[00:00:07] Hey, everybody, this is Rick. Welcome back to the Nomad Pastor podcast. Hey, look, today we're going to dig into some deep stuff about the christian faith and how it impacts our lives today.
[00:00:21] And today we're going to tackle kind of a.
[00:00:25] A surprising topic, I guess I would say.
[00:00:30] I hate to admit that I probably spend too much time on social media. And I saw this reel that talked about the best and worst thing that ever happened in our lives.
[00:00:40] And it really made me think that the worst thing that has happened in humanity is the murder of the son of God.
[00:00:53] And the best thing that has ever happened is the death of the son of God.
[00:00:59] And when I heard that, I thought, man, that's kind of confusing to me, right? Like, how can the greatest tragedy in history also be the greatest victory?
[00:01:12] It's kind of a paradox, right? But that's kind of the very heart of the gospel. And I think what we need to try to do is we need to try to unpack that.
[00:01:21] And so as we unpack that together, we're going to see why the crucifixion of Christ is the most important event in human history.
[00:01:32] And then we're going to spend some time to understand this horrific event that occurred, this horrific and unjust thing that occurred at this time, and just why it was so horrific.
[00:01:51] We're going to look at how his death, how his murder, while so horrific and so unjust, was also the most loving, redemptive act that God could have ever done for humanity.
[00:02:09] And so I want to just dive into it, right? And so I want to start by focusing on the first part of this statement, right? The worst thing ever is the murder of the son of God.
[00:02:21] We often look at the crucifixion as something necessary for our salvation. And it 100% is. It is absolutely necessary.
[00:02:34] But before we get to the redemption side of things, we also need to just take a pause for a minute and recognize how. How horrific this event really was. So I want to. I want you to picture this, right? Jesus, the son of God, the Messiah, the one who came to bring salvation to the world, is betrayed by one of his closest followers, Judas.
[00:03:01] And he's betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, right? Judas basically sells out the one who loved him, the one who taught him, the one who shared his life with him for three years.
[00:03:15] And then Jesus is arrested in the garden of Gethsemane.
[00:03:19] And this is a place where he had gone to pray, often where he went to find peace.
[00:03:26] But in this instance, instead of finding peace, he finds soldiers, he finds soldiers with swords coming to take him away like a common criminal.
[00:03:39] Spend a minute to think about that.
[00:03:42] A place that he went for peace. And now he's condemned. They condemn him, right? There's this mock trial. The religious leaders who, frankly, they should have recognized that he was the Messiah. They condemn him. They call him a blasphemy because he claimed to be the son of God.
[00:04:05] The very people who have been waiting for the Messiah, the very people who knew the scriptures better than anyone else, are the ones who demand his death. It is a complete and utter injustice.
[00:04:21] And if that wasn't enough, he's taken to the roman government, Pontius, where he's beaten, where he's mocked, where he's humiliated.
[00:04:36] Matthew 27, 28 and 29 describes to us how they stripped him. They put him in a scarlet robe. They put a crown of thorns on him. They twisted this crown of thorns together and placed it on his head. They say, they mock him, and they say, hail to the king of Jews. They spit on him. They strike him in the head.
[00:04:58] This is where we see the worst of humanity.
[00:05:03] Here's Jesus, the son of God, who had done nothing but good. He had been healing sick. He had been raising the dead. He had been loving the outcast. He had been loving the people, just like me. And now he's being tortured and led to his death by the very people who he came to save.
[00:05:23] So spend some time and think about the weight of that moment.
[00:05:30] He wasn't just facing physical pain.
[00:05:34] He was carrying all of the weight of our sins.
[00:05:39] In Isaiah 50 through three, it says, he was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain.
[00:05:49] And we have to sit in that moment for a minute because it's easy to gloss over how devastating this was. But the worst part of this event isn't just the physical and emotional pain.
[00:06:02] It's the spiritual rejection.
[00:06:05] Right when Jesus cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In Matthew 27, in that moment, Jesus is experiencing full separation from goddesse. That's what sin brings, full separation from God.
