Guest Speaker: Eric Posteluk
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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Pastor Jeff:
00:00-00:15
speaker today. This is Pastor Eric Posteluk. He has been a dear brother, a friend, encourager in the Lord. He is from Harvest Bible Chapel, Joliet. How many people know where Joliet is?
Pastor Jeff:
00:16-00:57
How many people know where Joliet is because of the Blues Brothers? Okay, I appreciate your honesty. And I actually interned with Pastor Eric after I graduated from the Harvest Training Center to train to plant the Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North because Joliet is very similar to Pittsburgh in the demographic and and the people and just had a real privilege to serve with him. And Eric is He is a man of humility, and a man of prayer, and a man of really deep spiritual insight because he walks with the Lord.
Pastor Jeff:
00:57-01:09
And this past January at the pastor retreat in Orlando, we got to talking about some things that the Lord was teaching him in his personal walk.
Pastor Jeff:
01:11-01:17
And I said, "Man, I would love to have you come and share those things with our church." And he graciously accepted our invitation.
Pastor Jeff:
01:17-01:21
So let's give a warm Pittsburgh welcome to Eric Posteluk.
Pastor Jeff:
01:29-01:30
Good morning.
Pastor Eric:
01:30-01:30
Good morning.
Pastor Eric:
01:32-01:36
Go ahead and open up your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 15.
Pastor Eric:
01:37-01:38
Mark Chapter 15.
Pastor Eric:
01:39-03:25
And while you're doing that, I just want to let you know that I really appreciate your pastor, Pastor Jeff. When I think of your pastor, I really think about a man who is very patient. I'm sure if you know him, you know he's a very patient guy, very humble, teachable. And the thing that has been abundantly clear to me as I've been out here and I've talked to him in the past is how much he loves each and every one of you. He said, "I can't imagine being anywhere else than right here and these are the people that I love these are the people that I want to do life with so and I just I've heard about the way that you all have sacrificed and you're serving the Lord and I just I want you to be encouraged that your labor is not in vain God sees what you do the Bible says that every good deed will be rewarded by God Ephesians 6 8 just know the Lord sees what you're doing blessing upon blessing is coming and greater and greater fruitfulness is going to come in and through this church so be encouraged but I'm glad to be here and I want to ask you all to bow your heads with me I know that this is a different setting than normal but God doesn't he's not restricted by rules if God wants to show up he's gonna show up and I want nothing more this morning than for God himself to show up so the best way to usher in his presence is to begin by prayer so bow your heads with me and let's pray.
Pastor Eric:
03:29-03:33
Father each and every one of us want to humble ourselves before you right now.
Pastor Eric:
03:35-03:43
We acknowledge God that you're great and we are not. You are holy, holy, holy.
Pastor Eric:
03:47-04:02
Father, we pray that you would remove every distraction. Father, I pray for humble hearts. I pray for focused minds. I pray for pliable wills.
Pastor Eric:
04:03-04:16
And God, I ask that you would speak specifically to each and every individual here this morning. And Lord I ask that you would use me as your vessel of blessing.
Pastor Eric:
04:17-04:30
Encourage this church God. Get their eyes on you like never before. We pray this in Jesus name and all of God's people said amen.
Pastor Eric:
04:32-05:27
In my experience there's a huge percentage of people that think the Bible is mainly about what you do. What you do for God, what you do for other people, what you do for yourself. The Bible is mainly about what you do. And I'm going to tell you this morning that is completely wrong. The Bible is not mainly about what you do. In fact, if you approach the Bible thinking that it's mainly about what you do, it's going to lead you to two places. It's going to lead you to despair over your failure or it's going to lead you to arrogance as you deceive yourself into thinking you're actually living it out because nobody lives it out. Only God is perfect, not us.
Pastor Eric:
05:28-08:13
The Bible is not mainly about what you do. The Bible is mainly about what's been done for you. The entire Bible has one central message. It's the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. I want you to think of the Bible as like there's a lot of commandments in the Bible. Do this, don't do this, do this, do it this way, don't do it this way. Those are like spokes on a wheel. A lot of people have a bunch of spokes in their hands. But unless you have the hubcap of the gospel that connects all the spokes together, you're not going to have a functioning wheel and it's not going to take you where you need to go. You need to understand that the central message of the entire Bible is the gospel. What Jesus Christ has done for you. Now the gospel centralizes on the crucifixion, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It's interesting that the whole Bible is leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. We're going to be looking at the book of Mark. We're at the very end of Mark and the whole book of Mark has been leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus this is the main event Jesus told us it was the main event Mark chapter 10 verse 45 Jesus says for even a son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many I want you to understand something this morning the more clearly you see what Jesus has done for you on the cross The more clearly you'll see God's love for you and the more passionately you'll want to live for Jesus. You see when you see what Jesus has done for you on the cross it changes everything. You might be here this morning and you're half here. You're yawning on the inside. You're thinking okay I'm gonna hear a little more about the Bible and then I got whatever's going on in the afternoon. The reason why that's your attitude is because you don't see the cross. When you see the cross, when you are gripped by the crucifixion of Jesus, changes everything. Your whole life will be changed. You will never be the same and you can't live the same. You don't just come to church to hear a few nice things about the Bible to learn how to be a nicer person. No, no, no, no. When you see the cross everything changes.
