The following are excerpts of a sermon given by the Rev. R. Steven King at Cherrydale Baptist Church in Arlington.
On Good Friday, I went to see “The Passion of the Christ” for the third time. And the response to the film was the same as the other two. People started off chatting and eating and drinking their Coke, and about five minutes into the film they put all that down and were riveted.
About halfway through, people started sobbing, and at the end people walked out saying absolutely nothing. It seemed irreverent to say anything. …
Isaiah 53 was made over 500 years before Jesus was crucified. It predicted His crucifixion. And it said all of our iniquities are laid on Him. And He died in our place.
I am thrilled about why Jesus had to die. What is the Biblical answer to why did Jesus have to die? In the book of Acts, Peter is preaching and he said this is not the result of just some political maneuvering among Pharisees. This was not just Pilate getting to be reported to Caesar for the third time. Somebody else was behind this and that somebody else was the God of the Bible.
It says He was delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.
In Acts 3:18 [Peter] is preaching again and he says, “He suffered just like all of the prophets predicted he would.” If you want evidence that God loves you, the Bible will tell you take a look at the cross.
Paul says in Romans that “God proves or demonstrates his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners” — we were God haters, we could care less — “Christ died for us” in our place, instead of us.
Second Corinthians 5:21 says that God the Father took Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, and He made Him sin on our behalf. It doesn’t mean He was a sinner. It means that all of the sin of the world was imputed on Him and He was treated as if He was a sinner and He was damned instead of us.
Paul in Galatians says that when someone is hanging on a tree, he is cursed. He said Jesus bore the curse of the law for us in our place. …
John is overwhelmed with the love of God and he says, “We know love by this, not that we love Him, but that He loved us and He gave His son to be the final payment for our sin.” …
Now, everything about Christ’s death is worthless if Jesus Christ did not bodily rise from the grave.
In 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15, it says, “If Christ is not raised, your faith is worthless.” …
If you are going through doubt, stop and say, where is this coming from? In John 20:24-25, Thomas said, “Unless I see in His hands, the imprints of the nails and put my finger in the place of the nails, and put my hand in His side, I will not believe.” … There are a lot of people who can identify with Thomas. Jesus did not condemn him. The problem was Thomas, not God. But Thomas had honest, legitimate doubt.
There are two kinds of doubt in the Bible. One God consoles, the other God condemns. Thomas had honest doubt. His expectations and reality didn’t match up.
The other kind of doubt is dishonest doubt. It is smoke screening.
In John 3:19, it says, “Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” Many times people will say, “I’m a doubter” or “I’m a skeptic,” but that’s not the issue. The issue is, I’m not going to come to the truth because I don’t want my deeds exposed, and I’m going to call it doubt. It really isn’t. Those kind of people can’t find God for the same reason that a thief can’t find a policeman. They don’t want to.
James 1:5-6 says when you go through various trials, then ask God for wisdom. But when you ask, do it without doubting, for he who doubts is like the sea, driven here and there. Don’t let that man think he will receive anything from the Lord. He is not talking about honest doubt. He is talking about smoke screening.
If you want wisdom in the midst of trials, the only way you get it is you submit yourself to God.
Psalms 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” Is your doubt dishonest or is it real? And if you have honest doubt, Jesus comforts you and consoles you. If it is dishonest, He condemns it and says repent and come out into the light.
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