The Sacrificial Son

INTRODUCTION

I would like to share with you a message that is much bigger than myself, much larger than all of mankind.

There are none that can understand the full richness of God’s love for His children until that day when we stand before Him in his glory and are enveloped with His divine love.
What we do however have is the capacity of his love being expressed in earthly form through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. My desire tonight is to help us all come a little closer to our Father God, His Son and the Holy Spirit, by embracing the full capacity of that love.

If you will please turn in your Bibles to the Book of 1 John, Chapter 4, and will you please stand in honor of God’s Holy Word as I read Verse 10.

SCRIPTURE
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son {to be} the propitiation for our sins.

May God bless His Holy Word, you may be seated.

I would like to share with you two of my greatest joys. My oldest son Eric, who was born September 13th, 1995, and my youngest son Christian, who was born May 23rd, 2005.Two incredible boys born nearly 10 years and a millennium apart.I wanted to not only introduce to you my sons, but I wanted them to be an illustration to this message that I have entitled The Sacrificial Son.Our two boys might seem quite insignificant to much of the world and maybe even to some reading this message, but to their mother and I, they are the greatest earthly gift God has given to us, and I know we cherish them far greater than any material thing.
A friend of mine told me when she learned my wife was pregnant that, “you will never understand the love that your own parents had for you until you have that child.” I know now in my life, how much my parents love me.We would lay our lives down for our sons; we would die at any costs to save these two lives, and yet one day we know they will face the inevitable and there is nothing we can do to prevent that from happening.

Throughout human history, there have been many stories of heroism, and without those hero’s and heroine’s our world would be filled with the tragic accounts of people’s lives coming under extreme sufferings and horrific finales.
In instances of challenging circumstances, men and women have been known to do amazing feats to overcome such situations.Some have even paid with their own lives in order to meet those confrontations head on while their efforts produced the fruit of their labors.I recall a story about my own grandfather and how his mother lifted a truck off of him as a child when the wheel of the vehicle rolled on the top of him.And, of course most of us can recall stories of men and women rushing into the twin towers after terrorists flew jumbo passenger airliners into the sides of both of them turning them into massive graves just minutes later.What drives the human spirit to act in such situations?
Hero’s are an evidence of something greater of humanities existence. And we can see Jesus as being more than a hero in the context of this passage and in scripture. And He is THE very evidence of the greater God that came to provide us a way unto salvation when we were not worthy of it.

God Sent His Son - Jesus Came Voluntarily

The first thing we see about the Sacrificial Son in the scripture is that God Sent Him; God Sent His Own Son.

Can you imagine expecting your child’s death for over 30 years?
I could not live my life normally, aware that my sons would one day die such an excruciating death; not only knowing that they would come under such torture but knowing the exact time, place and way they would die and the purpose of their sacrifice. I would do everything I could to change the course of history, so my children would live and not suffer the way Christ had to suffer.Now, imagine awaiting your child’s murder for eternity?Do you think God was moved by this anticipation?If God can be grieved, angry, pleased, He certainly can be emotional at the torture and death of His Son, the One and only Way to Heaven and eternal life.
I do not believe any of us can understand the full capacity of God’s love for us, His children, through this act of sacrificing His Son, Jesus.
I said I would do everything within my power to alter the course of history, so my children would not have to endure such a death, but I am limited in my capacity to do such things. First of all, I can’t see into the future to know what is going to happen to my children. Second I have no power at all to alter or change anything that is going to occur.
God had all the power & sovereignty to see ahead and to change the course of His Son’s death, but He did not stop it. He could have done what was necessary to keep His Son from being tortured to death, but He chose to let Him suffer, not only did he chose to let Him suffer, He sent Him to suffer.
Understand that Jesus also did this voluntarily. God Sent His Son, but Jesus Came Voluntarily. Jesus is the Son of the Most High. Don’t you think He could have stayed right there in Heaven without coming down here to die the way He did. Jesus could have stayed where He was and not given His life for us, but He chose us and desired us, and He decided to do what was necessary so that we might be with Him. His love was so perfect He was not only willing to clothe Himself in human flesh and blood, come down here and teach the world about who He is, but He gave Himself Voluntarily to be sacrificed. How powerful His love for us.
And for what cause did all this have to occur?
We’ll take a look at that at the end of this message.

