Lie #5: God Is Impressed By Our Religions

 

October 25, 2020                       NOTES NOT EDITED

Lies People Tell About God
“He Is Impressed by Religion”
Isaiah 1:10-17

 Have you ever wondered, “How many different religious groups are there in the world?” According to one quick search, “There are an estimated 4,200 different religions in the world”  (Reference.com). Many of these religions can be subdivided into distinct sects and the total jumps to something over 30,000 to 40,000.  With just Baptists alone one man trying to count the different groups simply concluded:  “There seemed to be hundreds” (Catholics365.com).  This man just gave up counting! Trying to count all the religions in the world will give you an Excedrin headache.  The tendency for humans to be religious led one venerable theologian to categorize our species as, “homo religius.”  Within the world of religion there is every conceivable religious approach to humanity’s problems that you could imagine.  But, who has the right answer.  In our day it is politically correct to assert that all religions are good.  My belief is exactly the opposite: all religions are bad.  When we allow our system of beliefs and practices to substitute for a loving, trusting relationship with God through Christ, that is a very bad thing.

 We have been examining “Lies People Tell About God.”  Today, we are going to look at another big whopper of a lie.  Some people are telling the lie that, “God is impressed by religion.”  Before we look at the Scripture to see what God thinks about religion, let’s put down a working definition so we can all be on the same page.

 Religion is a manmade system of beliefs and practices designed to transcend the human condition.

 The human condition is one of decay and disorder.  The human condition is one of evil, darkness and depravation.  The human condition is such that it always leads to decay, disharmony, and eventually death.  Religion is a system that tries to transcend, or overcome, this problem through various systems of beliefs and practices.  Hindus meditate.  Buddhists follow the “Eight-fold path to enlightenment.”  Scientologists try to overcome the human condition by “removing the remnants of painful experiences that have been added to the reactive mind by a process called, ‘auditing’.”  Muslims seek to overcome the human condition by complete and total submission to a tribal god called, Allah.  Then, you have a whole host of cults like Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Moonies, and others, each with a particular prophet and process that promises ultimate victory over the human condition.  You also have thousands of brands of Christianity, each with a particular view on how religion should be practiced in order to overcome sin and find heaven.  Last but not least, and in some sense first, you have the Jews.  This is the only group that has historical claim to the term, “people of God.”  In fact, they received their religion from God, Himself, on the Mountain called Sinai.  Surely, then God would be impressed with the religion of the Jews.  The Bible tells us what God thinks about religion, even the religion of His Chosen Race, as we read  Isaiah 1:10-17, earlier.

 10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 "The multitude of your sacrifices– what are they to me?" says the LORD.  "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations--I cannot bear your evil assemblies. 14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; ¹⁶ wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, ¹⁷learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

May I be so bold as to suggest, after reading Isa. 1:10-17,  that if God has such a low opinion of the religion, even of the people He calls “his chosen race,” then I don’t think He is much impressed by any religion.

What happened?  God established the religious practices for Israel.  What changed in the 2000 years or so that transpired between Moses on Mt. Sinai and the time of Isaiah.  What went wrong with “religion?”  Well, I want to answer the question: “What’s wrong with religion?” by asking and answering four other questions:

1.  What’s man’s responsibility to God?  2.  What’s God’s opinion of False religion?  3.  Is there any religion God does like 4.  What really counts on Judgment day?

We will begin in the New Testament.  Rom 1:18-21:

 1.  What is man’s responsibility to God in regard to salvation?

 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

 Men raise several objections to the Christian claim that there is only one true path to eternal life which is through Jesus Christ.  FIRST, some claim that this is an arrogant, narrow-minded American view.  One such theologian that holds this view is a former Southern Baptist professor by the name of Clark Pinnock.  In his book, A Wideness in God’s Mercy, Pinnock suggests that a person can be saved if he is “sincere in his religion.”  For example, “ A good and bona fide Hindu is saved through a message of morality and a good life.”  People like Pinnock consider it a harsh, bigoted view that someone would be sent to hell simply because they had the misfortune, so to speak, to be born in a country that is basically ignorant of the Christian God and religion.  Therefore, God since God controls where a person is born, God is obligated to accept a person based upon the religious practices of that particular nation.

