown away in the wrath of a holy and a just God because we must have a sacrifice.

We must have a substitute. Someone must stand as us in our place and bear the justice that we have earned. Without that, we can believe all day long and it matters not. And this is why we say.

This is why we say that salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why this verse says, through faith in his blood. Not just faith in general, not just well, you just kind of believe in God. No, no, no. It is faith with the object of that savior dying in my place, bearing my sins like the scripture says he did. My reliance, my trust for my hope of heaven, my forgiveness of sin, and my righteousness resting on that savior, on that cross.

Faith otherwise is useless. Jesus himself, he is salvation, you see. Look at Romans five for our last passage, chapter five verse number eight. You see the same truth repeated.

Well, I’ll read verse six just so we understand what’s being said here. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Not good people, not people who have it all together, not people who’ve never been to jail, not people who’ve never had done drugs.

It says, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die, but God commended, that is demonstrated, His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Not we renewed ourselves and stopped sinning, that’s that’s a hopeless thought. But while we were still in sin, Christ died for us. He took our place. Now look at verse number nine, much more then, being now justified by, what does it say?

His blood. Where is that? That’s the cross. We’re not justified just because we believe. We’re not made righteous in the sight of God because we believe. It’s because we believe on a savior who took our place. And without that second part, the faith means nothing.

It says this, for we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement.

This is what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to believe and trust in the blood that he shed for you. Not just the savior, not just Jesus, but Jesus dying for you on the cross. Let me ask you a question.

Is your faith at this moment resting? Is your hope for heaven right this moment settled firmly and only on the Lord Jesus Christ having taken your place, died for you. Is your faith resting in that, in his blood?

Or is it resting in anything else? What’s the answer? What’s the answer? You see, you and I, we must have a sacrifice. We must have someone to take our place, or we will bear our sins before a holy God.

If you have not put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his blood shed for you, I wanna encourage you to really consider that fact. Your, listen, your eternity hangs in the balance. Your eternity is answered by that one question, is it not?

It hinges on that question. There might be somebody here that is fearful. Who have questions that swirl around in your mind about where you stand with God. Whether you’re truly born again, whether your faith is resting in Jesus or something else. You don’t really know if your sins are forgiven. You hope they are, you think they are, you believe in God.

Let me encourage you to get that get that question settled. The truth is it’s simple. Christ did it on that cross. He is the savior. He is salvation. Would you pray with me?