The Big Show

January 24, 2016                        NOTES NOT EDITED

The Big Idea

The Big Show

Revelation 19:1-10; 1Thess. 4:13-18

SIS—The “Biggest Show” in history takes place when the Lord gathers His people to be with Him for eternity and it could happen at any moment—are you ready?

***In this sermon I am using the metaphor of the “Big Show” to include the entire process from the Rapture, through the tribulation and millennium and continuing into eternity.  My emphasis is not upon the chronology of the End Times, but upon the unimaginable, inexplicable, incredible glory and blessing of being with Jesus forever.*** Join me as we read about this “Big Show.” Rev. 19:1-10.

1.  There is an INVITATION to receive (v. 9; 1Thess. 4:13-18)

⁹ Then he  said to me,  “Write: Those invited
to the marriage feast  of the Lamb are fortunate!”

I’m sure that most of you have received an invitation to attend a wedding.  These are usually very formal and exquisite communications with pretty standard language. But, there are always those that want their invitation to be, well . . . , “special.”  Take Alison and Isaac’s special invitation that read:  “At our wedding we promise you won’t ever forget the parts that you remember!” Sometimes, the job of sending out wedding invitations falls upon the Mother of the Groom.  After reading the following wedding invitation, you might want to rethink whose in charge:  “You are regretfully invited to the wedding between my perfect son, The Doctor, and some Cheap, Two-bit Tramp, whose name escapes me right now.”  I sense a bit of tension at that wedding.  With most wedding invitations a RSVP card is enclosed so one can indicate whether they will attend.  This couple wanted to make sure every possible scenario was covered.  The RSVP card gave these options:  1. Gladly Attend; 2. Regretfully Decline; 3. Resentfully Attend; 4.  Enthusiastically Decline; 5. We Decline to Respond But Ultimately Will Attend.  I was sort of shocked by how many wedding invitations mentioned, “Booze.”  Most of them I cannot print because of language.  One of the most stylish of these invitations, as you would expect would come from Beverly Hills, CA.  It was a simple invitation that read—in big letters across the top—FREE BOOZE!  9.23.2012.  SEE YA THERE!  P.S.  Amanda and Charlie are getting hitched, so slap on a tie!  Now, isn’t that interesting?  The most important event in a couple’s lives, and FREE BOOZE gets top billing and the Bride and Groom are a “post script!”

I hope these wedding invitations assist any of you young folk considering the proper etiquette for announcing your nuptials.

Weddings involve invitations and the Wedding Supper of the Lamb is no different.  Let us read again what John records about this Special Wedding Super:

⁹ Then he  said to me,  “Write: Those invited to the marriage feast  of the Lamb are fortunate!”

This special, heavenly celebration is “By Invitation Only.”  One cannot pay for a ticket.  One cannot sneak in the back way.  One cannot “come because they had friends who were invited.”  Every one must have a “personal invitation from the Lord, the Groom, Himself.”  Well, when does one receive that invitation?  I’ll speak to that in just a moment, but first, let me show you how someone gets on the “Guest List” for this banquet.  Turn over to Revelation 20:12.  Here we have the mention of “God’s Books,” including “The Book of Life,” which is God’s guest list for the “Wedding Supper of the Lamb.”

Now, by the time we get to Revelation 20:12, no more names are being added to that Book.  Nobody else is going to get into heaven at this time or ever again.  This Book of Life will eventually contain all the names of every person ever saved:  all the O.T. saints, all the N.T. saints before the rapture, all those saved through tribulation and all those saved during the millennium.  It is “Heaven’s Guest List” and nobody gets to heaven unless his or her name has been recorded in it.  Some get in the Book sooner.  Some get in later.  Every one God has elected to save WILL get in this Book, or on Heaven’s Guest List.

First, let me explain “how” a person gets on that List.  Romans 8:14-16 describes the only way a person gets on this List:

Therefore, no condemnation  now exists for those in  Christ Jesus,  ^{a 2} because the Spirit’s law of life  in Christ Jesus has set you  free from the law of sin and of death.  ³ What the law could not do  since it was limited  by the flesh,  God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours  under sin’s domain,  and as a sin offering,  ⁴ in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished  in us who do not walk according to the flesh  but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live  according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh,  but those who live  according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For the mind-set of the flesh  is death,  but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile  to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh  cannot please God. ⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since  the Spirit of God lives in you.  But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,  he does not belong to Him. ¹⁰ Now if Christ is in you,  the body is dead  because of sin, but the Spirit  is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead  lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through  His Spirit who lives in you.