 A SECOND  objection raised against the exclusivistic claims of Christianity simply asks the question: What about those who have never even heard of Christ?  Surely, it would be horribly unfair for God to send someone to hell because they have never had an opportunity to hear the gospel. 

Now, if we accept the validity of one or both of these objections, then we must concede that God is indeed obligated to save any person based upon the sincerity of his or her religion, and not whether that religion is based upon truth or error.  I will be the first to agree that if “truth does not matter, then all religions are equal.”  But, truth does matter and God does hold people accountable to that truth which He Himself has revealed to man.

Going back to our text in Romans it is clear: God has made Himself known to every man in such a way as to cause that man to seek Him.  If a person does not respond to the general revelation of God that is evident all around him, then that person will justly experience the wrath of God.

There is no man, woman or child anywhere in the world that has not been given this “inner compass” that points to the true God of heaven.  There will not be one group of people anywhere in all the world that will not be given the opportunity to respond to this inner light, surrender to God in Christ, and come into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  This is not to say that all men will be saved, for some will suppress the truth.  But, because all people are given the necessary inner light to seek God, all persons are responsible to respond to God and be saved, or suppress that truth and be lost.  This is the clear teaching of the Bible.  If truth matters, then this is the truth and you would be wise to stop beating around the bush of rebellion and surrender to the God you are hearing about today.

Question #1:   Is man responsible to God for seeking out salvation?   The answer is: absolutely.

So, that brings us to the matter of man’s religions.

2.  What is God’s opinion of the False Religions of Man? (Mt. 15)

We have already heard God’s opinion of man’s religion through the Prophet Isaiah.  In summary, through Isaiah God said of the Jewish religion in particular and all religion in general, “I hate it.  I’ve had enough of it.  It is wearisome to me.  I cannot tolerate it.”  Do you get the picture?

Jesus also had a strong opinion about the manmade traditions and systems people devise to find righteousness and salvation.  Turn with me to Mat 15.  Jesus summarizes God’s view of religion, or manmade systems of beliefs and practices designed to achieve salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ.

15:1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" 3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'  5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' 6 he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:  8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain;  their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"

Look again at three significant phrases that summarize God’s view of human religion: ❶ It nullifies the word of God; ❷ It makes worship vain; and ❸ It burdens people with man-made rules.

The word “nullify” means to “cancel or deprive of power. False religion cancels the promise of salvation.  False religion removes the “power of salvation.”  Listen to what Paul says about the true gospel:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the POWER  of God to salvation for everyone who believes!”  (Romans 1:16).

 The word, “power,” in this verse would later become the root for the English word, “dy no mite!”  The truth of the gospel has power.  You might say that the truth of the gospel as outlined in the Word of God, the Bible,

HAS THE POWER TO BLOW THE GATES OF HELL WIDE OPEN AND SET THE SINNERS FREE!

There is power, power, wonder working powerin the blood // of the Lamb.//There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.

False religions have no power to save.  They cancel God’s promise and they deprive persons of the power that saves.

Notice also that Jesus says that false religion leads to “vain worship.”

The word “vain” simply means “fruitless of pointless.”  Millions of people around the world will go to church today (or yesterday depending on which side of the world you are on).  They will practice some ritual.  Some will sing songs.  Many will listen to a guru chant or a preacher, preach.  But, will it really make any difference in their lives – let alone in the world? 

One person has pointed out the fruitlessness of religion by saying, “Today, when you see someone in church on Easter Sunday, you may as well wish them a Merry Christmas, because that’s probably the next time you will see them in church!”

Because of false religions most people have the mistaken view that a Christian is a “church attender, good works doer, or a nice person” and that’s hoping the Christian a lost person knows is in fact a church-goer, a good-deed doer, and not the meanest, nastiest person on the block! 

As a result of following false religions Jesus said that many practice “fruitless and pointless worship.”  In other words millions of people will be singing songs like “We’re Marching to Zion” when in fact that are stumbling headlong into the pit of hell.

