Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

Easter is one of my favorite days of the year! There is a heightened awareness of what God has done through the life of His son Jesus! There is a sense of expectancy, wonder, and celebration that arises when we remember Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection.

As I prayed about what to share today there was a question that arose in my heart. Why did He do it?

Let me explain what I mean.
• One week after Jesus praised and celebrated during His triumphal entry on Palm Sunday into Jerusalem He is arrested and lead away to the high priest to be questioned.
• While there He is mocked and beaten by those who held him (Luke 22:63).
• They blasphemed Him. (Luke 22:64-65).
• King Herod and his men mocked him and treated him with contempt (Luke 23:11).
• The crowd and religious leaders demanded His death while releasing a guilty murderer (Luke 23:18-21).
• He was scourged by the Roman soldiers (Matthew 27:26).
• He was scourged so badly that His visible image was unrecognizable as man. Isaiah 52:14 “Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men;”.
• He was mocked by the Roman soldiers as they placed a scarlet robe upon his torn flesh, twisting a crown of thorns of they placed it on his head (Matthew 27:27-29).
• They spat on him, struck him in the head with a reed, and continued mocking him (Matthew 27:30-31).
• They crucified him driving nails through His hands and feet into the cross (Matthew 27:35).
• While He hung on the cross, He was blasphemed and mocked by the chief priest and those who passed by (Matthew 27:39-40).
• Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him (Matthew 27:44).
• He was forsaken by God (Mark 15:33-34).
• Then He died (Mark 15:37).

Why did Jesus endure all those things?

The first reason was for our salvation. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”. Sin separated us from the presence of God bringing death to all mankind. Yet in light of that truth Abraham prophesied that God would provide the needed sacrificial lamb to cover our sin.

Concerning the sacrificial lamb there was a foreshadowing In Exodus 12:3 when God said, “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.”

During the final plague in Egypt God gave instruction for every man to take a lamb. It was to be without blemish or spot, and it would be sacrificed. The blood of the lamb was to be put on the door post and lintel of the house. When the death angel saw the blood, he would have to passover and bring no death or destruction.

Jesus became the Passover lamb to save people from judgement and death.
• The prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be like a lamb led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7).
• Revelation 13:8 reveals that Jesus was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
• John the baptist proclaimed in John 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

It was necessary for Him to die so that He might destroy the one who had the power of death

In Christ, we find salvation. We have assurance today that all that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13)

I believe there is a second reason for salvation. Jesus sacrifice on the cross was certainly to save us, but beyond that He asks for our surrender.

In Matthew 4:17 Jesus gives His first message. “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””

Our belief in Him was intended to produce something. Repentance means to turn away from. If we are not careful, we only see Jesus as the lamb of God who takes away our sin, and miss Him as the conquering king whom we will give an account to.

If we choose not to honor the truth of His word and live in opposition to it we will be judged. Many today both in the church and the world believe that we can do as we please and get away with it. I would caution that thinking today. Jesus will come again, and we will give an account for our lives.

Salvation should bring us to a place of gratitude. A heart that cheerfully serves the Lord with our lives. True believers don’t see the instruction of God as something that is restricting to life but freeing! Understanding that Jesus opened the door for us to walk in newness of Life. We have joy because we are forgiven by His blood and transformed by the power of His word.

Jesus paved the way for us to walk in newness of life. We are to put off our former conduct and walk uprightly in Him.

We have been bought with a price.

Today the message of the Gospel continues to be trust in Christ, receive forgiveness of your sins, and lay down your life for the kingdom. Let every man turn from his own ways and turn to the Lord.

The Lord needs our surrender today. The Gospel must go into all the world. God wants to use your surrender to impact others.

I want to leave you with a final scripture today. Listen to the words of Jesus in Revelation 22:12-14.

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