The events that took place from Palm Sunday to Easter morning were not isolated events that took place in a vacuum. It was not like God interrupted daily life in Jerusalem with these earth-shattering events. No, the events of the last week of Jesus’ life happened in the flow of the daily lives of the people of Israel and yet they were planned from the beginning of time. God was working in history to change the course of history for all the world. Let’s take a look at our Scripture found in Luke 19:29-44 and we will get started. Read along with me.

29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” 41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19:29-44 NIV)

In the events that are described by Luke, we read a very telling statement made by Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem. We need to stop and take this into consideration for ourselves. Jesus says, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:42 NIV) Did you hear that? Do you “understand” what Jesus meant as He said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” The Greek word, which is translated, “known,” is the word, “γινώσκω” (ginosko) and it means, “to learn to know, come to know, to understand, or to have knowledge of.” The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says,

The ordinary use is for intelligent comprehension (“to perceive,” “to understand,” “to know”), at first with a stress on the act. The word emphasizes understanding rather than sensory perception, it is a perception of things as they are, not an opinion about them.

The mass of people who lined the streets leading into Jerusalem were like many people in our own day. They had an opinion of Jesus, but they did not “know,” they did not “understand” the significance of what was taking place right before their eyes. They were looking for a military leader, someone who would come in and take down the Romans while restoring power and autonomy to the Jews. When I say, “They were looking for a military leader,” I don’t mean just a few of the Jews. The vast majority of the Jews were looking for a conquering king who, like David, would come in and defeat all of Israel’s enemies. Jesus wanted no part of that. God had other plans and His plans were set in place long, long ago.

God’s people were living under the power of the Romans, but in a day gone by God’s people were living under the power of the Egyptians when God chose to act on their behalf. God raised up Moses and sent him to Pharaoh to say, “Let My people go!” You know the story. Pharaoh wouldn’t give in so God brought ten plagues upon Egypt so that eventually Pharaoh would lose his grip on God’s people. The tenth, and final plague, was to be the worst, the death of the firstborn throughout the land. God told Moses to prepare for the plague by giving him these instructions.

3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. (Exodus 12:3-7 NIV)

God then told Moses that He would pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn, people and animals, as a way to bring judgment on all of the gods of Egypt. God told Moses,

13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. 14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD–a lasting ordinance.” (Exodus 12:13-14 NIV)

What God planned happened. Pharaoh’s own son died in the plague, the Hebrews were set free, God guided them to their new home in the Promised Land, and the Israelites have been celebrating the Passover ever since.

The celebration of this event, the Passover, was quickly approaching as Jesus sat on a donkey and began to make His way into Jerusalem. In Deuteronomy 16 we read where God required His people to go to Jerusalem from all over the land to celebrate three feasts—Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. I don’t think many of us really understand the magnitude of the Passover celebration that was taking place in Jesus’ day. Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, writes that in the year before Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, 70 A.D., there were 256,500 lambs that were slain for Passover. He also estimates that over 2 million Jews had gathered in Jerusalem for Passover. The Passover lambs were to be killed at the Temple on the 14th day of Nisan, but they were to be selected on the 10th day of Nisan. As the people selected their lamb they had to choose one that was without spot or blemish. It was to be inspected before it was selected. The 10th day of Nisan is the day of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

I want us to stop for a moment and let that soak in. Many years earlier God had instructed Moses to have the people select a lamb without spot or blemish for each of their households. They were to slay the lamb, smear its blood over the doorframes of their houses, and those whose homes were “under,” or “covered” by the blood would be safe.

Fast forward to Palm Sunday. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of lambs were being paraded around the city, examined by those who needed to buy a lamb for Passover, and Jesus, the Lamb of God, the only Lamb that has ever lived who was truly without spot or blemish, was among their number. God says to the people, “Here is My Passover Lamb, will you choose Him?”

