The Sacrifice of Jesus - Andrew Kochanski - GTAN2529

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, Go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers. SPEAKER 1 And here is today's presenter, Andrew Kochanski. SPEAKER 2 So let's begin with prayer and we're going to dive in. So would you like to bow with me as we pray? Dear God in Heaven, such a big topic. Prepare our hearts. May we hear what you want us to hear. May your Holy Spirit please be here. We can sing our hearts out, which we've done. We can preach our our hearts out, which I'll try to do, God, but without yout Spirit, it will be nothing. We invite Him here into our hearts, into our life. May we hear what yout want us to hear. Please, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. So let's begin with a true false statement. Let's have some fun with this, because the Bible is for our instruction. Then we're going to talk about the Garden of Gethsemane, In Pilate's court, on the cross, and he is risen. So, ready for some true/false statements? True or false? God is all powerful or omnipotent? True or false? Okay, very good. Remember what the angel Gabriel said at the beginning of Jesus' life when he came to Mary? He said, For with God nothing shall be impossible. You know, how can a single lady become pregnant with the Son of God? With God, nothing is impossible. Jesus said with God all things are possible. And in Revelation it says, the great multitude says, Alleluia for our Lord God omnipotent reigns. Second question, God is all knowing, true or false? God is all knowing. In 1 John it says, God knows all things. Well, let's flip it. Is there something that God doesn't know? Just read the last few chapters of Job to see how little we know. God knows everything, right? Do you know that in Psalm 139 it says that God knows what we're going to say before we say it? And because thoughts precede words, God knows what we're thinking. Amazing thought, isn't it? Okay. God is present everywhere at once, omnipresent, true or false? Psalm 139 says, Where will I go from youm Spirit? Or where will I flee from youm presence? And then the psalmist says, Heaven, well you're there. the grave, you're there. Far out to sea, you're there. In the darkness of night, you're there. How long did it take for God to find Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they were playing hide and seek? God is everywhere, right? Is God in China right now? How about New Zealand? How about Tasmania? Is God here right now? Yes. You know, the Bible says God inhabits eternity. which means not only is God present everywhere at once, but God is present everywhere at all times. That's another thought, isn't it? So this is a solid foundation. Let's remember this as our solid foundation. I wanted to begin with this because this will be our framework for looking at the story of Easter. So why this sermon? We all go through pain, we all go through suffering, we all go through hard times. Things that bring us to our knees in prayer and we pray like we've never prayed before. Does God know a little bit about suffering? God would end suffering in a heartbeat. And yet He allows it. He tolerates it. He... Why? You could ask a thousand questions why? Why doesn't God do something? Why doesn't God say something? Why doesn't... Kids ask why? Do you ever ask why? I hope the story of the death, the burial and the resurrection helps to answer some of your why questions. Why God, God allows us to go through certain experiences, I believe. God allows us to go through tough stuff. For some reason, He allows it. I don't know why, maybe Maybe when we look at the cross, we'll be able to understand a little bit about why does God allow us to go through what we go through. If we need to develop more patience, He'll bring us into experiences that require us to wait. If we need more faith, He'll bring us through a storm. If we need more love, He'll bring circumstances that help to develop that trait of character too. So God is all powerful, all knowing and present everywhere. So now let's begin in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus has the weight of my sin on Him. He has your sin on Him. He is sick in the stomach. He is depressed. He is sweating drops of blood. He calls for His three closest disciples and He says, Stay, I need your sympathy. I need your comfort. I need a word of encouragement. Please stay and pray with me. And then he says, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. We have no idea. If it wasn't for God's, the God the Father's help, Jesus would have lost his life here. This is an understatement. My soul is exceeding sorrowful. Are you kidding? The weight of the sin of the world pressed upon him, my sin, your sin. O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but as yous will. What is Jesus saying here? The will of the Father was more important than His will. He says, I don't wanna do this, but please, if this is yous will, let me go through it. Another statement, one hour passes in