The Book of Life records every name of every person who has ever, or will ever, turn from their sins, accept the free gift of salvation offered to all when Jesus died on the cross.  At this moment of repentance, God seals a person’s soul with the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and records their name in the Book of Life—the Guest List for Heaven.

Second, let me explain “WHEN” this Invitation to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb will be formally delivered.  Turn to 1Thess. 4:13-18:

¹³ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.  ¹⁴ Since we believe that Jesus died and rose  again,  in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through  Jesus.  ¹⁵ For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord:  ^o We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming  will certainly have no advantage over  those who have fallen asleep.  ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,  ^t with the archangel’s  voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ  will rise first. ¹⁷ Then  we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds  to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage  one another with these words.

This describes what has become known as, “the Rapture.”  Every Bible-believing Christian believes in the “rapture,” or the “Second Coming.”  True believers do NOT deny the rapture; they only disagree on “when” it takes place.  Some believe it takes place “after” the Great Tribulation.  Some believe it takes place “before” the Great Tribulation.  Some believe it takes place at some point during the Tribulation.  Others believe it takes place after the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth, or the millennium.  Some simply admit they have no idea, but are ready as if it could be any minute.  Some . . . just don’t care.

Let me show you why the “rapture” described here in Thessalonians takes place “before” the Great Tribulation, and could take place at any time.  There are some who make no distinction between the “Rapture” and the “Second Coming.”  Some scholars deny the teaching of the “Rapture” as a “Secret Coming.”  Let me dispel that myth.  The Rapture will certainly be no “secret.”  First, God has openly declared it, here in this text and other places.  Second, the removal of millions of people will not escape notice.  Without a doubt, the world will be fully aware the Church is missing.  Many scoffers who heard preaching about the Rapture will know it has happened.  Many will repent.

Now, here are five reasons why the “Rapture” will be the formal deliverance of God’s Invitation to Marriage Supper of the Lamb—before the Tribulation.  There are more evidences for a pretribulational rapture, but time permits mentioning only a few.

1.  Christ comes “in the air,” not to the earth.  At the Second Coming Jesus sets foot on the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4) to inaugurate the millennium, after the tribulation, not before as in 1Thess. 4. 

2.  At the Rapture, Jesus comes “for” His saints. 1Thess. 4:17 says we are “snatched away, caught up, or raptured” (harpazō).  At the Second Coming, Jesus comes “with” the saints (Rev. 19:14).  The “Rapture” precedes the tribulation (see 1Thess. 5).  The Second Coming is followed by the Millennium (see Rev. 20:1-3). 

3.  The “raptured” are saved from God’s “hour of wrath” (1Thess. 5:9; Rev. 3:10) (shorter period than the “day” of the Lord, 1Thess. 5).  Those left behind feel the full force of God’s wrath.  For the Church to endure the Great Tribulation would be like Christ beating up His Bride before the Wedding Feast.

4.  Before the Anti-Christ can be revealed a “restrainer must be removed” (2Thess. 2:6-7).  This refers to the Holy Spirit who empowers the Church by indwelling believers.  The Holy Spirit, as God is omnipotent, so this cannot refer to the Holy Spirit, but must refer to His empowering—hence, restraining—work through the Church.

5.  Here’s what I feel is the most important evidence for a “pretribulation rapture”:  it could happen at any time (imminence) without any further prophecies being fulfilled or signs being given.  The Rapture, which initiates the “Day of the Lord,” or the “Seven Years of Tribulation” (1Thess. 5:1-3) will come as a “thief in the night” (5:2).  When was the last time you received a notice from a “thief” that he would be robbing your house on a given day at a given time?  The “Rapture” could happen at any time without any further signs (see Lk. 21:11-28).  The Second Coming comes at the end of the “70^th Week” of Daniel, which represents seven years of tribulation (Dan. 9:20ff).  The Church since Pentecost has always held a belief in the “imminent” (anytime) coming of the Lord (Titus 2:13).  We know that Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Mark, and especially Revelation, among others, teach that certain signs must be fulfilled before the Second Coming.  Therefore, without a rapture, prophesies and signs must be ignored, or spiritualized.