Of all of the Passover lambs that had ever been slain, from the first Passover in Egypt until the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem, no lamb sacrificed for the sins of the people had ever done anything but “cover” the sins of the people. The job of the priests, making sacrifices for the sins of the people, was a tireless, never-ending job, but the writer of Hebrews tells us,

11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. (Hebrews 10:11-12 NIV)

The perfect High Priest, unlike the priests who worked at the Temple who had to offer sacrifices for their own sins before they could ever offer a sacrifice for the people, had come to the Holy City. The Spotless Lamb of God, unlike any lamb that had ever been offered to cover the sins of the people, came riding into Jerusalem as the long awaited Passover Lamb. He was not a shadow of things to come; He was the fulfillment of everything that had ever been hoped for by God’s people. Paul wrote, concerning the religious festivals, New Moon celebrations, and observances of the Sabbath days saying that they were merely “a shadow of the things that were to come.” Read along with me from Colossians 2:16-17.

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17 NIV)

Throughout the Hebrew Bible we see shadows of Jesus in the observances that God required of His people. All of these observances were to prepare their hearts for the day when Messiah would come. We read stories that foreshadow the coming of God’s Messiah. We see elements in the lives of David, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and others that point to the One who would come one day to free God’s people and restore them to God. As great as these people were they were merely a shadow of what the Messiah would be. God gave His people so many signs, so many indicators, throughout the years. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. In Genesis 22 we read the story of Abraham’s offer of Isaac. Begin with me in verse 1.

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” (Genesis 22:1-14 NIV)

God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, and sacrifice him on Mt. Moriah. Abraham and his son, Isaac, gathered all of the needed materials to make a sacrifice, and headed up the mountain. While they were on their way Isaac asked, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (Genesis 22:7-8 NIV) When they finally made it to the place on Mt. Moriah that God had told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham bound Isaac, laid him on the altar, and raised the knife to sacrifice his son, the son that he loved. God stopped Abraham and said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” (Genesis 22:12 NIV)

Many have read this story and thought out loud that God was cruel to put Abraham through such a test. Soren Kierkegaard wrote that God’s command was illogical and absurd. If this were the end of the story I might agree. Abraham waited 25 years for the son that God had promised. Now God was going to have him kill the long awaited son? That does seem more than extreme doesn’t it? It does if that is all of the story, but it is only a chapter of the story my friends. Or put another way, it is merely a shadow of another Father and Son story to come.

Isaac asked, “…where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb…” God did just what Abraham said. He provided the lamb. He substituted His own sacrifice for Isaac, the son of Abraham. God provided for Abraham in such a way, in such an astounding way, that Abraham renamed that place—“The LORD will provide.”

Fast forward to the day we call Good Friday. Jesus, the Lamb of God, who had come riding into town on “lamb selection day,” had been “inspected” throughout the week by the chief priests, the teachers of the law, the whole Sanhedrin, Herod Antipas, and Pilate. They wanted Him killed, but after examining Jesus, Pilate said, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” (John 19:6 NIV) He was the Lamb without spot or blemish. Nevertheless, on Friday, the Innocent died for the guilty as the Father walked His Son, Jesus, up Mt. Moriah to a place called Golgatha where He was beaten and nailed to a cross…and the Father did not stop the death of His Son, His only Son, the Son whom He loved. Pastor Tim Keller writes about this turn of events by saying,

And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

On a mountain called, “God will provide,” God did just that. He provided for Abraham in his time of need so that he would know the God who provides. Years later God provided for the whole human family by doing for us, through His Son, what no Passover lamb could ever provide—not the covering of our sins, but the complete forgiveness of our sins. Paul wrote,
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV)

If you don’t know you will not understand. So many today look at Jesus as a mythological figure, a person who may or may not have lived, but what they don’t know is that all of human history pointed towards His coming before He ever arrived. Because of His life, death, and resurrection history has been changed and even more importantly countless lives have been changed by the reconciling power of His Name. It is my heart’s desire to share with you God’s Word, all of God’s Word, so that you might know the God who provides. He has provided for you through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son and He is still providing for you each and every day. Won’t you recognize who it is that will bring you peace—peace with God, peace with others, and peace within yourself? Won’t you acknowledge what God has done for you this very morning and receive the Lamb of God who has taken your sin upon Himself so that you might not have to carry it?