prayer. O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Your will be done. Full submission, full surrender to the will of God. Incredible thought. Later when he's being arrested, Jesus says to Peter, Put your sword back into the sheath. The cup which my Father has given me, will I not drink it? Aren't you glad that He did? Aren't you glad that the prayer of Jesus wasn't answered? Because if the prayer of Jesus was answered, He'd have been saved, we would have been lost. Not every prayer that we pray is answered the way that we want. Unless it's the will of God. May every prayer that you pray, not my will, but may your will be done. Let me illustrate with a story. All these stories are true. They all happened in Toowoomba. Sabbath afternoon, I like to go out and meet people. And so I met this lady. And those of you who work at the Agra Op Shop may know where this is. It's just up from the Agra Op Shop. So I met this lady, I'll call her Tanya, to protect her identity. So she was sitting, thinking and drinking. And I saw some books lying around her and I said, oh, you like to read? Can I share with you a little magazine to read? She said, Sure, that'd be nice. So I sat with her and I listened to her heartbreaking story. Remember, God is all powerful, God is all knowing, and God is present everywhere. So her husband pushed her out of the house, knocked out her front teeth. She's come to Toowoomba. Her family can't help her. She's sitting, thinking and drinking. For an hour she just pours out her heart, pain and sorrow and suffering. What do you say? What can you say? She went to rehab to try to get help and she sneaks out of rehab and she goes down the road to her primary school, the Catholic school that she went to school at, to pray she realizes she needs prayer. And she gets in trouble from the rehab people for praying. So she's almost about to lose faith in God. Her faith is struggling. She has an idea of God, but she has that question that we began with, and the question is why? I can't answer that for her. Why? She wasn't bitter, she wasn't angry at God, but she just didn't know why. So we talked for about an hour. I sat, I listened, I offered what I could, and then I said to her, Would you like me to pray for you? Yes, she said, I'd like that. So I had a prayer. How would you pray? How would you pray for someone who has had their life just flipped upside down? How would you pray? What would you say? How would you bring her to a God that sees everything, knows everything, is present everywhere? What would you possibly say to God? So I offered a prayer, I said, God, thank you that you see, you hear and you know. Please help. I put her into the hand of God, it's the safest place to be, right? It's the safest place. I said, can I give you a hug? She said, sure, that'd be nice. Gave her a hug, went back to my car, got some little more books to share with her. I went back the next morning. Well, the next morning she was more sober than she was the day before. She said, who are you? I said, I'm the guy who sat with you and had a big conversation with you yesterday. Oh, that's right. Yes, I remember that. She was still sitting, she was still drinking and she was still thinking. I kind of summarized the conversation we had the day before. I offered another prayer, similar, putting her life into God's hand. Then I went to my car and got a book by Cherie Peters, Celebrating Life in Recovery, as if that would help. But God would help her, right? And I gave her a hug and I somehow knew that I would never see her again. This is not her picture, by the way. Of course, it's just a photo to remind me. I said, Is there anything I can do for you? She said, yeah, mind my stuff. I just need to go out for a bit. So that's when I got the photo. Didn't want to embarrass her, right? Talk about being fully surrendered to God's will. This takes another level, doesn't it? Hold on to God when you can't answer the why question. Hold on to God when you just don't know how it will go. Hold on to God in Pilate's court. In Pilate's court. Look at this. Jesus answered, you could have no power at all against me except it were given you from above. What is Jesus saying here? Things don't just happen. They go through the hand of God, don't they? Because Pilate said, Don't you know that I've got power over you? Jesus said, It comes through God's hand first. What comes to us comes through God's hand first. Sometimes He says yes, sometimes He says no, and sometimes He says wait until tomorrow. God is all powerful, all knowing and present everywhere. Sometimes things seem out of control. How much control did Jesus have before Pilate? Totally, totally out of control. How can the Son of God be tried by Pilate? Who does he think he is? How upside down, how can you make sense of this? How out of control? Remember, God is all powerful, all knowing and present everywhere. He was present here. God the Father was present here for sure. Another example. Do you guys know where this is? Of course you do. So on the steps, I'll point