I could give you more evidence that shows the “rapture” comes before the Great Tribulation, but my main point of this sermon, is:  don’t miss the invitation.  Even if you disagree with my timing of the “Rapture” or “Great Snatching Away,” or “Blessed Hope,” or whatever else you want to call it—DON’T MISS IT!  Accept God’s invitation of grace and get your name on the Guest List for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.  I would like to add, however, that the “Wedding Feast” in chapter 19 precedes the record of Christ’s coming in Chapter 20.  We had to get there somehow.

Following our theme of “The Big Idea,” which we know will be accompanied by “Big Challenges,” and likely some “Big Failures,” I am referring to entering heaven as the “Big Show.”  This is where God provides an eternal banquet, or party for all eternity.  Notice in 1Thess. 4:17:  “and so we will always be with the Lord.”  The Rapture gets the party started, and God’s grace keeps it going for all eternity!  There’s an “invitation to receive,” but

2.  There is also, a CELEBRATION to enjoy

To be quite blunt and honest with you, I don’t think most church goers are excited about going to heaven—not if you judge by the enthusiasm they show for the things of God on earth.

Oh folks, human language does not have the power to even give a glimpse of the glory and bliss of heaven.  I’ve tried over the years to describe heaven, especially at funerals, but I always feel I miss the mark by a mile.  No human (save Paul, 1Cor. ***) has ever gone to heaven and returned with pictures describing its beauty.  The best I can do is tell you how a “cat” described heaven. 

A cat dies and goes to heaven.  God meets him at the gate and says, 'You have been a good cat all these years. You can have anything you desire, all you have to do is ask.' Well,' said the cat, 'I lived all my life on a farm and had to sleep on hardwood floors.' 'Say no more,' says God and instantly a fluffy pillow appears.  A few days later, six mice are killed in a tragic accident and they go to heaven. God meets them at the gate with the same offer he made to the cat. 'All our life,' the mice say, 'we've had to run. Cats, dogs, women with brooms have chased us. If we had roller skates, we wouldn't have to run any more.  'God says he can take care of it and, instantly, each mouse is fitted with a beautiful pair of tiny roller skates.  A week later God checks on the cat, which is asleep on its pillow. God gently nudges him awake and asks, 'How are you doing? Are you happy here?' 'Never been happier,' says the cat, stretching and yawning. 'And those meals on wheels you've been sending over are great.'

That’s a bad joke, but a bold truth—“heaven will exceed your wildest, grandest, most glorious expecations!” 

What exactly will one miss if they do not believe and are not “caught up” at the rapture?  Let me first tell you what people “will not” miss who miss the rapture—they will not miss the Great Tribulation.  They will not miss the rise of the Antichrist.  They will not miss the requirement to take the mark of the beast or risk starvation.  They will not miss Global War and Global catastrophes.  They will not miss the cataclysmic changes in the cosmos like the moon turning to blood.  They will not miss the death and disaster from world-wide disease, floods, famines, pestilences of all kind.  Those who miss the “rapture” land squarely in seven years of the most calamitous and horrible years on earth!

Human language failed John as he tried to describe the “celebration we will enjoy” at the Wedding Feast.  He saw with his eyes sights his lips could not describe.  In Rev. 19, John lacked a sufficient vocabulary to describe heaven so he used the same word four times:

V1:  Hallelujah!  Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God . . .

V3:  Hallelujah!  Her smoke ascends forever and ever! (Speaking of
        The Harlot (Evil in all its forms) defeated in chapters 17-18).

V4:  Then the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, seated on the throne, saying: Amen! Hallelujah!

V 6:  Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, has begun to reign!

One Bible scholar calls this the “Hallelujah Chorus” of the Bible.  We all know the power and majesty of the Hallelujah Chorus in Handel’s Messiah.  Here’s the inspiration for that.  It is hard for us as humans to get a grip on this heavenly seen—or more correctly, let this heavenly seen get a grip on us. 