Mike Hays
Britton Christian Church
April 17, 2011

Thomas had followed Jesus for three years. When he watched Jesus arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Thomas ran for his life. He was no doubt watching from a distance when the Romans nailed Jesus to a cross and put Him on display at Golgotha. As Jesus� life slowly faded, so did Thomas� hope.

The day following Jesus� death Thomas was perplexed. It wasn�t supposed to end the way it did. The rest of the followers of Jesus were together, but Thomas couldn�t bring himself to join them. They were scared to death. They had the door locked because they were afraid that the Jewish leaders might come looking for them. All of a sudden Jesus walked into the home where they had gathered and said, �Peace be with you!� Jesus showed them His hands and the wound in His side, but He was alive. He was really alive! The disciples were overjoyed, but Thomas wasn�t there.

The followers of Jesus found Thomas and told him what had happened, but Thomas wasn�t buying it. I can hear him now. �You saw what you wanted to see. When will you realize that He is dead. Get on with your lives!� Thomas� experience had affected him deeply. I have a hard time believing that we would have reacted any differently. John tells us,

25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” (John 20:25 NIV)

John tells us that one week later the disciples had gathered again. Just to let you know that there was still some hesitation in their hearts, John tells us, �The doors were still locked.� Jesus holds all of the keys and in an instant He was there, right in the middle of the group. He said, �Peace be with you!� and then He walked straight over to Thomas�who was no doubt, still doubting. Then we read in John 20:27-28,

27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27-28 NIV)

Thomas� doubts were swallowed up by the truth of Jesus. Thomas� doubting was put to rest. He was set free from the doubts that had plagued him, paralyzed him, and put him in a straitjacket�the doubts that had kept him from basking in the victory that Jesus had won on his behalf. Jesus told Thomas.

29 �”Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:29-31 NIV)

Thomas had seen the risen Lord and as a result of what he saw, he believed. Jesus said that those of us who were not there and yet believe are blessed. I love John�s last verse in this section. Why are these stories of Jesus� life and His interaction with others recorded in God�s Word? So that �by believing you may have life in his name.�

We have the Word of God at our fingertips and yet doubt still plagues many of us. Doubt about the truth of God�s Word. I�ve met many folks who wonder out loud, �Is all of this really true?� We who do believe also have our doubts from time to time. Does God really love me? If God loves me, then why am I going through these trials, why am I so depressed?� A young woman wrote,

I’m like Thomas some times. I questioned God for things that happened. I questioned God for the suffering I faced. I question God for the difficulties I endured. I doubted God’s presence in my life. I doubted God’s power in making me happy. I doubted God’s love because He let me be in trial of many kinds. I doubted God’s power to heal because of pain I suffered when I was sick.

Doubt. The emotion can be debilitating. The questions can be suffocating. The affects can cripple our perception of God. I know because I�ve been there on more than one occasion. The greatest remedy I have found for my doubts are the assurances of God�s great and glorious love for me. This is the heart of our Scripture for this morning. Let�s read Romans 8:31-39.

31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39 NIV)

This passage of Scripture should be tattooed on the heart of every follower of Jesus. At the end of a long chapter of reassurances, Paul writes, 31 �What, then, shall we say in response to this?� What more can be said? In light of all the facts that have emerged, what more can be said? If God is for us, who can be against us? If He has delivered us from the law of sin and death, who can be against us? If He has given us His Spirit to help us put to death the deeds of our sin nature, then who can be against us? If He has given us His Spirit to enable us to cry out to God when we find ourselves in a fix, then who can be against us? If He has given us His Spirit to intercede for us when we don�t even know what to pray, then who can be against us? Who can be against us? What can separate us from the Lord who has demonstrated His overwhelming love for us? John Stott has written,

