Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2007 : November 25, 2007

Theme: Jesus Paid a King's Ransom

Church year occasion: End Times 4 - Christ the King

They say that a picture is worth 1000 words. If that's true, then a video is worth a million words. I'd like to start off by showing you a video clip from a show called "Britain's Got Talent," which is England's equivalent to our show "American Idol." For those of you not familiar with this kind of show, no-name contestants compete to see who has some genuine talent. Often the performances are awful, and the judges, especially Simon Cowell, are blunt to the point of being cruel in their evaluation of the performance. With that as a little background, I'd like you to watch the video of a man named Paul Potts, a very unconfident cell phone salesman from South Wales who thinks he can sing opera. And notice what the judges are expecting.

Did you notice what Simon Cowell said of Paul Potts' performance? "I wasn't expecting that." Why wasn't he expecting that fantastic operatic singing from Paul Potts? Because he didn't look like a good opera singer. In fact, he didn't look like he could do much of anything. You were expecting Paul Potts to fall flat on his face in failure. Maybe you were even thinking, "Oh, please let him not make a complete fool of himself." Paul Potts eventually won the entire competition and has already cut a CD. It just shows that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Jesus crucified

Did Jesus look very impressive? Even though he is the King of kings, the Almighty, the One who holds heaven and earth in the palm of his hand, yet he looks like the most pathetic excuse for a King that anyone could come up with. But this is your God. And this was God's plan for you. Totally unexpected. On this Christ the King Sunday, we will look at how our King, our God, subjected himself to the most insulting ridicule and horrifying torture, and even suffered the torments of hell, itself to make sure you know that your sins are forgiven and heaven is your home. Today you will see how Jesus as your King Paid a King's Ransom by enduring your punishment to promise you paradise.

What does it mean to pay a king's ransom? It means that someone has been taken prisoner and that the kidnappers are demanding an enormous amount to free him -- as if that person were worth as much as a king. But here's the twist in what Jesus did: He was the King, and he gave himself to free nobodies like you and me, who weren't worth anything because of our sinful condition; if fact, we were his enemies. But God loved us anyway. He loved us so much that he paid for our release from our sins with his own life, as his blood dripped down the cross of Calvary. Jesus paid a king's ransom by enduring your punishment.

Can you think of some of the pain and punishment Jesus endured even before he was on the cross? He was abandoned by his followers the disciples, denied by one of his closest friends and followers, betrayed by another disciple. He was falsely accused, beaten, bloodied, had a crown of thorns crushed into his skull, endured flogging, carried his cross. Then he was nailed to a cross and hung up to die while no one lifted a finger to help, because no one could help.

But then your King endured the most painful part of his suffering -- rejection. The sign above his head, which was there to show why he was being crucified, actually told the truth -- Jesus of Nazareth was the King of the Jews and the King of all creation. But there were many different groups who joined to reject Jesus as their King and Savior. The first group who rejected Jesus was the religious rulers of the people. They knew their Old Testament Scriptures. But they saw Jesus as a pretender to the throne. They witnessed him performing miracles and speaking God's Word with his own authority which showed him to be the Son of God and the Messiah, but they rejected him. They were more interested in their power over the people, the honor and money they received as a result of their position. And after three years of witnessing Jesus slip through the traps they laid for him and enduring his true assessment of who they were, they finally had Jesus where they wanted him -- dying in humility. They sneered at him. That phrase literally means they turned up their noses at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." Jesus could have saved himself and punished these religious leaders who had led his own people astray, but then he wouldn't have saved us. So he endured their rejection, and let his lifeblood flow down the cross to forgive even them.

Another group who rejected him as their King was the soldiers. "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself." These men had no idea of the truth of the statement above Jesus' head. Not only was he the King of the Jews that they were crucifying, but he was their King as well. And they will one day stand before him as their Judge. They saw him as no different than any other Jewish peasant who got what he deserved by daring to defy the military might of Rome. But their King endured their rejection as well, and let his lifeblood flow down the cross to forgive them as well. He even prayed for them specifically: "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."