Jesus said false religions are powerless.  Jesus said that false religion leads to empty, fruitless worship.  And Jesus said that false religion is a bunch of “rules made up by men.” 

Religious people love rules.  God gave us Ten Commandments and within just a few centuries there were over 600 rules based upon the Sixth Commandment alone: Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.  Every false religion in the world has a rule book - or, in some cases several dozen.  Hindus have the Upanishads.  Muslims have the Koran.  Mormons have the Book of Mormon.  Jehovah’s Witnesses have the writings of the Watchtower and their own twisted version of the Bible.  Every false religion has a prophet and a pamphlet.

You can easily spot a false religion because it has such a complicated set of rules.  True faith on the other hand is very simple.  In fact, Jesus broke the entire Law of God down into two simple statements:

1.  Love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. 2.  Love your neighbor as yourself (Mt. 22:37-40).

I could never be a Catholic, for example.  There are just too many rules to follow.  Year after year Catholic leaders add more rules. Here are just a few:   Making the sign of the cross (300); burning wax candles (320 AD); Exalting Mary (431); Kissing the Pope’s Feet (709); Holy Water with a pinch of salt (850); Fasting on Fridays (998); Praying the Rosary (1090); Year after year more and more rules were added by man that have no foundation in the Word of God.

Might I suggest that if we can’t keep the original “10",
we don’t need to be adding any more!

I could not be a Mormon either.  Every time they get a new prophet, they get a new set of rules to follow.  The problem is, one prophet’s set of rules often contradicts another prophet’s set of rules.

I know some of you are uncomfortable when I point out that religions like Catholicism and Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses are full of lies; but, the truth is the truth and a lie is a lie, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us feel to hear someone say so.

Jesus said that false religions “nullify [make useless] the Word of God, make worship fruitless, and set up a burdensome set of rules made by men” (Mk. 7:13).  I didn’t say that. Jesus did.

As we have learned this morning, all men are responsible for responding to the light of truth that God has placed in their hearts.  We have learned that God’s opinion of religion is very negative.

So, let’s look at the issue from a different angle.  If God hates false religion, then is there any religion He does approve of?  Yes

3.  God hates false religion but likes PURE Religion

God’s indictment of Israel’s shallow religion is sharp and comprehensive, but not wholly without redemption.  God describes how we can “redeem our religious devotion to Him” in 16-17:

¹⁶WASH and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, ¹⁷learn to do right! SEEK JUSTICE,  encourage the oppressed.  Defend the cause of the fatherless,plead the case of the widow.

You will find two components to the type of “religious devotion” God accepts.  There is a social component-- “seek justice, care for the oppressed.”  There is also a moral component—“wash and get rid of your evil deed.”  These same two components, like the two rails of a set of train tracks are also mentioned in the N.T.

Jam 1:27  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Isaiah and James are not providing the full scope of what activities might be pleasing to God as a matter of church practice—like the two rails of a train track.  ❶ One rail of the track is “social action.”  I’m not talking about the maniacs marching through town waving signs and busting out windows for this cause or that cause.  God is speaking here of meeting real-life needs of real people:  food, clothing, shelter.  Christianity is not about lofty idea lowly, street-level service to humanity. Religion that never moves from the pew to the people on the streets, is “contemptible and abhorrent to God.” 

The ❷ second rail is “moral purity.”  Man has an innate, genetic predisposition to worship God.  One writer points out, however, that outward form of religion, without inward purity, an offence to God.  The ancient Greeks practiced this form of “disjunctive religion” where outward religious practices were disconnected from any sense of “moral obligation” to God.  “Plato tells us that the Greeks thought they might commit any number and any kind of sins or crimes, and obtain pardon for them at the hands of the gods, if they offered sufficient sacrifices” (Plato, ‘Rep.,’ 2. § 7, Spencer, Bible Commentary). Greeks looked at religious ritual as a “quid pro quo” with God.

Judging by Isaiah and James two basic criteria of “social action driven by moral purity” it is not surprising to me that God’s favor is not currently being showered upon our churches, much less our nation.