Pastor Eric:
08:15-09:07
Now the passage that we're going to look at this morning is in the book of Mark and I want to help put it into context so you can understand where it is. Right now Jewish people from around the ancient Near East have all taken a pilgrimage into the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. They came to celebrate the Passover and there's thousands upon thousands upon thousands of extra people in the ancient city of Jerusalem. It's kind of a carnival atmosphere. Extra people, extra food, people lodging and camped out all over the place. And along with these thousands and thousands of Jews is Jesus and his 12 disciples. They came to celebrate the Passover as well.
Pastor Eric:
09:09-09:30
Now while Jesus is celebrating the Passover he's betrayed by Judas and then he's seized by a mob. He's condemned by the religious leaders of the nation and And then he's sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor.
Pastor Eric:
09:31-09:41
There were three primary sins that literally put Jesus on the cross. The greed of Judas, he wanted money.
Pastor Eric:
09:43-09:50
The envy of the religious leaders, they were jealous of Jesus. He was taking away their popularity.
Pastor Eric:
09:50-09:53
They wanted the attention. Look at me, not him.
Pastor Eric:
09:54-10:24
Kill him and there was the fear of others by Pontius Pilate He didn't want to kill Jesus, but he was afraid of the mobs. And so he submitted to their wicked pleas So Pontius Pilate Says send him away to crucify him, but before Jesus was crucified Pilot had him scourged or flogged.
Pastor Eric:
10:25-10:27
Now what was flogging?
Pastor Eric:
10:28-10:40
Flogging in the ancient world was such a horrific event that it was illegal for a woman to witness it. All women had to go. A man's about to be flogged.
Pastor Eric:
10:41-10:44
All females out of the entire area.
Pastor Eric:
10:45-10:45
Why?
Pastor Eric:
10:47-10:53
Absolutely horrific, gruesome, torturous, what Jesus is about to go through.
Pastor Eric:
10:54-10:59
When someone was flogged, they would take off all of their clothing.
Pastor Eric:
11:01-11:04
So Jesus would have had all of his clothing completely removed.
Pastor Eric:
11:05-11:08
And then they would tie their arms around a post.
Pastor Eric:
11:08-11:13
What that would do is it would stretch the skin on your back tight and your muscles.
Pastor Eric:
11:14-11:19
But what made flogging so horrific was the whips that were used.
Pastor Eric:
11:20-11:23
These whips had multiple throngs on them.
Pastor Eric:
11:24-11:29
And on the throngs, there were metal balls and sharp pieces of bone.
Pastor Eric:
11:31-11:42
And the trained Roman soldiers would begin to whip Jesus and they would get him across the back and the buttocks and the back of his thighs.
Pastor Eric:
11:42-11:46
And the metal balls would act like meat tenderizers.
Pastor Eric:
11:47-11:54
they would begin to cause bruising and deep bruising all the way into the back of Jesus, even popping through the skin.
Pastor Eric:
11:54-12:02
And then the sharp bone would literally shred through his skin, his muscle, all the way down to his skeletal muscles.
Pastor Eric:
12:02-12:05
This is what Jesus was experiencing.
Pastor Eric:
12:05-12:08
It was absolutely horrific.
Pastor Eric:
12:10-12:20
Now, after they got done flogging Jesus, he would have gone into what's known as hypovolemic shock because of all of the blood he would have lost.
Pastor Eric:
12:21-12:26
What happens is when you lose that much blood, your heart begins to beat rapidly.
Pastor Eric:
12:27-12:36
And this would have caused Jesus to be faint and dizzy, and it would have ravaged him with thirst, and his kidneys would have begun to fail.
Pastor Eric:
12:37-12:40
Now, he's been flawed.
Pastor Eric:
12:41-12:47
The most horrific thing we could probably imagine a person going through.