Our confidence is not in our love for him, which is frail, fickle and faltering, but in his love for us, which is steadfast, faithful and persevering. The doctrine of �the perseverance of the saints” needs to be re-named. It is the doctrine of the perseverance of God with the saints. (John Stott)

Our confidence is not in the strength of our faith, but it is in His strength to accomplish in us what He has set out to do. Paul wrote to the folks in Philippi and reminded them of this truth when he wrote,

6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6 NIV)

The foundational truth that underscores everything else that Paul says in Romans 8 about our confidence in God�s provision is found in verse 32. Take a look at it with me. Paul writes,

32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32 NIV)

Paul points to the cross. If God did not spare His own Son for our sake, then how can we question that He will withhold anything from us that is necessary for us to become the people that God has called us to be? There is a word in this verse that points us to one of the most heart wrenching and heart warming stories found in the Old Testament. The word I want you to notice is the word, �spared.� God did not spare His Son. The word �spare� translates the Greek word, �????????� (pheidomai) and the story I am referring to is found in Genesis 22:10-14. Let me set the scene for you.

Abraham and Sarah had waited twenty-five years to be able to hold the child that God had promised them. They had spent another several years loving Isaac and watching him grow into a young man. Isaac was the promised child, the one through whom God would accomplish all that He had promised Abraham and Sarah. Then, at the beginning of Genesis 22, God told Abraham,

2 �”Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” (Genesis 22:2 NIV)

Can you imagine the thoughts that must have run through Abraham�s mind? How could he do what God was calling him to do? Isaac was more than God�s vehicle to accomplish God�s purposes, he was Abraham�s son. With all of the thoughts that must have bombarded Abraham�s mind, we don�t read about any of them. The next morning Abraham took Isaac and they made their way to Mt. Moriah. Let�s pick up the rest of the story on top of Mt. Moriah as Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac. Turn to Genesis 22:10-14.

10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” (Genesis 22:10-14 NIV)

The angel of the Lord stopped Abraham before he brought Isaac�s life to an end. The angel said, �I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.� Do you see the word, �withheld?� In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, it is the same word that Paul used in Romans 8 to let us know that God did not withhold His Son for our sake. Think of the irony.

God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son. God provided a substitute to die in the place of Isaac. There was a ram in the thicket, provided by God, that died in Isaac�s place. Many years later there was another Father who walked up Mt. Moriah with His Son, His only Son, but this Son would not be spared. Abraham was commended because he would not withhold his son from God�God is the one who prevented the death of Isaac. What God was willing to do for Abraham in stopping the death of his son, He was unwilling to do for Himself. God gave His Son on the very mountain where He intervened and spared the life of Abraham�s son.

It is interesting that after everything was said and done, Abraham marked the spot where he had experienced God�s intervention. He called the place “??????? ????????” (Genesis 22:14 WTT). He called the place, �YHWH yireh,� �The LORD will provide.� Abraham learned from his experience that God would provide for his needs, all of his needs. You and I can look back on Abraham�s words as prophetic. �The LORD will provide� was realized, not just in Abraham�s day-to-day challenges, but He has provided for the greatest challenge that humanity has ever faced�our own sin. It was on Mt. Moriah, at a place called Golgotha, that God gave His Son, Jesus our Savior, as the substitute to die in our place for sin that He never committed, but sin that He took upon Himself.

Jesus� death on Mt. Moriah, at Golgotha, was not an after-thought of God nor was it a circumstantial tragedy due to the evil hearts of those who wanted Jesus dead. Isaiah tells us long before Jesus was ever born that God sent His Son to die for sinners like you and me. Turn with me to Isaiah 53:6-10.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and 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. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in 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. (Isaiah 53:6-10 NIV)

How do you understand the death of Jesus? Isaiah answers the question for us. �It was the Lord�s will.� The Lord laid on Him the iniquity, the sin, of each and every one of us.

