Highlights From Sunday...

Thought I might share some of my favorite thoughts from Sunday.

John 12:27-30 The Affect Of The Cross On Jesus

What does Jesus think about the cross? Jesus tells us in verse 27...

"Now is my soul troubled."

In other words," because I am now so close to that moment when I will bare the sins of the world I am deeply disturbed. I am really struggling with this."

The same Jesus that the bible tells us...

"Created all things" and "holds all things together" (Col 1:16-17)

Opened blind eyes

Made the lame walk

Caused the deaf to hear

Fed multitudes with a little boys sack lunch

Raised Lazarus from the dead

Will have people on the earth hiding under rocks and saying,"hide us from the wrath of the Lamb."

Will defeat His enemies at the end of the age and the blood will flow to the horses mane....

But... right now He confesses His troubled soul. As the cross approaches Jesus is more and more troubled.

"But," someone might say, "Doesn't Hebrews say that for the joy that was set before Him"

Yes it does the rest of the verse says "He ENDURED the cross DESPISING the SHAME."

Jesus wasn't looking forward to the cross. He was looking forward to the effects of the cross which is our fellowship with Him and the cleansing of our sin. But He hated the shame the entire time.

"What shame?" .... That is a good question! To answer that, let's find out what Jesus is not afraid of.

Jesus is not afraid of...

The devil- "One angel binds Satan" (Rev 20)

The Romans- "You would have no power unless my Father..."(Jn 19:11)

Physical suffering- "He says don't fear those who kill the body" (Matt 10:28)

Being powerless- "He emptied Himself" (Phil 2)

Being mocked- "Blessed are you when men insult and persecute you" (Matt 5:11-12)

Death- "No man takes my life" (Jn 10:18)

Jesus is troubled by two major things...

A) The weight of sin-

Jesus had lived in eternity past with God the Father in perfection. Jesus had been around our sin since Adam fell in the garden. He had watched every creature that He had made become the prisoner of the most insidious poison of all. Sin. He knew that sin is the reason death even existed. It was at the root of every pain in this world. He saw how it affected mothers, fathers, babies, and all levels of society. Yet, He only knew these things as an outside observer. He, Himself had never personally touched by sin itself. And now.... He is about to drink it in. Perfect purity is about to be defiled by the mud stained, blood stained sin of this world. And for the first time ever God Himself would feel the sting of sin and death.

Not only that. But now look at the sin that He would take. He took Adam's sin in Eden and every sin of Adam. He took the murder of Able. He took the lies of Abraham, and murderous hearts of the 12 sons of Jacob. He took the sins of the children of Israel in the wilderness as they rebelled and worshipped the golden calf and rejected the God who spared them from slavery. He took their constant backsliding once they got into the promised land. He took the sins of their sinful kings. Kings like the Saul who consulted a witch, and David who was a lying, murdering adulterer, and Solomon who kept sex slaves and wives like livestock and built temples for their false gods. He took the sins of countless other kings that rebelled against the only one who loved them purely....

He took the sins of Peter as he denied the Lord and swore with profanity that he did not know the man. He took the doubt of Thomas. The murderous persecution of Saul of Tarsus. The corruption of the 7 churches of revelation including their lack of love for Him, their desire to control people, the worship of other gods, their lack of love for one another, their hypocrisy, and their lukewarm hearts that keep Him on the outside of the church knocking to get in. And....He He took your sin and my sin.

2 Cor 5:21 "For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

B) The Wrath Of The Father

After thinking through the suffering that has been caused by sinners sinning, and the damage that we have done to our selves, our planet, and God's original intent for us; Do you think God might be mad about sin? He is!! To be blunt. God the Father is mad as....hell! He has stored up His wrath at all "unrighteousness and ungodliness of men" (Rom 1:18) God's anger at the damage done by the crusades, and the countless lives lost in Iraq and America over things like oil, and power, and the horrors of the holocaust has been stored up and is waiting the release of an object to judge. Jesus the Son. Is that object.

And as Jesus considers this... He says, "Now is my soul troubled."

How does Jesus respond to this pressure? He confesses it openly. "My soul is troubled" but then He says, "What am I going to do about it? How will I respond to this trouble? Should I ask the Father to save me from this hour?"

Then at the end of vs 27-28 He makes the most incredible statement. "But, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father glorify Your name!"

"I will not avoid it. It will cost me everything. But Father I want the world to know Your true nature. Be glorified through my death." In other words... "Give me the cross!"