Pastor Eric:
12:47-12:55
None of us have probably suffered anywhere close to that, but that's just the beginning of the pain Jesus is going to go through.
Pastor Eric:
12:56-13:00
Right after being flogged, they send him away to be crucified.
Pastor Eric:
13:02-13:14
Jesus was led out of the city of Jerusalem to a place called Golgotha by four Roman soldiers and one centurion. That was what was called an execution squad.
Pastor Eric:
13:14-13:20
Five of them, one being a centurion, who normally oversaw 100 soldiers.
Pastor Eric:
13:21-13:25
Now you need to understand something about crucifixion.
Pastor Eric:
13:26-13:53
In the ancient world, it was widely believed to be the worst possible way a human being could die. And when you understand the purpose of it, that makes a lot more sense. You see, crucifixion was designed to be that way. The Roman government had one purpose with crucifixion.
Pastor Eric:
13:54-13:56
They wanted to terrorize.
Pastor Eric:
13:57-13:59
They wanted to horrify.
Pastor Eric:
14:01-14:12
They wanted to terrorize the victim being crucified, and they wanted to terrorize every other person who observed the crucifixion.
Pastor Eric:
14:12-14:21
In fact, you may not be aware of this, they purposely crucified people in public places so as many people as possible could see them.
Pastor Eric:
14:23-14:29
It was common for a person who'd been crucified to live in that state for two to three days.
Pastor Eric:
14:30-14:31
Common practice crucifixion.
Pastor Eric:
14:32-14:40
Because they wanted to terrorize you, they not only wanted to do it physically, but they wanted to do it emotionally, so they took off all of your clothing.
Pastor Eric:
14:41-14:50
They wanted you to be humiliated in front of everyone, and what's more humiliating than being chilled without clothing?
Pastor Eric:
14:50-14:53
So most likely, that's what they did to Jesus.
Pastor Eric:
14:55-14:57
They laid him on the cross beam.
Pastor Eric:
14:58-15:06
They stretched out his arms, and they would have taken spikes that were like railroad spikes, five to seven inches long, and they would have driven them through his wrist.
Pastor Eric:
15:06-15:14
You see a lot of paintings where the spikes in the hand, it wouldn't have worked that way because the spike would tear right through the hand.
Pastor Eric:
15:14-15:20
In the wrist, there's bones that would lock the spike into place so that it could not get out.
Pastor Eric:
15:20-17:10
they would drive one spike through both of the feet. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, one of the first things that would have happened to him while they propped up is both of his shoulders would have dislocated. Now I want you to hear what Wayne Graham says as he describes the process of how you actually died on the cross. A criminal who is crucified was essentially forced to inflict upon himself a very slow death by suffocation. When a criminal's arms were outstretched and fastened by nails to the cross, he had to support most of the weight of his body with his arms. The chest cavity would be pulled upward and outward, making it difficult to exhale in order to be able to draw a fresh breath. But when the victim's longing for oxygen became unbearable, he would have to push up with his feet thus giving more natural support to the weight of his body releasing some of the weight from his arms and enabling his chest cavity to contract more normally by pushing himself upward in this way the criminal could fend off suffocation but it was extremely painful because it required putting the body's weight on the nails holding the feet and bending the elbows and pulling upward on the nails driven through the wrists the criminals back which had been torn open repeatedly by the previous flogging would scrape against the wooden cross with each breath now I want you to understand as we open up the passage this morning.
Pastor Eric:
17:12-17:15
This is where Jesus is at right now.
Pastor Eric:
17:16-17:27
If you just open the Bible and you didn't have that background, you wouldn't begin to see the cross as clearly as you could now.
Pastor Eric:
17:27-17:29
This is what he's experiencing right now.
Pastor Eric:
17:30-17:32
Look in your Bibles, Chapter 15, verse 33.
Pastor Eric:
17:34-17:41
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
Pastor Eric:
17:42-17:45
You see it says the sixth hour had come.
Pastor Eric:
17:46-17:54
The sixth hour was noon, because according to those days, your day began at 6 a.m.
Pastor Eric:
17:55-17:58
So the sixth hour is 12 noon.
Pastor Eric:
17:58-18:01
So from 12 noon until the ninth hour, which would be what?
Pastor Eric:
18:02-18:05
3 p.m. 12 noon to 3 p.m.
Pastor Eric:
18:05-18:07
there was darkness across the whole land.
Pastor Eric:
18:09-18:15
Now darkness in scripture represents grieving over sin.
Pastor Eric:
18:16-18:19
Amos chapter 8 verses 9 and 10 point that out.