Another N.T. scholar describes this “celebration” in these words:  In 18:20 the heavens and the saints are told to rejoice at God’s judgment of Babylon the Great. That call to celebration is now expanded into a series of “hallelujah” choruses . . . . Only here in the NT does the word Ἁλληλουϊά (Hallēlouia, Hallelujah = praise Yahweh) occur, and it governs 19:1–8. Yet this section, while a single whole, functions both to conclude the major section of the destruction of Babylon the Great (19:1–5) and to introduce the section on Jesus’ return (19:6–8).  Baker Exegetical Commentary.

The point of the “Four-fold Hallelujahs” seem clear to me:  the glorious celebration of the raptured saints is to spectacular to describe by any word but “Hallelujah!”—and that spoken over and over again by saints drunken on the ecstasy of grace!

As we think of “the celebration we will enjoy” at the “Big Show,” let me go back and pick up on how Paul concludes his teaching on the rapture.  In verses 17 and 18 Paul declares:  and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage  one another with these words.

For the most part, people do not think much about heaven, until a loved one dies.  At that time, the open wounds of grief long for the soothing balm of hope.  Despair cries out for understanding.  When death pushes us down in distress, our eyes look up to heaven, the new home for our loved ones.  We do ourselves a great disservice as believers if we only think of heaven as a solution to death.  It is much, much, much more than that.  Yet, we cannot explain heaven or what it means to truly celebrate.  All we can do is “imagine.”

And, so it was with the singer and songwriter of the Christian rock band, Mercy Me, Bart Millard.  Regarding the song's meaning, Millard stated: "When my father died of cancer in 1991, he left me with the assurance that he was headed to a better place. For several years following his death, I would find myself writing the phrase 'I can only imagine' on anything I could find. That simple phrase would give me a peace thinking about what my dad was finally experiencing. Years later, in 1999, MercyMe was writing songs for an independent project. I remember coming home from a show and being wide awake on our bus at 2 o'clock in the morning. I was trying to write lyrics in an old notebook of mine, when all of a sudden, I stumbled across that phrase. About ten minutes later, the song was written. Some people say it's amazing that it was written in ten minutes, when really it had been on my heart for almost ten years."

For those of us who attend the Wedding Supper of the Lamb through death or rapture, we can “only imagine” what the celebration will be like.  Mercy Me describes this a lot better than I.  Let’s listen.

[PLAY SONG]

Dear friends, what a celebration there is going to be when we get to heaven.  Maybe it is a bit, “sacrilegious” to refer to God’s glorious heaven as the “Big Show,” or maybe not.  Whatever you call it—don’t miss it!  There’s an invitation to receive and a celebration to enjoy.

Hope to see ‘ya there.

The Big Failure

January 10, 2015                  NOTES NOT EDITED

Series:  The Big Idea

Title:  The Big Failure

Text:  Matthew 27:45-50

SIS—Failure is inevitable, but it need not be final.

All living beings experience fear.  Psychologists have identified literally thousands of “phobias” (phobia comes from the Greek word for “fear”). 

Some phobias seem comical unless you suffer from them. Like, ablutophobia, or the fear of washing or bathing. That one might be hard to hide in public, unless you suffer from agoraphobia, or the fear of public spaces.  For many, many years people have been asking, “Why did the chicken cross the road?”  We all know the familiar answer to that question, but what many do not know is that the chicken did not suffer from, “agyrophobia—the fear of crossing the street.  Don’t be surprised if you ask someone “why the chicken crossed the road” and they run away screaming because they suffer from “alektorophobia”—the fear of chickens

The list of phobias goes on and on.  Only two letters in the list I read did not have a phobia—“Q” and “V.”  I wonder if these letters have the fear of someone finding a phobia beginning with “Q” or “V?”

The fear of failure is perhaps the most destructive of all fears.  It, marginalizes creativity, paralyzes progress, and it legitimizes status quo—in this order.  We see the devaluation, or marginalization of creativity at work in public education.  When money gets tight—a euphemism for bureaucracy gets bloated—what is the first to get cut?  It is the “arts”—music, painting, dancing, drama, and the like.  Artists and philosophers think outside the box, often challenging the status quo with their avant garde ideas.  Establishment thinkers are happy to see “creative” thinkers pushed to the sidelines. 

People fear “change” partly because they fear anything “new or unfamiliar.”  Human beings crave comfort and security.  Big Ideas challenge the experience of comfort and security.  Yet, ironically, what is new almost always adds comfort and pleasure to our lives—like the “remote control.”  When I was a boy my little brother was the “remote control.”  Sometimes, he was even the antenna for the T.V., holding the “rabbit ears” just right for the best reception.