Well, if man is responsible for seeking out God’s path to religion—that is devotion—and yet God despises the “false religions” of man, but God does approve of a “socially responsible and morally sound religion, we need to ask one more important question in regard to our religious devotion—that is our spiritual journey:

4.   what really counts on Judgement Day?

Mat 7:21-23 tells us what God will require on Judgement Day.

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Is there any doubt in your mind that Jesus was speaking to some sincerely religious folk?  These folk prophesied, did mighty works of miracles, and even drove out demons!  Wow!  That’s religion!  But, on Judgement Day, none of that matters.  Jesus said, “Depart from me, I never KNEW you!” You can be the most devout and sincerely religious person in the world and still split hell wide open when you die.  It’s not about what you know or what you do but “Who you know and what He has DONE.” 

The word, “knew” (v23) is a form of the word, “ginosko.”  This is one of the most significant words in the Greek language.  In Greek philosophy it meant to “see things as they really are.”  Greek philosophers objected to truth that was based solely on experience or opinion.  They constantly sought (though mostly without success) to know what was “actually true,” as opposed to what people “hoped was true.”

Another important use of the word “to know,” had to do with relationships.  To “know” someone was to be personally acquainted with them through a relationship of trust and friendship.  By using this word, Jesus points out two sad failures of false religion. 

❶ ONE they are based upon the false speculations and opinions of men as opposed to the timeless truth of the Word of God.  Some refer to this as “rationalism, naturalism, humanism, or scientism.

❷ SECOND : they fail to lead people into a loving, trusting relationship with the Son of God who is the Christ of the Bible.  They enslave people to lies and to endless rules.  The horrible result of religion is that you can have a system of  beliefs and practices that you follow sincerely and yet you will miss heaven because you do not have a loving, trusting relationship with Jesus Christ.

 So, is God impressed by religion?  The answer is yes . . . and . . . no—AND MOSTLY “NO!”  No, the false religions of man based upon self-righteous rituals empty of any substance or doctrine empty of any truth make God sick.  On the other hand, “pure and undefiled religion” based upon a relationship with Jesus Christ and evidenced by a service-oriented love for our others is highly approved by God. 

It is a lie that God is impressed by our “religion” if by our self-directed spirituality we mistakenly think we will gain heaven.  In the final analysis the only thing that matters on Judgement Day is:  “do you know and love Jesus with all your heart?” 

The only hope anyone has when they stand before God on Judgment Day is to declare that they have a loving, saving, trusting relationship with Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose again.   That, and that alone, is God’s basis for salvation.

Don’t miss heaven by trusting in religion without a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. 

 

Lie #4: God Doesn't Understand Our Suffering

 

October 18, 2020                                   NOTES NOT EDITED
Ten Lies People Tell About God
“He Does Not Understand Human Suffering”
Is. 53:1-10

 SIS: When people suggest by their actions or words that God does not understand or is indifferent to human suffering, they miss the very heart of the gospel.

One of the most significant movies of all time was a movie nobody thought would be a blockbuster—including Mel Gibson, the writer and director. But, Gibson said of this film, it was something “I HAD to do!”  Gibson went on to say that while directing the film he felt that a power beyond himself was in control: that power was the Holy Spirit of God!  This is quite a statement from a Hollywood type.

Some have criticized the movie as “too graphic” because it displays exactly what the Scriptures say happened, and it was bloody and violent.  One interviewer who saw the film remarked, “I wouldn’t think a human being could survive that [the brutal beating with a Roman cat-o-nine-tails] and survive to carry a heavy cross up a hill.”  Mel Gibson’s answer reveals the key to understanding the gospel and the hammer that shatters the lie that God does not understand human suffering.  Gibson replied, “Yes, but we’re not talking any human being!”

That’s the key to the gospel.  It was no mere human being who was tortured and then murdered on the cross on behalf of humanity.  It was God Himself, Jesus Christ, who suffered the cruelty of the cross.