Another group who rejected Jesus as their King was the criminals being crucified on either side of Jesus. Only the worst of criminals would be crucified, so they deserved what they were getting. They also heaped insults on him. One of them said "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" This man didn't see Jesus as his King and Savior. He only saw his one chance of getting down from that cross -- if Jesus was who he said he was, he could save all of them. We ourselves can learn a good lesson from this criminal's statement. Jesus wasn't there to prevent people from enduring physical pain or to make sure everyone's life worked out the way they wanted it to work out. He was there to save everyone from their sins and the eternal damnation that those sins had earned for every single human being. He was there to bring peace of mind and soul so that anyone could look to him as their strength and comfort, even in the worst trials of life. So Jesus said nothing, but simply let his royal and holy blood flow down the cross to forgive even the worst of criminals.

But there was another group who rejected Jesus as well. You and I. Because we are sinners through and through, and because we show all too often that we are sinners through and through, we also by nature rejected Jesus. Every day we commit sins of rejecting Jesus. When we fail to help someone in need, as he has commanded us, we show that Jesus doesn't always control our lives, but that we want to. When we don't set aside time every day to gladly hear and study his Word of life, we show that we have put ourselves on the throne he should occupy. When we let bitterness and anger and revenge steer our thoughts instead of the love and concern and forgiveness that Jesus desires of us, we show that we, too, are very good at rejecting Jesus every day of our lives. Just think of one time this past week when you would like to change what you thought or said or did if Jesus, your King, were standing beside you. But if we're honest with ourselves, it wouldn't be just one time when we'd change our behavior, but many times when we failed him. We were just as much his enemies as anyone heaping insults on him that day. And for that, we deserve to be rejected by God forever.

But that is when we need to see the final group there who rejected Jesus. It was one who knew exactly who Jesus was all along. He knew why Jesus was where he was better than anyone else. In fact, he had foretold this very moment in the history of man in many times and in various ways. It was Jesus' own heavenly Father. But he, too, rejected Jesus. Not because he failed to see Jesus as the King, but because he alone knew that only the blood of his own Son, God himself, could forgive every rejection and every sin. And he alone knew that only by rejecting his own Son, by seeing him as the one who committed every sin, could he set the world free from sin and give them life. So he rejected his own Son. So he damned him in our place. That was the only way our sins could be forgiven. That was the king's ransom -- Jesus' perfect life in our place.

And of all those who had rejected him that day, only one of the criminals, by God's grace, had a change of heart and saw Jesus for who he truly was. He rebuked the other criminal and said, "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." That changed everything for that man. He only had a short time to live yet in this world, but he soon would be living forever in heaven with his Savior and King.

You and I also, by God's grace, have had a change of heart. The Holy Spirit has changed your rejecting heart into one that sees Jesus as your King and rejoices in the salvation that is now yours. Yes, you have failed your king many times. Every one of those is a rejection of him as your King. But every rejection, every single sin, has been paid for by your King who let his blood flow down the cross as complete payment for you. So your King also says to you, "You will be with me in paradise."

Simon Cowell said to Paul Potts, "I never expected that," because Paul Potts didn't look like much. We share that same sentiment when we see Jesus dying on the cross and then risen three days later. We can say with every fiber of our being, "I never expected that, and I didn't deserve that." But it is true nonetheless. Our King paid a king's ransom to pay for our sins. They are gone forever. That forgiveness is yours simply through believing that it's true.

Do you think Paul Potts will ever go back to being a cell phone salesman? He's a new person now. People see him now for who he is. What has Jesus done for you? You didn't have any talent or any ability to serve him, but he's taken your sin away forever. You still don't have any ability to serve your King on your own. But you have something infinitely better. You have the blood of Jesus covering you. You have the righteousness of God credited to your account. You have a whole new life opened in front of you. The criminal on the cross only had a few hours to live as the new creation the Holy Spirit had made of him. How long do you have? Only God knows. But it's time to leave behind the old you and live the way your King wants you to live, the way he has enabled and empowered you to live. Now what will you do with your new life? How will you serve your King? Amen.