Where we give into fear, we fossilize.  Without constant adaptation and innovation we face stagnation.  This is true in every area of life from the laboratory to the sanctuary, from plumbing to philosophy.  Breaking new ground is essential for progress—it also generates fear because of the prospect of failure.

What if Thomas Edison would have given into the fear of failure?  I once read where he failed over 700 times when he tried to find a suitable filament for the electric light bulb.  Many people would have stopped far short of 700.  Most, fearing failure, would simply surrender to sitting in the dark.

The history of progress is the history of facing the fear of failure.  Pick the name of any great person in history.  Sigmund Freud was once booed off the stage when he presented his ideas.  Thomas Edison’s teachers said, “He’s too stupid to learn.”  He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.”  Steve Jobs was one fired as the CEO of Apple—the company he created, and worked for years to get it back.  Henry Ford went broke five times before he succeeded.  Even people who know nothing about baseball know about Babe Ruth—holding the record for most home runs in a season for decades at 714.  Only baseball aficionados know he also held the record for 1,330 strike outs.  Ruth said, “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”

Great men, and women, faced their fears and overcame their failures.  Failure is inevitable, but it need not be final.  In fact, what appeared to be “The Biggest Failure” in the history of the universe, by human standards, was actually “The Greatest Victory” in the history of the universe.  This seemingly greatest failure provides the pathway by which every one of us can overcome our failure.  Failure is inevitable.  In fact, the bigger your idea, the bigger will likely be your failure. 

The Bible chronicles the life of God’s heroes portraying them with raw honesty.  After overseeing the greatest building project of all time that God used to save the human race from a flood, Noah is found drunk and naked on a beach by his boys.  Abraham, called “a friend of God” and the “Father of the Faith,” once lied to save his own skin.  David, the most important King in Israel’s history, committed adultery and engineered the murder of Uriah to cover it up.  We all know of Peter’s great failure on the eve of the Lord’s crucifixion.  He declared three times, “I don’t know anything about the man, Jesus!”

The Bible does not sanitize the lives of its heroes.  In fact, the Bible dramatizes them and memorializes them for all time.  The Bible is not a book outlining how men impressed God with their deeds, but how God rescued us from our sins.  That’s what the cross is all about: God’s solution for our failure.  We can learn to overcome our failure by turning to the cross.  Let’s read that together:  Mat. 27:45-50.

1.  Appearances are Deceiving (v. 46)

Some of the most shocking, horrible, and desperate words every spoken on the darkest night in the history of man are the words spoken by Jesus Christ as His mangled, bloodied, near-lifeless body hung upon the cross:

⁴⁵ From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over the whole land.  ^{q 46} About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá  sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken  Me?”

By all appearances, God had forsaken Jesus.  The disciples believed the ministry of Jesus was defeated.  In fact, they felt that way the night before and all, except John, had run away to hide.  Even the bold, bombastic Peter hid in the shadows some distance from the cross.  The disciples not only believed Jesus was defeated, they feared it was only a matter of time the authorities would come for them.  The three years long ministry of the Messiah had failed in their eyes—failed miserably.  Take note of where we next find the disciples:

 ^{John 20:19} In the evening of that first day of the week,  the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because of their fear of the Jews.

The Jews certainly believed the death of Jesus would crush the Messianic movement among the Lord’s followers.  In seeking help from the High Priest and Sanhedrin (ruling body of the Jews) for their plot to end the ministry of Jesus, the Jewish leaders said

^{Jn 11:47-48 47} So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin  and said, “What are we going to do since this man does many signs? ⁴⁸ If we let Him continue in this way, everyone will believe in Him! Then the Romans  will come and remove both our place  and our nation.”

The logic of the Jewish leaders who hated Jesus and His movement seemed airtight—remove the head and the body will die. 

From all earthly appearances, the ministry of Jesus ended with His death.  By all human appearances Jesus had failed, and failed miserably. 