So, when we see all the suffering in the world.  When we experience deep pain and travail in our own life; the one thing we should never say or imply with our actions is: God does not understand human suffering.  For, God Himself endured horrible suffering for us on the cross.  This is the message of the gospel.  God died to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind.  We read Isaiah’s account of Christ’s suffering as Isaiah looked prophetically into the future (Isa 53:1-10).

These are some of the most profound and powerful words ever recorded in human language.  They are the prophetic account of what would take place some 8 centuries later on a lonely hill called Calvary. They describe, The Passion—or suffering--of the Christ.

The word, “passion” comes to us from Greek by way of Latin.  The original word means simply, “to suffer.”  When applied to the Biblical account, the passion, refers to “the suffering of God.” The sufferer is God incarnate in Jesus Christ.  As Gibson stated, “It was no mere human that endured the suffering of the cross.”  Three words will help us better understand the suffering of God and more effectively apply that lesson to our lives.  These three words are: Substitution, Submission, and Suffering.

1.  SUBSTITUTION:  Jesus took our PLACE (4-6, 10)

 Notice throughout Isaiah’s passage the number of times he uses the couplet: “he . . . our.”

4 Surely HE took up OUR infirmities and carried OUR sorrows. . .5. HE was pierced for OUR transgressions . . .5  HE was crushed for OUR iniquities . . .5 and by HIS wounds WE are healed. . .6 the LORD has laid on HIM the iniquity of US all.

Then verse 10 explains the suffering of Christ as a substitutionary guilt offering from the book of Leviticus: 10 the LORD makes his life a guilt offering. . . (Lev. 5:14-15)

The “guilt offering” refers to a significant part of the Jewish sacrificial system. The idea of substitution was fundamental to the sacrificial system of the Jewish people.  Death was the penalty for sin.  Something had to die.  Sometimes it was a bull, sometimes it was a sheep or goat.  The priest would lay his hand upon the sacrifice and the sin of the one bringing the sacrifice would be transferred to the animal.  The animal would then be killed in the place of the sinner: a substitution.

The concept of “substitutionary death” is as old as the story of Adam and Eve.  After Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, animals were killed to cover their sin-discovered nakedness.  When Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, God provided a sheep that was caught in the brush that was accepted as a substitution for Isaac.  The night the children of Israel were delivered out of bondage in Egypt, the blood of a lamb was smeared on the doorpost of their houses.  This caused the Death Angel to pass over the house and the death of the lamb was a substitute for the death of the first-born of the house.  All these examples and more are the foreshadowing of a greater substitutionary sacrifice that would be offered “Once for all.”  God Himself would pay the penalty of sin.  The Holy Spirit declared through the Apostle Paul,   Heb 10:1-4

10:1 The law [and its system of substitutionary sacrifice]  is only a shadow of the good things that are coming-not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

[but] ....................................................................... Heb 10:10 we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

In order for our sins to be paid for “once for all” there needed to be a substitution with “sufficient value to bear the penalty.”  The only possible substitution for our sins had to be acceptable to God–a God that is perfect and absolutely pure.  Therefore, only God, Himself could be a “sufficient substitute.”  God in Christ willing substituted His suffering and death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin.

As one writer analyzed, “God Himself choose to bear the penalty for sin that He, Himself, demanded.”

Recently, I read of a mother and child that was in a serious accident. In this incidence the car suddenly began to spin out of control.  As near as the investigators could determine, as the car began to spin the mother threw herself over her child in the seat next to her.  The impact killed the mother but the child lived and was discovered a couple days later.  The mother became a substitute giving life to her child.  She literally (and willingly) died “in the PLACE of her child.”

In a greater, more infinite sense this is exactly what God did on the cross.  God in Christ became our substitute.  He died in our place to pay the awful penalty for our sin.  As a gospel song writer once wrote:

He paid a debt He did not owe // I owed a debt I could not pay // I needed someone // to wash my sins away. // And now I’m singing as I go, “Amazing Grace,” // Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.