Pastor Eric:
18:20-18:29
I think the darkness that's occurring here is representing God's displeasure with what's happening to his beloved son.
Pastor Eric:
18:31-18:41
God sees the sin of humanity, killing the only innocent person who's ever lived on earth, and he hates it.
Pastor Eric:
18:42-18:47
He despises what's happening, and so darkness covers the land.
Pastor Eric:
18:47-18:51
But darkness in scripture also represents the wrath of God.
Pastor Eric:
18:53-19:17
You remember Moses and Aaron, and God called Moses to lead the people out of slavery and into the promised land. Pharaoh would not listen. He hardened his heart and God began to pour out his wrath on the Egyptians. And one of the judgments from God was that darkness would cover the land for three days.
Pastor Eric:
19:18-19:31
I want you to understand something that you've maybe probably never pondered all that deeply and I want to help you ponder it more deeply than you may have ever before.
Pastor Eric:
19:32-20:07
The most horrifying thing about Jesus being on the cross was not that he had been flogged, beaten, spit upon, mocked, repeatedly striked in the head, hit with reeds, and nailed to a cross, humiliated, as terrible as all of those things were, none of that was the most horrific thing. The most horrific thing for Jesus was that he had to face the wrath of God himself on the cross.
Pastor Eric:
20:11-21:49
In verse 34 we see Jesus verbally responding to this. Look at verse 34, "And And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lemme se bakthani," which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Now as we study the Gospel of Mark, we understand that just the day before this happened, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, before Judas came and betrayed him to the mob. While Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, the Bible tells us that he repeatedly pleaded with God. He said, "God, if there's any other way, please take this cup from me. I don't want to have to face the cross. If there's any other way your work can be done, please don't make me go to the cross." The Bible says that Jesus was so distressed, he was in such anguish that in the garden of Gethsemane that while he was pleading blood literally dripped from his face and lest you think that that is ancient people trying to be poetic it's a medical condition that you can look up on the internet when you are in tremendous distress and anguish the blood vessels begin to thin and your blood literally can sweat out of the pores of your face.
Pastor Eric:
21:53-21:57
Why was Jesus so horrified?
Pastor Eric:
21:59-22:07
Why was he at a point that he pleaded, "Oh God, please, not the cross!" Why would he sweat blood from his face?
Pastor Eric:
22:08-22:12
He wasn't so horrified because of facing the wrath of man.
Pastor Eric:
22:14-22:20
He was so horrified because he had to face the wrath of God himself.
Pastor Eric:
22:22-22:24
Why did he have to face the wrath of God himself?
Pastor Eric:
22:25-22:29
Because he had to bear the sins of the world.
Pastor Eric:
22:31-22:33
Now many people, you've been hearing that your whole life.
Pastor Eric:
22:34-22:36
Jesus died on the cross for my sins.
Pastor Eric:
22:36-22:38
He died on the cross for my sins.
Pastor Eric:
22:38-23:26
knows that. A lot of people don't even understand what that means. What does it mean that he had to bear the sins of the world? Listen, when Jesus was on the cross and he had to bear the wrath of God for the sins of the world, he was being treated by God as though he was the worst liar, the worst thief, the worst gossip, the worst adulterer, the worst child molester, the worst murderer that the world had ever known. The wrath of God was being poured out on him as though he had committed all of those sins himself.
Pastor Eric:
23:28-25:19
Now we all know what it's like to feel guilty. We all know what it's like to be caught doing something we shouldn't have been doing. I've been caught but it's even worse when you're doing something you're not supposed to do and you're caught by the very person you're sitting against. I remember when I was a young boy I had a cousin named Richie I was really close to him and I was with some friends and Richie wasn't there and I decided to start making fun of him behind his back and I was backstabbing him and getting everybody to mock him and laugh at him and while I was talking about my cousin he walked in behind me he heard everything I was saying and when I turned around and saw him I was immediately filled with guilt in shame. It felt like somebody took poison and injected every vein of my body with it. I just, I could, I could feel how guilty I was in that moment. You understand what I mean? God gave all of us a conscience and we understand what it's like to feel guilty. You can know you're guilty, but there's an actual physical feeling of feeling guilty. Now when Jesus is bearing the wrath of God on the cross, he's not feeling the guilt for one person's sins.
Pastor Eric:
25:19-25:41
He's feeling the guilt for the sins of the whole world on him emotionally and he's not just feeling the guilt for sinning against another person he's feeling the guilt for sinning against God himself.