[00:06:26] He took on the weight of the world's sin, mine and yours. He was forsaken.
[00:06:34] So it's probably easy to ask, why is this the worst thing ever? Because we killed. We killed the son of God.
[00:06:42] We killed the one who created the heavens and the earth, the one who. Who has, who holds all things together.
[00:06:51] He was crucified by the very people he created.
[00:06:58] It is humanity's greatest rebellion.
[00:07:02] The rejection of God's love. That's what it was. Our rejection of God's love. In my mind, it's the darkest moment in human history.
[00:07:11] And this little two minute reel that said, the worst thing to ever happen is the murder of Christ. And the greatest thing to ever happen is the death of Christ. Really made me spend a lot of time thinking about this, because I didn't. Frankly, I'm just like, how can that be, right? Christ's death was, for me, was like life saving, but he.
[00:07:42] He carried it all, you know, for me, when I. When I think of this and when I hear this and when I was studying to.
[00:07:51] And putting this podcast together and the different conversations, I was starting to feel the weight of my own sin. I was starting, you know, kind of to understand my rejection of God before I became a Christian. And even when I sin today, because I'm not perfect, I start to understand the gravity of it.
[00:08:16] And maybe in your life, you've experienced deep, deep pain. Maybe you have been abandoned into your life.
[00:08:25] This teaches us that Jesus understands that he's been there, that he carried that pain, that he did it for you and he did it for me.
[00:08:37] There's a lot to just think about right there, to try to understand that, because I, who I still. I still struggle with it.
[00:08:48] So now we got to move on to the second part, right? The best thing ever, the death of the son of God.
[00:08:56] How can the greatest injustice, the murder of Christ, also be the greatest act of love? This is where I think God's grace comes into full view in a way that I probably never, not even probably, this is where God's grace comes into full view in a way I never understood until starting to think about this, to study this, I mean, I understand, right? God's grace is something I don't deserve.
[00:09:28] But this is a whole different perspective.
[00:09:31] And if you look in romans, right, romans five, eight says, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we are still sinners. Christ died for us.
[00:09:44] You see, Jesus didn't die because he had to.
[00:09:47] He chose to. He died because he chose to. He died out of love for me and you knowing full well that we're not worthy of it, that we don't deserve it.
[00:10:00] So while the murder of Jesus was humanity's ultimate rejection of God, his death was God's ultimate embrace of humanity.
[00:10:13] Jesus willingly went to the cross because he knew it was the only way to rescue us from our sin. He knew that without his death, there would be no hope for us.
[00:10:26] Think about that for a moment. The cross wasn't just an instrument of death. It was an instrument of salvation.
[00:10:34] Jesus, his death paid the price for every sin that has ever been committed or will ever be committed.
[00:10:44] The penalty of sin is death. And Jesus took that penalty upon himself so that I wouldn't have to. So that you listening? Wouldn't have to.
[00:10:55] Hebrews 922 tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
[00:11:01] In the Old Testament, you know, Israel had to offer sacrifices year after year after year to atone for their sins, because that sacrifice would never fully take away the sin.
[00:11:15] They were this temporary covering, right? The spotless lamb, right? That every year you would make your pilgrimage, you would give up the lamb, and it was temporary.
[00:11:29] See, but Jesus death was the once and for all sacrifice. It finally dealt with sin forever, once and for all. You didn't have to. It wasn't temporary. It was eternal.
[00:11:43] So think about this.
[00:11:46] When Jesus died, Matthew 27 51 says that the curtains of the temple was torn into from top to bottom.
[00:11:56] Now, this curtain, right, separated the holy from holies. That was the place where God's presence dwelt.
[00:12:05] It was this place in the temple that was separated from the rest of the temple. Only the high priest could enter the holy of holies. And even then, right when the high priests could enter, they could only do this once a year to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people, because that's where the presence of God dwell.
[00:12:25] But when Jesus died, that barrier was torn. And I think it's interesting that it's, that we're. That it was torn from the top to the bottom, right? That's something only God could do. You know, nobody grabbed one end of each side of the curtain and ripped it from the bottom to the top. It ripped from the top to the bottom.