There is another important word to help us understand the passion of the Christ.  It is

2.  SUBMISSION: Jesus followed God’s PLAN (6b-7; 10-11)

6b the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,  so he did not open his mouth ......................................................................... 10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

One of the great controversies surrounding the movie, “The Passion of Christ” is the accusation by some in the Jewish community that the film is anti-Semitic.  History cannot be denied.  The leaders of the mob that sought the death of Jesus Christ (at least on the human level) were the Jewish leaders.  There can be no white-washing of the statement made at the time by the Jewish mob:  Matt 27:25

 25 All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

But, this historical statement must be put into the proper theological context.  Jesus is referred to by Isaiah as a lamb, not because he is weak and helpless, but because he is submissive.  Sheep are very submissive animals and follow their shepherd faithfully.  When Jesus died as the “Lamb that took away the sins of the world,” he was being submissive to the will of the Heavenly Father.  Now, this creates a mystery, but it is not illogical.  We know God is One God in Three Persons.  We also know that while Jesus was on the earth the Bible says that “he always willfully subjected Himself the God the Father in Heaven” (Jn. 6:38; 14:31). While praying in the Garden the night he was arrested contemplating the horrible punishment He would face, Jesus said, “May this cup pass from me” (Mat 26:39).  As sweat like drops of blood fell from His face, the Lord added these important words to His prayer: “But, not my will but Thy will be done.”

So, it was not the Jews that are responsible for the death of Christ – a thousand times NO!  Neither was it the Roman guards that tortured Christ and nailed Him on the cross who are responsible for the death of Christ.  Neither is it the angry blood-thirsty mob that is responsible for the death of Christ.  The person responsible for the death of Jesus Christ was Jesus Christ, Himself.  Jesus said very clearly and plainly,

“No man takes my life but I lay it down willingly.” (Jn 10:18)

 Here in our text in verse Isaiah says, “The Lord laid the iniquity of us all on Him” (vs 6) and “It was the Lord’s will to crush Him. . . ”  (vs 10). The death of Jesus was no surprise to God.  It was a part of God’s plan.  Now, let’s apply this to our lives:  our pain is no surprise to God—even our pain is part of His plan.  It takes both sunshine and rain to grow a crop.  Someone has said, “all sunshine makes a desert.” We know instinctively pain is a part of life.  We need to be constantly reminded that our pain is a part of God’s grander plan.

To misunderstand the submissive nature of Christ as He marched to the cross on our behalf is to completely miss the message of the gospel. Some people seem to believe that salvation is a matter of trying to persuade a reluctant God to do something about the awful plight of humanity.  This idea flounders in the face of what we know about God.  It is not our prayers or our righteousness or our religiosity that persuades God to act on our behalf.  It is His unmeasurable, incomprehensible love.  The Bible says,

 “For God so loved the world He GAVE his son.” (Jn. 3:16)

 The cross is the perfect example of perfect submission to the plan of God.  Someone has said, “the nails were not necessary to hold Christ on the cross but it was His love and devotion to God, and to man.

To understand the passion of Christ we must understand, submission: on the cross Christ willingly submitted to God’s PLAN.

3.  SUFFERING: on the cross Jesus took our PAIN (verses 3-5)

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.  5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,  he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,  and by his wounds we are healed.

The language is graphic:  “despised, rejected, sorrows, familiar with suffering, stricken, smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed, punishment, and wounds,” just to name a few of the descriptions of Christ’s physical and emotional pain.  Can God feel pain?  Did God feel pain? This is a puzzling question that is foundational to finding meaning and purpose in our lives.

During his campaign, Bill Clinton offered this memorial phrase to urging people to vote for him.  He said, “I feel your pain.” Even if Clinton were sincere, it is not possible for any human being to truly understand another’s pain.  We may want to do so.  We may try to do so.  But, there is something intensely personal and private about human suffering.  On a human level, true sympathy or empathy is impossible.  But, what about with God?

In the early centuries of the church this was a hotly debated topic.  Can God experience pain and suffering?  Many said, He could not.  They developed the doctrine of the IMPASSABILITY OF GOD.  This is the doctrine that says God is incapable of experiencing pain.  He has, some have argued, no emotions that are affected by what happens on earth.  He is removed and distant from man.  He is indifferent to our trauma.  In fact, the creed of the Reformed Church asserts that God is “without body, parts, or passions, immutable.”  I cannot imagine how good men could read the Bible and come up with an idea so foreign to its very core issue:

“God was in Christ [on the cross] reconciling the world unto Himself” 2Corinthians 5:19.  That reconciliation involved unimaginable pain for Christ—Who is God, The Son.  We may not understand “how” this can be, but only a blind man could fail to see that the suffering of God in Christ is central to the gospel. 