Pastor Eric:
25:43-27:05
You see when Jesus is on the God is literally relating to him as though he personally committed all of these sins and it's emotionally terrorizing him because the holy pure fiery eyes of God are peering deep into his soul and he's laid bare before God with no excuse, no way to justify anything. He just feels horrible. One commentator describes this, "Jesus became the object of intense hatred of sin and vengeance against sin which God had patiently stored up since the beginning of the world. God had not simply forgiven sin and forgotten about the punishment in generations past. He had forgiven sins and stored up his righteous anger against those sins. But at the cross, the fury of all that stored up wrath against sin was unleashed against God's own Son.
Pastor Eric:
27:08-27:20
As God's own Son, Jesus had lived for all eternity in constant intimacy and love with God the Father.
Pastor Eric:
27:23-27:30
God the Son had never even experienced an ounce of displeasure from God the Father.
Pastor Eric:
27:33-27:43
But on the cross, Jesus' best friend, in a moment, became his worst enemy.
Pastor Eric:
27:49-27:59
Imagine, back to when you were seven years old, if you had a friend who had invited you to spend the night at their home.
Pastor Eric:
28:02-28:09
And in the morning you got up, they gave you some food, and you got in the car and began to drive back to your home.
Pastor Eric:
28:10-28:16
While your friend's mother was driving you, they were in a terrible car accident.
Pastor Eric:
28:18-28:18
The mother died.
Pastor Eric:
28:19-28:23
Your friend was severely injured and you're severely injured as well.
Pastor Eric:
28:23-28:25
You're only seven years old.
Pastor Eric:
28:25-28:27
You don't even know what hit you at the moment.
Pastor Eric:
28:30-28:37
Now imagine waiting there, seeing all the sirens, the broken glass, the terror that you would feel at that moment.
Pastor Eric:
28:39-28:55
Imagine they called your mother and your mom walks up to the car and looks in your eyes filled with terror and she looks at you and says, I hate you.
Pastor Eric:
28:57-28:59
I can't stand you.
Pastor Eric:
29:00-29:02
You disgust me.
Pastor Eric:
29:02-29:05
I wish you were never born.
Pastor Eric:
29:12-29:26
If you can feel the emotional terror A seven-year-old would feel at that moment to be told by his or her mother that they hate him.
Pastor Eric:
29:27-29:44
In that moment of greatest vulnerability, you are getting just a tiny glimmer of what it feels like for Jesus to have God the Father hate him for the sins of the world.
Pastor Eric:
29:50-29:56
He's bearing the sins of the world and he's being forsaken by God the Father.
Pastor Eric:
29:57-30:01
His best friend is now his worst enemy.
Pastor Eric:
30:03-30:08
After bearing the wrath of God longer and longer, Jesus quotes Psalm 22.
Pastor Eric:
30:09-30:39
He says in Aramaic, "Iloi, iloi, lemme se bakthani." Which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Now Jesus clearly knew that he was gonna be forsaken by God, but in his humanity, he probably didn't understand how long he would have to endure being forsaken by God.
Pastor Eric:
30:39-30:53
And if you understand the context of Psalm 22, it's as though Jesus is saying, "How long is it going to last?
Pastor Eric:
30:55-31:19
God, how long is your wrath going to continue to be poured out on me?" You see, when Jesus was on the cross, millions upon millions upon millions upon millions sins were on his shoulders and he was being treated as though he committed all of those facing the wrath of God.
Pastor Eric:
31:21-31:28
I remember when I was a little boy, I saw an electric fence.
Pastor Eric:
31:30-31:31
I think I was five.
Pastor Eric:
31:31-31:42
And I grabbed a hold of that electric fence and I could still to this day feel the electricity shooting through my whole body.
Pastor Eric:
31:43-31:47
And I held on to it maybe for two, three seconds max.
Pastor Eric:
31:47-31:50
It gave me a jolt that I can feel to this day.
Pastor Eric:
31:53-32:43
what it would be like to face the wrath of God for the sins of the whole world for just one minute. And Jesus is facing the wrath of God longer and longer and and longer and longer to the point that he cries out, "God, how long? How long?" Now everyone here knows what it feels like to go through a valley, to enter into a time of great sadness or darkness, a time where you feel lonely and isolated, a time where you're tremendously discouraged and you're battling with depression.
Pastor Eric:
32:44-32:46
Everyone here has faced heartaches.
Pastor Eric:
32:48-33:00
But even in those moments, even in your darkest valleys that you'll ever face, you will never be abandoned by God.
Pastor Eric:
33:03-33:08
God will always be there for you if you know Jesus by faith.