Pope Francis set off a firestorm among “anti-Catholics” when he declared recently, according to many reports, “Jesus was a failure.”  I’m certainly no cheerleader for Pope Francis (or Catholic doctrine in general) but I think many pundits took a cheap shot at the Catholic leader when the accused the Pope of saying, “Jesus was a failure.” What the Pope actually said was this, “if at times our efforts and works seem to fail and produce no fruit, we need to remember that we are followers of Jesus . . . and his life, humanly speaking, ended in failure, in the failure of the cross.” I have to agree with the Pope in this regard, “humanly speaking Jesus was a Big Failure.”

But . . . and this is an important “but,” appearances can be deceiving.  Let’s look carefully at our text again in Matthew 27:46:  About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá  sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken  Me?”

You will notice in the HCSB, as with most modern translations, these words are in bold type.  This is the way that modern translations alert readers that the portion is a quote from the O.T.  This is the first line of Psalm 22, considered a “messianic psalm,” or a psalm that prophetically described the ministry of the Messiah when He would come many years hence.  It was a common teaching method for the Rabbi (as many referred to Jesus) to quote the first line of a Psalm, and the students would finish it.  Let me “finish” the Psalm that begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before You, ²⁸ for kingship belongs to the Lord; He rules over the nations. ²⁹ All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down; all those who go down to the dust will kneel before Him— even the one who cannot preserve his life. ³⁰ Their descendants will serve Him; the next generation will be told about the Lord. ³¹ They will come and tell a people yet to be born about His righteousness— what He has done.

Did Jesus feel forsaken?  Many scholars and preachers say He did.  I personally do not think He did.  That is not the issue with the words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”  Jesus knew the rest of the Psalm.  He knew the Father.  He knew the Father could not, and would not, abandon Him.  He knew His ministry would not fail.  Jesus felt much pain on the cross.  He felt abandonment, but it was not His abandonment, but the abandonment and isolation every person who has ever lived experienced.

Let’s not miss the main point by travelling too far down the road of speculation.  We know what Psalm Jesus quoted, and we know what the Psalm declared. Psalm 22 declared the “Victory of the Messiah” at the cross, not His failure.  Appearances can be deceiving.  Our failures can appear so large that there seems no way we can overcome them. Keep this in mind:  appearances are deceiving.  I’ll say more about this in a moment.

2.  Failure is Unpleasant (45-46, Psalm 22:12-18)

⁴⁵ From noon until three in the afternoon  darkness came over the whole land.  ^{q 46} About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá  sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken  Me?”

As I said a moment ago, these words point us to Psalm 22 that describes the crucifixion of Jesus seven centuries before it happened.  The Psalm describes the pain of crucifixion:  physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

^{Ps. 22  12} Many bulls surround me; strong ones of Bashan encircle me. ¹³ They open their mouths against me—lions, mauling and roaring. ¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me. ¹⁵ My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me into the dust of death. ¹⁶ For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet. ¹⁷ I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me. ¹⁸ They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.

Never had there been a blacker night than this night when God shut off all the light of the heavens as His own Son hung between heaven and earth, life and death, in the most horrible agony imaginable.

I do not want to minimize the agony of the Lord as He bore the weight of the world’s sin upon His body and soul.  Failure always brings pain—physical, emotional, spiritual, and usually all three.  Jesus did “experience” the pain of failure.  He experienced the pain of the failure of the whole world!

Experts have engaged in a forensic study of crucifixion from a medical point of view.  The descriptions in medical journals are too long to examine in this message.  One scholar sums up what historians and forensic physicians support:  “For indeed a death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have [being] horrible and ghastly—dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, traumatic fever, tetanus . . . infected wounds. . . . The unnatural position makes every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, in flamed by exposure, gradually gangrened; the arteries—especially in the head and stomach—became swollen with pressure from a surcharge of blood; and while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of burning thirst; and all these physical complications caused and internal excitement and anxiety, which made the prospect of death itself—of death, the unknown enemy, at whose approach man usually shudders most—bear the aspect of a delicious and exquisite release” (S. Farrar, ETDV).

Now, I don’t for one second want to suggest that the pain we experience in our failures comes anywhere near the pain Our Lord endured on the cross.  Any such comparison would be silly at best and sacrilegious at worse.  I do want to point out that failure is unpleasant.  In fact, failure can be downright painful.  Failure can be so painful that many mistakenly seek the release of death.  We fear failure so much because it is so “painful.” As Aristotle points out, “All voluntary actions pursue what is pleasant and avoid what is painful.” (The Rhetoric). 