God Sentenced His Son - Jesus Accepted the Sentence Willingly

The next thing we see in the passage is, essentially, when God sent His Son, He was sentencing Him to death.
God Sentenced His own Son to death.
How could He do this?
I know that I could never sentence my own sons to death. I don’t care how horrible a thing they might do or could do. I know I could not send them to their own deaths.
I think if it were necessary to send them to prison, I might could do that, but if I were a judge and I had to sentence them to death in the electric chair, I know I could not do it.
Now, not only could I not sentence my boys to their deaths, but I know for a fact I wouldn’t do it knowing about their innocence, or that it needed to be done for someone else’s acts. God just didn’t sentence His Son to death, He did it while He was yet innocent, and He did it for those that were already sentenced for their acts.

God didn’t just sentence His Son, but Jesus Accepted the Sentence Willingly. Jesus being equal to God, the Father, willingly accepted this sentence. He was in perfect agreement with the Father, and He accepted the fate which was meant for you & I. Because of Their love and passion for Their children, God sentenced Jesus, and Jesus willingly accepted that sentence. Why? Because of the capacity of their love for you & I.
We see all through the Holy Bible, God’s love for His children.

Deut 14:2 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Is 53:10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting {Him} to grief; If He would render Himself {as} a guilt offering, He will see {His} offspring, He will prolong {His} days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
Is 53:11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see {it and} be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
Is 53:12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

2 Thess 2:13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

Jesus was willing to accept the sentence imposed upon Him that was not even His to bear, because of the greatness of His love for us.

God Sacrificed His Son - Jesus Layed Down His Own Life Whole Heartedly

Well, we see that God sent His Son, and He sentenced His Son, next we know that God Sacrificed His Son.
Throughout all of scripture, sacrificing has been an absolute necessity and requirement of God.In the very beginning, in the book of Genesis, we see the sacrifice of the animal to cover Adam and Eve after their disobedient sinning.
Noah & his family were spared, but yet the whole world had to be sacrificed to save the remnant of God’s righteousness in His children.
Again we see the remnant being saved through Abraham’s leading the Jews out of Egypt after the Passover where many people died, so they could be set free.We see the sacrifice requirement of Moses son, Isaac, and God’s provisional sacrifice to spare Mose’s son..
What is extraordinary is that God is the one who provided the sacrifices in all instances.
He is the one who provided a way for His people to be saved.All of this to bring us to a point when God would provide the sacrifice for the sin of all men through His Son, Christ Jesus.

And even though God Sacrificed His Son, ultimately we know that, Jesus lay down His Own Life, Whole-Heartedly.
Jesus was devoted to giving Himself for the sins of the world. I remember the Passion of the Christ Movie that Mel Gibson did. In it, when Jesus was carrying the cross to calvary, you can see His passion in His embrace of the cross. I thought the movie captured that so well. You actually see Jesus loving the steps He was taking to be crucified, and all you can do is marvel at the incredible devotion He had. Is this what really happened? Why not? It was why He came. It was why He was sent. It was what He desired for His children, you, to save us all. One other scene during His walk to the cross, He sees His mother, Mary, as He stumbles from the exhaustion from His beating and the weight of the cross, He says the following, “Mother, look what I do for all men.”(paraphrased)
That was the most moving part in that movie for me. Jesus willing to suffer for everyone, so whole-heartedly.