Pastor Eric:
33:10-33:13
And at the end of the day, God will be enough.
Pastor Eric:
33:15-33:17
But it's not the same for Jesus here.
Pastor Eric:
33:18-33:25
He is going through the greatest crisis a human has ever experienced.
Pastor Eric:
33:26-33:31
And he doesn't have God and his comfort at all.
Pastor Eric:
33:32-33:46
In fact, not only is he devoid of God's comfort, God is actively pouring out his hatred on him for the sins of the world.
Pastor Eric:
33:48-33:52
And Jesus did this for you.
Pastor Eric:
33:56-34:00
We face the wrath of God because that's how terrible your sin is.
Pastor Eric:
34:03-34:08
Isaiah 53, 6 says, "All we like sheep have gone astray.
Pastor Eric:
34:10-34:13
We have turned everyone to his own way.
Pastor Eric:
34:15-34:25
And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Look at verse 36, chapter 15.
Pastor Eric:
34:27-34:44
And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.
Pastor Eric:
34:46-34:50
John 19, verse 30 tells us what Jesus said when he cried out.
Pastor Eric:
34:52-34:52
You know what he said?
Pastor Eric:
34:53-35:01
He said, "It is finished." Jesus is dying on the cross.
Pastor Eric:
35:01-35:09
Before he dies, he cries out, "It is finished!" It says he cried out with a loud voice.
Pastor Eric:
35:10-35:11
What was finished?
Pastor Eric:
35:12-36:12
had paid the full price of the wrath of God for your sins. He paid the price for all of your past sins, for all of your present sins, for all of your future sins, so that if you come to Him there is no condemnation, there is no judgment, There is no wrath for you whatsoever. That's what Jesus meant. It is finished. You will never ever ever be condemned Because I paid it all if you come to me Verse 38 and the curtain of the temple was torn in two From top to bottom Now the curtain in the temple had a significant role.
Pastor Eric:
36:13-36:18
It was 30 feet wide, 60 feet high, 2 to 3 inches thick.
Pastor Eric:
36:20-36:27
And the curtain blocked off anyone from entering into the Most Holy Place.
Pastor Eric:
36:28-36:32
The Most Holy Place is also referred to as the Holy of Holies.
Pastor Eric:
36:34-36:43
The Most Holy Place was the part of the Temple that everyone was separated from except one individual, the High Priest.
Pastor Eric:
36:44-36:55
And the High Priest could only enter into the Most Holy Place one time a year, on the Day of Atonement, which is still celebrated to this day.
Pastor Eric:
36:55-37:50
you know Jewish people, they still celebrate the day of Yom Kippur. That was the day when the high priest would enter in to the most holy place. Now look at what it says, "And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." The curtain was not torn in two from bottom to top. That's how man would have done it. The curtain was torn in two from top to bottom because that's how God did it. God tore the curtain in two as a symbol to show everyone that there will no longer be any separation between me and humans if you come to my son Jesus.
Pastor Eric:
37:51-38:43
You understand that when Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden and they said, "God we don't want to do things your way, we want to do things our way," that at that moment a separation occurred from every human being and God. Every single person who's born is born separated from God. That's what it means to be a sinner. The Bible refers to us without Jesus as being spiritually dead, as being in darkness, as being blind. It's separated from the life of God, not having a relationship with God. And that doesn't mean that everybody in this room has a relationship with God. You may be here this morning and you are still separated from God. God would need to show you that.
Pastor Eric:
38:44-40:00
But just because you're at church, just because you've gone to church, just because you find Jesus somewhat interesting doesn't mean that you're still not separated from God himself. Something radical has to occur for that to change. But when God tore the temple from top to bottom, he was saying this, "Every person can enter into my presence and experience an intimate relationship with me that's more real than anything you've ever experienced. And if you know Jesus this morning, I want to encourage you and remind you God has opened up the most holy place for you. He promises that if you would seek him, if you would draw near to him, he'll draw near to you. There are no barriers keeping you from enjoying the presence of God. Jesus has paid for your sins. He has ended the separation. He came to lead you out of darkness and into the light. And you can take full advantage of that. Are you?
Pastor Eric:
40:00-40:33
Are you enjoying the God who paid for all of your sins. Verse 39, "When the centurion who stood facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, 'Truly this man was the Son of God.' And there were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene and marry the mother of James the younger and of Joses and Salome.
Pastor Eric:
40:35-40:37
When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him.
Pastor Eric:
40:38-40:42
And there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
Pastor Eric:
40:43-41:02
And when evening had come, since it was the day of preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Pastor Eric:
41:04-41:06
Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have died already.
