Passion Week - Saturday

Matthew 27:62-66

 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’  So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Jesus has been laid in the tomb.  The disciples are in a state of shock.  No matter what they expected, they did not expect this.  One of their own betrayed their teacher.  He was crucified as if He were a criminal, not as God come to earth to save His people.  That day they were silent.

But the religious rulers are not.  They were busy petitioning Pilate to post guards by Jesus tomb.  They feared that the disciples were going to steal Jesus body, but I think they also feared Jesus’ words to be true.  That He was the Messiah come to deliver God’s people.  

Why is this important?  Why did God have to send His Son as a man and why did Jesus have to die?

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus came for me.  I have sinned.  I lie and gossip and am jealous and want things that other people have.  I was born with sin just like every other person on this earth.  Sin separates me from God.  It’s like the elephant in the room blocking me from having the relationship with God that He wants so much.  

Ephesians 2:8-9

 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

I can’t do anything about that sin.  It doesn’t matter how many times I go to church, or give money to the beggar on the corner, the elephant of my sin is still there.  

I Peter 3:18 

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

I Peter 1:18-21

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

This is exactly why Jesus had to come to earth and take care of my sin for me.  Only through His death and His blood can my sins be washed away.  The suffering and the love was for me.

John 5:24

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

Jesus did all these things but my sins are still there.  I must believe.  This is the only way I can accept the gift of new life that God is offering me.  

I ask you today, have you done that?  Have you asked God to forgive your sin and believed that Jesus took your sin away when He died on the cross?  If you haven’t, don’t hesitate.  Do it right now!