God Saved His People - Jesus Is the Propitiation for the Undeserving

Finally, we see what all this led to in the scriptures and for what cause all of this had to take place;
God Saved His People. Are we so worthy of this kind of love?
Every single day, I struggle with all kinds of sin, and I sometimes do not want to seek His forgiveness, most obviously because of more sin in my life, but I do. I do want His forgiveness, especially since I am saved. And I know He does forgive me. He is faithful and just to forgive me when I ask Him to. Am I so worthy of this kind of love?
I do not have that capacity of love that Jesus and the Father expressed for me. I could not do what Jesus did, I could not give any of my family members the way the Father did, I could not sacrifice for such people as they sacrificed for. Jesus even while He was on the cross, being ridiculed, mocked, spit upon, still asked the Father to forgive them. Why did He? He did so because of the infinite love and compassion He has for all of us.

Is 53:4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
Is 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being {fell} upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
Is 53:6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

Are you so worthy of this kind of love?

Of course we are not worthy, that is why Jesus did what He did!

The scripture states, ‘herein not that we loved God’
Those that are not saved, do not love the one and only God. They may express worship to a god of their own making but that kind of god is not the Lord of Love & Truth.; this god is no more than a golden calf fashioned by their own hands in the flames of hell.

We are not deserving and we are not able to save ourselves, but Christ is deserving and able to save the objects of His love and affection!

Barnes: In this state He showed us His love though we had no desire for it.
Jesus did not come here to just save the people we might consider good and kind in this world. He didn’t come just to save your sweet grandmother because she is the nicest person you know. He came to save those who are the least of all men. He came to save the sinner. He died for the undeserving. He died for me, a transgressor. He died for you, an iniquitor. He was tortured for us. He was tortured for the prostitute, for the murderer, for the thief, for the rapist, for the pornographer, for the addict, for the pedophile, for the whole world!

Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

1 John 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for {those of} the whole world.

In His innocence, Jesus became the sacrifice for the criminals of God’s law. God died for the ungodly not because we were deserving but because of His divine love.

Yes, God Saved His People, & Jesus is the Propitiation for the Undeserving.
Okay, here is a really big word, pro-pit-i-a-tion.
To make it more difficult, we will call it by the Greek word rendered here, hilasmos
What does this big word propitiation mean?

PROPITIATION (Sermon Illustration provided by, http://www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/a.htm)
The word expiation begins with the prefix ex, which means "out of" or "from." Expiation means to remove something. In biblical theology it has to do with taking away or removing guilt by means of paying a ransom or offering an atonement. It means to pay the penalty for something. Thus, the act of expiation removes the problem by paying for it in some way, in order to satisfy some demand. Christ's expiation of our sin means that He paid the penalty for it and removed it from consideration against us.
On the other hand, propitiation has to do with the object of the expiation. The prefix in this case is pro, which means "for." Propitiation has to do with what brings about a change in God's attitude toward us, so that we are restored to the fellowship and favor of God. In a sense, propitiation points to God's being appeased. If I am angry because you have offended me, but you then appease me, the problem will be removed. Thus propitiation brings in the personal element and stresses that God is no longer angry with us. Propitiation is the result of expiation. The expiation is the act that results in God's changing His attitude toward us. Expiation is what Christ did on the cross. The result of Christ's act of expiation is that God is propitiated. It is the difference between the ransom that is paid and the attitude of the One receiving the ransom.

Jesus death was not in vain. It was for the means of appeasing for the sins of all. It was an act of heroism for an undeserving people.


CONCLUSION

AS I CLOSE…
If there are any here today that have not experienced God’s love in their lives, it is possible because you have not accepted His love that was offered for you.
He wants you to know that kind of love. He loves you in such a capacity to send, sentence, & sacrifice His one and only Son so you the criminal could be saved. If you want to know this love today, give yourself to Him and surrender your life to His Son. He has chosen you. The price is paid. You are redeemed. Accept Him and be saved.

If you want to know God’s love and be saved. I will be here for you to show you how you can ask God to forgive you, the sinner, and to accept His salvation that is freely given to you through His Son.

Thank you, I love you, good night.