I asked the people in our Wednesday night Bible study if they would be willing to offer their child for the worst enemy they have ever had in their life. Not one person raised their hand. I asked, �How many of you have more than one child?� Many people raised their hand. I asked, �Would you be willing to give even one of your children for the worst enemy you�ve ever had in your life?� Not one person. No one. Not even one would be willing to give even one of their children for the worst enemy they have ever had in their life. Yet, we read,

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NIV)

If God was willing to do this for us while we were His enemies, sinners, what will He withhold from us now that we are His sons and daughters? You know the answer to that question. Absolutely nothing!

In verse 31, Paul asks, �Who can be against us?� The question is linked to the affirmation which precedes it��If God is for us, who can be against us.� Paul does not use �if� to place any questions in our head, but to drive home to us that God is for us. We can just as easily read Paul�s question this way, �Since God is for us, who can be against us?�

Make no mistake about it; there are those who are against us. Paul does not mean to convince us that since God is for us so is everyone else. Paul knows better than most that there is much and many against us. Paul wrote to the people of Corinth.

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV)

Hard pressed. Perplexed. Persecuted. Struck down. Those are pretty tough words to describe pretty tough situations that Paul faced in life and yet he was not crushed, they didn�t drive him to despair, he didn�t feel abandoned, and they could not destroy him.

The situations of life can certainly seem like they are against us. Joseph must have felt that way when he found himself sitting in prison for something he didn�t even do. Naomi sure felt that way when she lost her husband and her two sons. The early followers of Jesus had to have felt that way when they lost their jobs and had their property confiscated because of their unwillingness to denounce their faith in Jesus. Our situations will work on our mind to try and convince us that God doesn�t love us.

Our situations are not the only battle we face. We have an enemy who the Bible identifies as the Devil or Satan. You�ve have probably heard, as I have heard, that believing in a �devil� is a backwoods, unsophisticated, uneducated, silly notion. Call it what you will but God�s Word is very clear that we have an enemy. Peter wrote,

8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 NIV)

He knew firsthand, from his experiences in life, that Satan is an enemy of God�s people. In Luke 22, Jesus told Simon Peter,

31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. (Luke 22:31-32 NIV)

Satan is not all-powerful. He is on a short lease, but his desire is to destroy, to devour, you and me. The key for us is to cling and cleave to the Lord so that we might resist his temptations. James wrote,

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:7-8 NIV)

�Resist the devil.� By the power that indwells you, resist the devil. Through Jesus we are more than conquerors over all of those that would seek to destroy or defeat us. Paul was so convinced of this that he wrote,

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39 NIV)

Can death pry us from God�s gentle grip? Not on your life! Can the hardships of life draw us from His tender arms? Not a chance! Are there any supernatural powers, demons or even Satan himself, that might draw you from under God�s glorious gaze? No way! There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This past week I got a phone call from a friend of mine who was preparing for her father�s funeral. The funeral was going to be held at a different church in town, but she wanted to know if she could bring her family by the church to meet with me before they went to the funeral. I said, �Sure, I would love to meet with you guys. What would you like for me to talk about?� She said, �Would you talk to us about heaven? Would you talk about how our faith makes a difference at a time like this?� I would relish the opportunity!

We need reassurance don�t we? Not just when a loved one dies or when we are told that our time is drawing near, but we need reassurance each and every day. John wrote,

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10 NIV)

God has demonstrated His love for you and me. Any time you are questioning God�s love all you have to do is stop, take a deep breath, and look to the cross of our Savior. It was there on the cross that God demonstrated His infinite love for you and me.

There will continue to be things that happen in your life and mine that can lead us to questions, even doubting, but our doubts can be swallowed up in faith at the foot of the cross. I want to ask you who do not know Jesus as Lord of your life to do so this very morning. Come to know. He already knows you, He made you, He has kept you alive to this very day, but you need to know Him. Won�t you confess your need for His saving grace?

Mike Hays
Britton Christian Church
922 NW 91st
OKC, OK. 73114
March 1, 2009
bccpreacherman@aol.com