[00:12:48] So when Jesus died, that barrier is gone, that separation between God and humanity is removed. And so his death made a way for us to enter into the presence of God without, without that fear. We no longer needed a priest. We no longer needed a pastor, because Jesus is our high priest. Priest.
[00:13:10] He's the one who can. Who. He's the only way to God. He's the only one who can bring us to God. So in his death, Jesus conquered sin and death. He turned this horrific tragedy, the ultimate tragedy, into this glorious victory, this ultimate triumphant victory.
[00:13:33] The worst thing became the best thing.
[00:13:39] What looked like a defeat became a victory. It was actually a victory.
[00:13:46] In one corinthians 1555 through 57, Paul writes, where, o death, is your victory? Where, o death, is your sting. The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is in the law. But thanks be to God, he gives us victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
[00:14:06] You see, the death of Jesus was not a defeat. It was the greatest victory in history. It was the greatest thing that could ever happen. His death was.
[00:14:16] This is going to sound weird. When I. As I thought about it, his death was. It put death to death like it was the. It was the death of death. His resurrection was the beginning of a new life for all who believe in him.
[00:14:34] And, you know, the amazing part is this victory isn't just something that. That we look back on and go, oh, that was nice.
[00:14:43] We can experience it right now.
[00:14:47] Jesus didn't just die to forgive our sins. He died to set us free from sin. He died to give us a new life. He wants us to have an abundant life. He wants us to have a joy filled life, a life lived in the power of his resurrection.
[00:15:03] So my question is, how do you respond to this? How do you live in the light of the best thing that has ever happened?
[00:15:13] So let's just reflect on this a little bit.
[00:15:17] Let's take a few moments, right? The worst thing ever and the best thing ever happened in the exact same event. I know it's hard to wrap your minds around.
[00:15:26] God wouldn't take the greatest injustice, or let me rephrase that, God took the greatest injustice, the murder of his son, and turned it into the greatest act of love.
[00:15:44] You see, God's ways are not our ways. What we may see as defeat, God sees as victory. What we may see is loss, God sees as gain. And I think about my walk and when I came to Christ, right?
[00:16:01] If you've listened to this podcast, you've listened to my testimony, and you know that my wife had just had surgery and there was complications, and she's dying, right? She. To me, she looks like she's dying.
[00:16:18] That's the worst day of my life.
[00:16:22] And at that moment, I hear a voice telling me to pick her up.
[00:16:29] And after saying no a couple times, on that third time, I did pick her up and come to find out she's praying for somebody to save her.
[00:16:39] And that began my walk with Christ.
[00:16:42] Now, I'm not comparing my worst and best to anything that I'm talking about, but I'm using that as an example to say the same event that brought me to Christ was a hard time for me, and it was hard for me to deal with, you know, what God sees as defeat, or what we see as defeat, God sees as victory.
[00:17:16] You know, and as I reflect on my life.
[00:17:19] In that moment of when God told me to pick her up.
[00:17:28] I want you to reflect on yours.
[00:17:32] Have there been times where you faced hardship or tragedy?
[00:17:37] Have there been times where you've been suffering and then years later, to look back and see how God used that situation for good?
[00:17:48] Maybe it was a broken relationship. Maybe it was somebody dying in your family.
[00:17:54] Maybe it was something just horrific that led you closer to God.
[00:17:59] Maybe it was a difficult season that produced growth and maturity in your life.
[00:18:08] Romans 828 says, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
[00:18:18] You see, the cross is the ultimate example of truth. God takes the worst and turns it into the best. And if he can do that on the cross, he can definitely do it in your life beyond a shadow of a doubt.
[00:18:33] So you may be going through a hard time right now.
[00:18:36] And right now you may feel like your life is filled with darkness.
[00:18:41] I know when we look at the world today and our culture and our society and things that are going on and people are hating each other, that's Satan twisting it. That's Satan telling lies. When you're facing a situation that may seem hopeless, let me remind you.