Pastor Eric:
41:07-41:11
And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.
Pastor Eric:
41:12-41:17
And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.
Pastor Eric:
41:19-41:28
And Joseph bought a linen shroud and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock.
Pastor Eric:
41:29-41:32
And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.
Pastor Eric:
41:33-41:44
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid." I want to give you two takeaways from this message today.
Pastor Eric:
41:47-41:52
Number one, recognize how terrible your sin is.
Pastor Eric:
41:56-41:57
That's a takeaway.
Pastor Eric:
41:59-42:12
Let the terribleness of Jesus suffering on the cross make you face the terribleness of sin that remains in your heart.
Pastor Eric:
42:16-42:30
If you're here this morning and you have never come to Jesus to deal with your sin, I plead with you on behalf of God, come to Him today.
Pastor Eric:
42:31-42:35
There will come a day when you will have to face the wrath of God.
Pastor Eric:
42:36-42:39
It doesn't matter how nice everyone else thinks you are.
Pastor Eric:
42:39-42:43
It doesn't matter how professional you appear to be on the outside.
Pastor Eric:
42:43-42:48
It doesn't matter how much success in this world you feel like you have.
Pastor Eric:
42:49-42:51
All of that is going to go away.
Pastor Eric:
42:52-42:53
You are going to die.
Pastor Eric:
42:54-42:56
You cannot avoid your death.
Pastor Eric:
42:56-42:58
It is inevitable.
Pastor Eric:
42:59-43:01
I don't care how healthy you are.
Pastor Eric:
43:01-43:03
I don't care how safe you are in life.
Pastor Eric:
43:03-43:05
You will die.
Pastor Eric:
43:07-43:18
And when you die, you are going to meet your Creator face to face, and His holy eyes will peer into your soul, and you will have no excuse for your sin.
Pastor Eric:
43:20-43:27
It's easy now to blame your sins on other people, but when you're before God, there will be no excuse.
Pastor Eric:
43:28-43:31
God will see right through every justification.
Pastor Eric:
43:32-43:39
He will show you all the times that you mocked and ridiculed and looked down on people who do the same things you do.
Pastor Eric:
43:40-43:48
He'll show you all the times you felt superior to other people who do the same things you do in private and in your own mind.
Pastor Eric:
43:49-43:55
He will rid you of all your pride and arrogance and bring you low and you'll say, "I have no excuse.
Pastor Eric:
43:56-44:07
I am condemned." You will have to face the wrath of God yourself if you don't come to Jesus to face the wrath of God for you.
Pastor Eric:
44:10-44:12
You don't have to face His wrath though.
Pastor Eric:
44:14-44:18
Jesus paid for all of your sins so that you could be forgiven.
Pastor Eric:
44:19-44:22
Today is the day of salvation, the Bible says.
Pastor Eric:
44:22-44:26
If you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.
Pastor Eric:
44:27-44:28
I don't know what's going on in your hearts.
Pastor Eric:
44:29-44:33
I have no clue what you're thinking right now, what you're feeling, but God knows.
Pastor Eric:
44:34-44:37
God hears your thoughts as clearly as you hear my words.
Pastor Eric:
44:39-44:43
The Bible says man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
Pastor Eric:
44:44-44:51
And if God is convicting you right now that you're not right with him, today is the day to come to him.
Pastor Eric:
44:52-44:53
Don't put it off.
Pastor Eric:
44:53-44:55
Tomorrow is not guaranteed to you.
Pastor Eric:
44:57-44:59
You do not know if you will live another day.
Pastor Eric:
45:00-45:04
People say, "Pastor, are you trying to scare us?" I'm trying to tell you reality.
Pastor Eric:
45:05-45:10
Not too long ago at my church, I was talking to a guy right after the service.
Pastor Eric:
45:12-45:14
And as far as I know, he did not know Jesus.
Pastor Eric:
45:14-45:16
He was far from God.
Pastor Eric:
45:16-45:18
It was the first time he had come to our church.
Pastor Eric:
45:18-45:20
The next week I found out he was dead.
Pastor Eric:
45:22-45:30
We were praying, "God, bring this man to you." I had a friend named Jeff in his late 20s, working on his sermon.
Pastor Eric:
45:31-45:35
Late at night, his wife woke up in the morning, he was dead on the floor.
Pastor Eric:
45:36-45:38
He died of a brain aneurysm.
Pastor Eric:
45:38-45:39
Nobody saw it coming.