It is true that God does not indulge His passions as man does. It would be dishonoring and sacrilegious to suggest that God might be capable of acting like a child who loses his temper, or that God might be frustrated like a lover who has been jilted by a companion.  It would be highly disrespectful to even suggest that God is a victim of His emotions, and like us, is subject to whims and changeable moods.

But, this is a far cry from saying He cannot suffer and feel the pain.  The difference is: God CHOSE to feel pain and misery.  We have no choice.  Our pain is the consequence of human sin—ours and others.

Look at verse 10: It says, “God was PLEASED to crush Him putting Him to grief.”  As we said a few moments ago: God does not suffer as a victim, but as  a victor.

Yes, God knows the sting of humanity.  “He was tested and tried in every manner as a man – yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). When they ripped out His beard, God felt the sting of man’s inhumanity to man.  When the Roman whip ripped through his flesh, God felt the sting of humanity’s cruel and vicious rebellion.  When the Roman guards drove spikes through His wrists, God felt the burning sting of man’s sinfulness.  Oh, if ever a man did suffer it was Christ – and Christ was God.

Can we think of the gospel story culminating in the cross and think of anything else but suffering?  If you can read the gospel story and not see the emotional, physical, and spiritual suffering of God in Christ, then you miss the meaning of the story completely.

Dennis Nigien, a seminary professor, points out: “A God who cannot suffer cannot love. If God cannot feel the pain of His people, it would be difficult to refute the conclusion that He is indifferent to our plight.”

I’ve been in the Valley of the Shadow of Death many, many times over my four decades of ministry.  It has always been a painful, dreadful, dark and foreboding place.  What always gives me hope and comfort in times of suffering is to realize the My God has suffered.  My God does feel my pain.  And, beyond that: My God suffered not as a victim but as a victor.  My God can lead me through the Valley of the Shadow of Death because He has been that way Himself.

Friend, there is perhaps no greater lie than the lie that God does not understand human suffering.  The fact is exactly the opposite: God understands our pain because He submissively substituted Himself in our place of suffering so that we may have life.

To understand the Passion of Christ we must understand SUBSTITUTION: He died in our PLACE.  We must comprehend SUBMISSION: Christ willingly died according to God’s PLAN.  Finally, we must understand SUFFERING: on the cross Jesus took our PAIN.

We can have happiness and hope because we have a God that truly feels our pain.  He is not a dispassionate deity that cares nothing of His creation.  He is a compassionate Father that loves His creation.

Let me go back to Mel Gibson’s blockbuster movie, “The Passion of the Christ” as we try to nail down our understanding of God’s suffering on our behalf.  This film focuses on the very heart of the gospel: God in Christ suffered and died upon the cross to pay sin’s penalty of death so that any man, woman or child who would accept what Jesus did on his or her behalf could have eternal life. 

Something goes almost unnoticed in Mel Gibson’s movie.  He actually appears in a “cameo shot” in the movie, but I don’t think anybody would recognize him. Think back to the clip of the movie we saw earlier.  It was  Mel Gibson’s hand seen putting the nail into the palm of Christ as Jesus is nailed to the cross.  According to fan sites for the movie, Gibson’s “cameo” gesture underscores his feeling of guilt knowing it was for him Jesus Suffered. (Today, 2004)

This is true for every one of us.  It was for our sins that Jesus died.  It was for our sins that Jesus felt the cumulative pain of every person’s sin who had ever lived, was living, or will every live.

Does God understand your pain?  He understands it much more deeply than you could ever imagine.  He took your pain so you could experience His love.  Pain is a reminder of the penalty of sin, and it should also remind us that God, in Christ, has already paid that penalty Himself.

Give God your burdens and let Him give you His blessings.