[00:18:59] The same God who turned the murder of his son into the salvation of the world can turn your pain, your suffering and your failures into something beautiful.
[00:19:13] That's the power of the cross.
[00:19:17] The only question is, would you trust him?
[00:19:20] Will you let God use even the worst things in your life for his glory and your good?
[00:19:32] I know that's a complex thing to think about, but it's important.
[00:19:43] It's important to recognize these things, because there's a lot of things in our life that we think are the just horrible. And how did. How did this occur, and how do I get past this? And how do I get through? And how do I get over it? How do I move forward? How do I get closer? Right. You hear that stuff a lot.
[00:20:01] Look to God.
[00:20:05] You know, we have to recognize that our sin is what made the cross necessary. We are all guilty.
[00:20:15] Romans 323 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
[00:20:20] Every lie that we tell, every act of selfishness, every time we reject God's will in favor of our own, when we choose what we want over what God wants, those sins are what put Jesus on the cross. We can never minimize that. And if you try to minimize it, you're just. You're lying to yourself.
[00:20:45] Jesus took the punishment for our sins so that we wouldn't have to.
[00:20:51] He took those sins in his body on the cross.
[00:20:57] And because of that, we're free. We're free from the guilt, we're free from the shame, and we're free from the power of sin. We just have a choice to make.
[00:21:08] And if you've never placed your faith in Jesus, I want to invite you to do it today.
[00:21:14] Jesus's death and resurrection are not just historical events. They are life changing realities that you can experience right now. He died for you. He rose for you, and he's offering you a new life today.
[00:21:29] If you're already a believer, I encourage you to live in the power of the cross every day.
[00:21:34] That same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you. Don't let sin or guilt or fear or anxiety or whatever it may be, hold you back. Walk in the freedom that Jesus has already won for you.
[00:21:53] And remember, first, Peter 224. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
[00:22:06] Jesus didn't just die to forgive our sins. He died so that we might live a new life, a life of purpose, a life of joy, a life of righteousness. That's what he died for.
[00:22:21] So, as we close this, you know, as I end this today, I want to leave you with a thought.
[00:22:27] The cross is both the worst and best thing that has ever happened. It is the place where God's justice and mercy meet. It's where our sins are paid for and where our new life begins. It is the ultimate paradox, but it is also the ultimate hope.
[00:22:47] So wherever you are in your journey today, where, whether you feel weighed down by sin, whether you are overwhelmed by the challenges of your life, whether you are overwhelmed by the challenges of this world, whether you are overwhelmed by the hate in social media, if you simply are in need of hope, remember the cross, remember that Jesus died for you, and that in his death, there is life.
[00:23:17] I hope that this message speaks to you. I pray that this message touches you, that in your walk, that you recognize this paradox.
[00:23:32] And, you know, I don't do this enough, but I do want to pray to.
[00:23:36] So I'm gonna pray real quick. Father, we thank you for this incredible gift of your son, Jesus. We thank you for his sacrifice on the cross and for the new life that comes through his death and resurrection. Lord, help us live in the light of the cross every day. Lord, help us trust in your power to redeem even the darkest moments of our lives. Lord, be with us as we go through these trials in our lives. Lord, allow us to be strong. Allow us to be protected from the enemy. Wrap wrap all of us with your protection.
[00:24:11] We ask all of this in Jesus mighty name. Amen.
[00:24:16] If you're listening today and you haven't accepted Jesus as your savior, I want to invite you to make that decision. Jesus loves you. He died for you, and he's offering you a new life, an eternal life.
[00:24:29] All you have to do is trust him. I want to thank you for joining me today. Again, this is Rick with the Nomad Pastor podcast. I hope this message has encouraged you. I hope this message maybe challenged you to see the power of the cross in a different way.
[00:24:44] If you have questions or you need prayer, don't hesitate to reach out. You can email
[email protected] dot remember share this subscribe like it we're on all podcast platforms of your choice.
[00:24:59] Share it with your friends.
[00:25:01] But I want you to remember one thing, love God and love people.