Pastor Eric:
45:40-45:41
Very healthy.
Pastor Eric:
45:41-45:44
When it's your time to go, that's it.
Pastor Eric:
45:44-45:49
You understand that the only reason why your heart is beating right now is because God is making it beat.
Pastor Eric:
45:50-45:52
You are not generating your life.
Pastor Eric:
45:53-45:57
You do not have the ability to make yourself live.
Pastor Eric:
45:57-46:00
You are utterly contingent upon God.
Pastor Eric:
46:03-46:09
So today, if you don't know Jesus, cry out to him because his grace is coming to you.
Pastor Eric:
46:09-46:15
Receive the forgiveness of sins and be cleansed by his death.
Pastor Eric:
46:17-46:22
And if you're here this morning and you know, Jesus, I have a word for you as well.
Pastor Eric:
46:24-46:26
Are you dealing with your sin Christian?
Pastor Eric:
46:30-46:36
Has God been pointing out some things in your life and have you been ignoring those things?
Pastor Eric:
46:38-46:40
Have you been trying to justify those things?
Pastor Eric:
46:40-46:43
Have you been telling lies to get around it?
Pastor Eric:
46:44-47:01
When you look at Jesus and you see the terribleness of his suffering, it should make you think about the terribleness of your sin. Why would I want to play around with sin when Jesus had to go through all of that for me? How can I take any sin lightly?
Pastor Eric:
47:02-47:25
How can I allow my mind to be bitter toward another person and hate them? How can I gossip and slander against other people? How can I click on that website and give in to lust? How can I flirt with that person and play around with an adulterous relationship is God putting things on your heart?
Pastor Eric:
47:27-47:27
You know if he is.
Pastor Eric:
47:28-47:28
That's not me.
Pastor Eric:
47:28-47:29
That's God.
Pastor Eric:
47:29-47:31
Is he bringing things to mind right now?
Pastor Eric:
47:33-47:34
Are you willing to deal with it?
Pastor Eric:
47:35-47:40
When you look at the cross, when you really see the cross, you'll deal with it.
Pastor Eric:
47:43-47:45
Because Jesus had to be killed for your sin.
Pastor Eric:
47:46-47:48
You should be willing to kill all of your sin.
Pastor Eric:
47:50-47:57
Number two, recognize how great God's love is for you.
Pastor Eric:
47:59-48:01
I wonder if you see it this morning.
Pastor Eric:
48:03-48:05
Do you see how great God's love is for you?
Pastor Eric:
48:09-48:14
Don't say, "I wonder if God loves me." Don't say, "I'm not sure does God loves me.
Pastor Eric:
48:14-48:18
I wonder if he loves me." Don't say that.
Pastor Eric:
48:18-48:19
Here's what I want to encourage you.
Pastor Eric:
48:20-48:21
Look at the cross.
Pastor Eric:
48:22-48:23
Look at the cross.
Pastor Eric:
48:24-48:26
He showed you how much he loves you.
Pastor Eric:
48:27-48:36
He not only was beat and whipped and mocked and ridiculed and nailed to the cross, he bore the wrath of God for you.
Pastor Eric:
48:37-48:38
He loves you.
Pastor Eric:
48:39-48:39
Do you see?
Pastor Eric:
48:40-48:47
He's paid the full price so that you can be with him forever and ever and ever.
Pastor Eric:
48:48-48:51
So you don't have to question if God loves you.
Pastor Eric:
48:51-48:52
Of course He loves you.
Pastor Eric:
48:53-48:54
It's the cross.
Pastor Eric:
48:54-48:58
That's why the cross is central in all of Christianity.
Pastor Eric:
48:58-48:59
That's why people wear crosses.
Pastor Eric:
49:00-49:02
That's why we have crosses in churches.
Pastor Eric:
49:02-49:08
We want you to be reminded that God loves you in spite of your sin.
Pastor Eric:
49:09-49:12
He loves you in spite of your sin.
Pastor Eric:
49:13-49:16
He didn't expect you to clean your life up and get it all perfect.
Pastor Eric:
49:16-49:53
No, he came and sought after you when your life was dirty and filthy and he paid for it all So that you could have his love in the fullest The cross is a window into the heart of God Where you see his love most vividly you don't see the love of God any more clearly than on the cross the crucifixion of Jesus shouts with the loudest voice through the loudest speakers in the universe.
Pastor Eric:
49:54-49:57
God loves you.
Pastor Eric:
49:59-50:02
God loves you.
Pastor Eric:
50:04-50:04
Let's pray.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Mark 15:33-41
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.