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#20250418 - Remember - Luke 22:19-20 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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If you would take your Bibles and open them to Luke 22 on this
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Good Friday service. Welcome everyone watching online
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and on the radio today. We're grateful you're with us.
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When Jesus instituted communion, he took the bread you remember,
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and He tells his disciples to take it and to eat it and to
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remember that His body is broken for you.
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And then He took the cup which is His blood shed for you, and
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He does the same thing. Luke records it this way.
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And Luke 2219 He took the bread and gave thanks and broke it and
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gave it to them, saying, this is my body which is given for you.
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Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, He also took the cup
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after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood
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which is shed for you. Jesus was looking ahead when he
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said these words and today we look back.
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It had yet to happen when Jesus spoke these words, but now, 2000
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years later, we know it happened and Good Friday is the day that
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reminds us of these moments. Good Friday is often remembered
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as God's most painful moment, the most painful moment that
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Jesus ever experienced. And here we are today, together,
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remembering Jesus and the price that he paid for our salvation,
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the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus's body was broken.
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It's a heavy thing to consider. We know that Jesus hung
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painfully on a Roman cross, but prior to the cross he endured
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what's known as a Roman scourging or a torturous
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beading. It's described as being whipped
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with a short whip with single braided leather, thongs of
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various links, small iron balls, pieces, sharp pieces of sheep
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bones were tied at the intervals and the man being ripped, being
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beaten was stripped of his clothing and his hands were tied
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to an upright post. His back, his buttocks, his legs
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were then viciously beaten. The scourging was intended to
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weaken the victim to a state just short of collapse or even
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death. And as the Roman soldiers, one
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on either side, repeatedly struck the victims back with
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their full force, the iron balls would cut deep, confused
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contusions into his skin, striking the victim's back.
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The leather thongs and the sheep bones would cut into the skin
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and the subcutaneous tissues, and as the flogging and
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scourging continued, the lacerations would tear into the
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underlying skeletal muscles. We're describing a beating, but
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we have to consider that the beating we're describing is what
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innocent Jesus, God in human flesh, endured for you and for
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me. There's much talk in the
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Christian world today among many believers of what we deserve or
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what we have done or what we have to offer to God.
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And it's days like this that we have to step back and, and
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really ask the question with all honesty and all sincerity.
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What is it exactly that you and I have to offer to God?
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What is it that we would in any way require God to owe us
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anything? Often in a scourging there were
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two that would beat one on either side of the victim.
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They took turns. It was not uncommon for kidneys
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in the spleen and other organs to be exposed and to be slashed
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under the speeding. Almost always a man would die
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under this, not having to face the cross.
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A scourging would be the step prior to the cross, and yet
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Jesus enduring to the end, would then take and pick up his cross
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and carry under its load, its load upon its be his beat up
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body. When Jesus was instituting
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communion, He had this on his mind.
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He knew this would take place. He understood what he would
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face. Crucifixion If a man endured the
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scourging, he would then be crucified.
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Invented by the Persians, crucifixion was a horrible way
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to die. They believed, the Persians did,
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that the earth was sacred, and so the criminal was then lifted
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up off of the ground so that his death would not defile the
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earth. Crucifixion, one writer says, is
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the most terrible and cruel death that a man has ever
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devised for taking vengeance on his fellow man.
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Cicero, the philosopher, would say it's the most cruel and most
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horrible torture. Tacitus, the historian, called
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it a torture only fit for slaves.
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While the Persians invented it, the Romans perfected it and
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throughout history used it more often than anyone else that has
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been described. Some estimate that they killed
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30,000 Jews alone by crucifixion.
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The Romans and it sent a message.
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Don't mess with Rome. Rome kept it exclusively for
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rebels, runaway slaves, and the lowest type of criminal.
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It was such a cruel way to punish that they did not crucify
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their own citizens. Crucifixion would have involved
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laying Jesus on his open, lacerated bleeding back upon a
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rough, splintery piece of wood. The Roman soldiers would then
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take spikes, five to seven of them, attaching with a long
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hammer between the two arm bones at the wrist, crushing the
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median nerve as his hand were outstretched on the crossbeam.
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It was said that the pain was absolutely unbearable.
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In fact, it's the pain would be literally beyond what words
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could describe. They had to invent a new word.
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Excruciating. This word literally means out of
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the cross. They created a new word because
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there was nothing in the language at the time that could
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describe the intense anguish caused during the crucifixion.