Failure is unpleasant.  Actually, that is an understatement.  Failure can be excruciating.  The consequences of our mistakes can be almost unbearable.  This week, I read a story that broke my heart.  A father made a mistake.  He failed in the most miserable way one could imagine.  It happened last week in Cincinnati, Ohio.  A father had gone through the regular routine of dropping his 14 years old son off at the bus stop for his regular ride to school.  The 14 year old, for whatever reason or no reason, decided to skip school that day and returned home.  He sneaked through the basement.  His 72 year old father heard the noise and thought it was an intruder.  The man grabbed a .45 caliber handgun and went to investigate. When the father opened the door to the basement, the boy, in what seemed to be a playful gesture according to one source, jumped out of the shadows and said, “Boo!”  This startled the man who never expected his son to be in the basement.  The man fired once killing his son instantly.

The man made a tragic mistake.  The boy made a tragic mistake.  Failure is not without painful consequences.  This is why most people avoid anything that may possibly lead to failure—if they possibly can avoid it.  Sadly, we cannot avoid failure.  Failure is not a matter of “if,” but only “when.”  Failure isn’t always the result of some moral lapse.  Those who attempt great things for God often experience the greatest failures in life.

Thank God for the cross upon which Jesus died and the tomb from which He was raised.  Because Jesus DID NOT fail, failure for us does not need to be final.  We can overcome our failure because Christ already paid the price for everyone on the cross.

Appearances are deceiving.  Failure IS painful.  But,

3.  The Work of Our Redemption is FINISHED! (50; Jn. 19:30)

Look at verse 50:  Jesus shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit.  What did Jesus shout that second time?  Turn to John 19:30:   He said, “It is finished!”

Now, take note that Jesus did not “whisper” in a broken voice.  Jesus did not “mutter” through defeated lips.  The Word of God says He finished His work with one glorious shout that shook both Heaven and earth!  Look back in Matthew at how powerful that shout was! 

⁵¹ Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. ⁵³ And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many. ⁵⁴ When the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “This man really was God’s Son!”

Friends, that’s not a picture of “failure.” That’s a picture of success that shook the cosmos in every direction:  up to heaven, down to hell, all the way back into the primordial past and forward into the forever future.  The overcoming work of Jesus Christ overcomes every failure we have ever had, are having, or ever will have.  We need not fear failure because Jesus has already conquered every one for every one of us! 

Not only did Jesus announce His eternal victory with a shout, He chose His words very carefully.  He did not say, “It is started and now you will have to work to make your lives successful.”  No, no, no!  Jesus said, “It is finished.”  The same grace that saved us from the penalty of our sins gives us sanctifying power over our present sin, and will bring us all the way to heaven where we will be free from even the very presence of our sins.  It is finished—past, present, and future.

The word Jesus used means, “to bring to a complete and successful finish.”  Though English word, “finished,” shouted from the lips of Our Savior serves us well, analysis of the Greek original gives us some added encouragement.  Tetelestai (teh tuh less tie) is in the perfect tense which refers to an event in the past which have effects (or results) that continue indefinitely.  This gives tetelestai the force of meaning, “It is absolutely, completely, fully, irrevocably finished and there is nothing anyone can do to add to what’s been done.”

God’s offer of grace is an eternal gift that reaches back into our past and into our eternal future, covering every point in between.  Failure need not be final, because salvation is a work that is already finished—completely.

This message is titled, “The Big Failure.”  Our failures, as big as they may seem to us or to others, do not qualify as “The Big Failure,” even if we stack them all together.  The Devil holds the eternal dishonor of having the “Biggest Failure.”  The Devil was no doubt smiling as He watched Jesus writhe in agony on the cross, but appearance are deceiving.  The “Big Loser” that day was the Devil and the only way “failure could ever be final” for anyone is if they chose the wrong team in relation to the cross.

Failure will be eternal for all those that reject the free gift of grace Jesus offers through His finished work of the cross.  Today, you can experience victory over all your failure by repenting of your sin (that is, turning away from following the Devil) and receiving the free gift of salvation by surrendering (fully, sacrificially, without any reservation) to Jesus Christ as the Lord (Boss, Leader, Owner, Master) of your life.

Don’t follow “The Biggest Loser.”  Follow Jesus!