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A man would die by asphyxiation or cardiac arrest hanging on a
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cross. Jesus would have been hoisted as
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the crossbar was attached to the vertical stake, nails driven
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through his feet. The nerves in his feet would
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have been crushed. Severed nerves were bad enough,
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but his arms would have been immediately stretched out,
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probably about 6 inches in length.
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Both shoulders would have been dislocated.
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When Jesus takes the bread and he says take, eat, this is my
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body. This is what he had in mind, a
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very torturous, painful way for a person to die.
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Jesus exchanged his life for yours and for mine.
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His perfect, sinless offering provided the way of escape for
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us. The Bible puts it this way in
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Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21.
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For He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might
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become the righteousness of God in Him.
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Jesus suffered in silence throughout all his hours of
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interrogation, torture, and agony.
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Isaiah would put it this way. He was oppressed and he was
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afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth.
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He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
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its shearers is silent, so He opened not his mouth.
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Yet when the weight of humanity sends was poured out upon him,
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one of His final sayings. One is the final things Jesus
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says before he dies. He says this at about the 9th
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hour. Jesus cries out.
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Eli, Eli. Lama Sabakhthani, That is my
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God. My God, why have you forsaken
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me? Forsaken.
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The word means deserted, abandoned, rejected.
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The whole scene is shocking to us, these words especially the
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eternal Son of God, crying out to the Father, hanging on the
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cross with what little energy he has left.
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Why have you forsaken me? The words disarm us and cause us
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to wonder at times. What did he mean?
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As hard as it is for us as human beings to even fathom what was
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taking place here, we have to stand back as we do in reserve
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this time on Friday, as many churches around the world are
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doing the same thing. We stand on holy ground as we
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peek into this moment in the life of Jesus.
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The impact of this moment is so significant, it bears a little
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bit of time to consider. If we get a better understanding
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of what Jesus actually went through.
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It would impact our thinking and melt our hearts and change the
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way that we live our lives, giving us a greater appreciation
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for the cross more than a piece of jewelry or a building
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declaration, decoration or something that we take for
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granted. When Jesus said, My God, my God,
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why have you forsaken me? These were not the delusions of
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a man in pain as some suggest. His faith was not failing him.
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I believe that as Christ was hanging there at this moment, He
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was bearing the sins of the world.
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It's easy to say sins of the world.
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It's even easy to think about the sins of the world.
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It's a beautiful statement when Jesus teaches us in John chapter
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3 that God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten
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Son, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish,
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but have everlasting life. Beautiful to think about what
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God has done for the world, but it's even more beautiful when
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you personalize it and you think about what God has done for you
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and for me, bearing the sins of my life, not merely the world.
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He was dying as a substitute for you and for me.
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He was bearing your sin at that moment, and bearing mine as
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well. To Him was imputed the guilt of
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all of our sins, and He was suffering the necessary
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punishment for those sins on our behalf, satisfying the wrath of
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God against sinners on our behalf.
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The essence of that punishment is the outpouring of God's wrath
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upon sinners. And in some mysterious way that
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we can never fully understand, during those awful hours on the
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cross, the Father was pouring out the full measure of His
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wrath against sin, and the recipient of that wrath was
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God's own beloved Son. Listen, God was punishing Jesus
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as if He had personally committed every wicked deed
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committed by every wicked Sinner, and in so doing He could
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treat and forgive those redeemed as if they had lived Christ's
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perfect life of righteousness. There is a great exchange when
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you and I are born again. We receive the righteousness of
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Christ as He paid the price for our sins.
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We know there was a moment at Calvary where the sin of the
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world was put upon him, and I believe that is the moment.
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What's so significant about sin? Well, sin separates.
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Sin produces death. The Bible says both physical
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death but also spiritual death. Sin is a powerful separator.
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Sin separates friends from friends, parents from children,
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marriages, relationships, but more importantly sin separates
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man from God and even here for a moment the Son from the Father.
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The Bible says that God cannot look upon sin.
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Habakkuk chapter one verse 13. The Bible says you are of purer
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eyes than behold, than to behold evil, and cannot look on
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wickedness. Why do you look on those who
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deal treacherously and hold your tongue when the wicked devours a
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person more righteous than he? Jesus was forsaken by God so
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that you and I would never have to be again.
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In Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 5 the Bible says, let your
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conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as
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you have. For He himself said, I will
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never leave you or forsake you. Even John records for us these
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final words that when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said
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it is finished and it bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
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Today is often referred to as Good Friday.
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It's a little ironic that Jesus would have to endure so much bad
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in order for us to enjoy so much good.
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But it's not merely a Good Friday, it's a great Friday
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because God did such a great thing.
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Your sins can be forgiven through the broken body in the
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shed blood of Jesus Christ that God has provided a way for you.
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Now is not a time to just attend another religious service, go
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home, or go back to work or carry on your day, but rather
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now is a time to get serious with God who loves you, to take
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in all seriousness exactly what this exchange was.
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You understand now that it's more than responding to an
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invitation or standing at a service or praying a prayer of
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confession. As important of all as all those
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are, the Bible says that we're to confess with our mouth the
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Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised him from
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the dead. Very important.
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The Bible teaches us the seriousness and the the
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significance of the pain and of sin, and that's unconfessed and
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unforgiven. It will send a man or woman
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eternally apart from God. Hell awaits, or even more
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serious than hell, the lake of fire awaits all those who reject
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Christ. We have to stand back and
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consider all that Jesus has done in our lives and apply it, the
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blood to our own hearts and our own lives.
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And saying today, Lord, I'm a Sinner, I admit it.
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I place my trust and my faith in Jesus Christ.
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I surrender my life with our own lips, believing with our hearts
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that I believe Jesus, you were beaten for me.
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I believe that you died on the cross for me, and as we'll see
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in a few days, for us, it's going to be tomorrow.
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We're not even going to wait the full 3 days, but we'll be here
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celebrating the resurrected life of Jesus.
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That they buried him in a tomb, believing that this issue was
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solved and settled, but in reality, real life was just
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beginning. For so many, it's important that
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you repent of your sin to turn toward Jesus and allow him to
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fill your life with life. So we do gather very regularly,
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perhaps even religiously, to consider this day.
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You happen to be in a church where we consider these things
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every time we gather. Why?
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Because the Bible does. The Bible reminds us of the
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finished work of Jesus Christ. The Bible reminds us and is such
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a great tool to help us understand who we are and where
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we are apart from Christ. Of course, on the other side of
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faith, the Bible also tells us who we are and where we are in
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Christ. Or even today on this Good
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Friday, follower of Christ, born again believer, God would remind
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you in this very truth on this Good Friday, as we consider the
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beating in the crucifixion, I mean the the the torturous death
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that Jesus endured for us. We're reminded even today,
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believer, that you are complete in Christ.
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The full package is yours by faith in Jesus today.
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I know often in a church like ours that magnifies what the
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Bible magnifies. And you know the Bible magnifies
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the grace of God that all that we enjoy today we don't deserve,
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we couldn't work for, we couldn't earn.
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There's nothing in our lives whatever merit the favorable
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response of God on our behalf. No, we received the grace of God
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in the mercy of God, in the goodness of God.
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But it would be easy in a church like ours that emphasizes the
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grace of God to say, oh, you know, you, you teach cheap
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grace. That's that's cheap grace.
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To which I would say today on Good Friday, the grace of God
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did not come to you cheaply. A great price was paid.
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And I'm so grateful that Jesus Christ paid the price that you
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and I could never. Ever in a million kajillion
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years even offer a small part of what the perfect Son of God
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offered. So as we leave here today
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thinking about the death of Christ, we don't end with a
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song. We don't really even end like we
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typically do. We just invite you to leave and
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go back into life like the followers of Christ did at the
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crucifixion. Some of them ran away, looked
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from a distance, but when all was said and done and Jesus was
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buried, they went home and they went back into life pondering
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the reality, the new reality of her life.
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They don't have him anymore. And the intent, I believe, of a
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Friday service like this is to have in your mind a heaviness
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and a weight. You could even ask for God to
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give you a little bit of the weight or heaviness that comes
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to mind when we think of what Jesus did for us.
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And then we gather again in our future services here to
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celebrate the resurrection. Because although we although we
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leave here today with the death of Christ, you can be assured
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that while today is Good Friday, Sunday's coming and the work of
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God will be complete. So Father, we come and we
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recognize and we in some small way, or perhaps for the very
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first time, the weight of all that you have accomplished.
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Just as hitting some right now for the first time, they're,
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they're considering the reality of all that has taken place in
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their lives that you have done for them that we leave with a
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sense of awe and respect and honor and worship and
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appreciation for your broken body and your shed blood in
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Jesus name, Amen. God bless you.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
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prayer. Call us at 87730 Grace that's
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877-304-7223 to listen to this message in its integrity or to
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.