here, on the steps about here. Of course, this isn't a real photo, but it looked like him. There was a young man, 24 years old, he was lying on his backpack, just screaming and cursing on the phone to his mother. And I was kind of led to him, drawn to him, and I just sat and I said, when he's finished, I was kind of on the distance. When he'd finished, I said, You're going through some stuff. I said, Can I sit with you for five minutes? He goes, Sure, can you please stay for longer? I said, what's going on? Oh, he was mad. He was mad. He was 30 minutes ago, he was pushed out of his house by his stepfather, so his mum's partner, punched in the face. He'd cleaned up. 30 minutes ago, he had blood all over his face. He'd cleaned up, he was out of cigarettes, he was smoking on a vape, and he was mad, mad at everything, everyone. There were some other kids that were like over to the side further over, and he was just like ripping into them, and he was frustrated. So I handed him this science magazine, and he kind of just took it and put it down and then he said to me, Are you some kind of God man or some kind of angel? I said, Let me assure you, I'm no angel. I said, But why do you ask? He said, A couple of hours ago, I was praying to God, asking God for help and then you turn up. Well, I said, God has answered your prayer. I said, I also pray before I go, who I can talk to, who I can lift up. I said, God has answered your prayer, God has answered my prayer. Don't you see God's hand in this? So, I said, Can I pray with you? I mean, what can you say in this situation similar to the last one? What can you say? He said, I'd love that. Please pray. He had a spiritual background. And so he did something strange. A 24 year old man, he kind of bows his head, closes his eyes, and he puts his hand out like this. And I'm closing my hand, bowing my head, folding my hands, and I look and I see his hand. I thought, this guy wants prayer. So I grab his hand and he is squeezing my hand like I'm His Savior. And I'm going white knuckled as I'm holding onto Him and He's holding onto me and we're both praying. And He's amen, yes Lord, amen, all the way. And I'm like, this guy is praying with me. I don't remember what I said, but how would you pray? God is all powerful, all knowing and present everywhere. What can you possibly say? So he's gripping my hand, I'm gripping his hand, and we both say amen. And then I thought, this guy needs more than a prayer. What can I do? He's just homeless. I said, Where are you gonna sleep tonight? He said, In the park. I thought, okay, so he's got a backpack with probably some clothes. I said, Can I get you some food? In my car, I had Sabbath lunch leftovers. I said, I'll come back with some food and water. You're right for dinner tonight. So he goes, Good, I need to go to the bathroom. I'll come back in five minutes. I came back in five minutes and he was nowhere to be found. He had received a prayer. He took the signs with him and he's in God's hands. God is present when things are out of control. God is still there. He's present everywhere. Do we go through tough stuff? We certainly do. There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is what? Faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. God helps us, right? That's how we can handle things when they are out of control. We know that there is a way of escape. Look for that way of escape in Jesus. On the cross. When Jesus is on the cross, God the Father is silent. Why? Jesus spoke to the Father all through his life. Why doesn't God the Father answer Jesus when he's on the cross? Why is it just silence? Do you ever pray and God replies with silence? How awkward is silence when we're praying and praying and God says nothing? What evidence did Jesus have that His Father was with Him. He had the Word of God. God has already spoken. God had already spoken. God had not changed His mind when He said at the baptism, this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Had that changed? Jesus had to hold on by faith. God has already spoken. There's nothing more to say. if you're wondering what He said, the Bible is this thick for a reason. It's what He said. It's the Word of God. If you want to know what God says or why God doesn't speak, He already has spoken. It's called the Word of God. It's in the Bible. God had already spoken. Jesus also had to face the cross like you and I face our crosses. lay aside His divinity, He had to handle it as you and I handle it. How much harder is that cross to bear when you lay down your divinity and you handle it in your humanity? He overcame like we overcome. The same tools that He used are the same tools that we have at our disposal. on the cross. For He, God, has made Him, Jesus, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is the great exchange. With one hand Jesus holds on to heaven, with one hand He holds on to you and to me. and He makes it right. The soul that has given Himself to Christ is more precious in His sight than the whole world. The Saviour would have passed through the agony of Calvary that one might be saved in His kingdom. He will never abandon one for whom He has died. Unless His followers choose to leave Him, He will hold them fast. How precious are you. Take it personally. He loves you this much. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. It's a beautiful thing that He would draw with not just His words, but His action, that He would draw all of us to Himself by what He does. In that thick darkness, God's presence was hidden. He makes darkness His pavilion and conceals His glory from human eyes. God and His angels were beside the cross. The Father was with His Son. Yet, His presence was not revealed. Had His glory flashed from the cloud, every human beholder would have been destroyed. and in that dreadful hour, Christ was not to be comforted with the Savior's presence. He trod the winepress how? Alone. And of the people, there was none with Him. In that thick darkness, God veiled the last human agony of His Son. He was mercifully hidden by the mantle of God. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Have you ever prayed a prayer like this? Jesus prayed it before you. Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. How did Jesus go through what He went through if it wasn't thinking about the joy that was set before him. On the cross, you were on his mind. On the cross, he thought of me. That's the joy that was set before him. It's because you're going to make it that encouraged him to go through what he went through. When I go through tough stuff, when you go through tough stuff, what encourages you? the joy that is set before you. How can we possibly go through tough stuff if we don't focus on the joy that is set before us? The same prayer that Jesus prayed. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. and having said this, he died. Once again, fully submitted to the will of God. He commits his spirit into the hand of God. The Roman Centurion says, Truly, this man was the Son of God. This Roman Centurion had seen hundreds of deaths, but never had he seen this, heard this, Witness this. So his testimony is big. This was the Son of God. Only God would do what he did. That's what makes Jesus different from any other religious leader. No one else has done this. No one else has done this. He is the Son of God, that God would lay down His life for you, for me, for the world. The people of God must be prepared to withstand the wily foe. It is this resistance that Satan dreads. He knows better than we do the limit of his power and how easily he can be overcome if we resist and face him. Through divine strength, the weakest saint is more than a match for him and all his angels. And if brought to the test, he or she, the Christian, would be able to prove his or her superior power. Therefore, Satan's step is noiseless, his movements stealthy or secretive, and his batteries, his military assaults, masked. He does not venture to show himself openly, lest he arouse the Christian's dormant energies and send him or her to God in prayer. Who fears the cross? Satan. Because at the cross, Satan lost his power. At the cross, Satan was defeated. The cross means victory, not defeat. Truly, this man was the Son of God. The cross means victory. I came across David Eng's material, Spiritual Warfare. He points to the effective way to withstand Satan, effective way to get victory, claiming the blood of Jesus at the cross. We're going to see more and more of this, I think, as time goes on. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places, against principalities. We have no idea what's going on. Dear brother, dear sister, when Satan would fill your mind with despondency, gloom and doubt, resist his suggestions. Tell him what? Of the blood of Jesus that cleanses from all sin. You cannot save yourself from the tempter's power, but He trembles and flees, when the merits of that precious blood are urged, then will you not gratefully accept the blessings Jesus bestows? Will you not take the cup of salvation that He presents and call on the name of the Lord? What happened at Calvary is victory, not defeat, but victory. Jesus died for me, He died for you, victorious. So, I met a African young man in his 20s and he was tall, slim, muscly. He was wearing black with a black t-shirt and it had victorious written on it. And next to him was, I assume, his girlfriend and she was also dressed in black and had a black t-shirt and it had Victorious. And she also had a hijab, but it wasn't one of those full veils, it was just one of those headgear ones at the back. So I know that it was kind of, she wasn't kind of a really, really strict Muslim, but kind of, and I stopped and I looked at their sign and I said, Hey, I notice you've got Victorious written there, what's that? Because I'm thinking they're a Christian, you know, maybe they're doing some witnessing, because victorious is a very Christian word, right? Victorious. And so they said, no, no, we're here from Brisbane and my team is doing boxing and we do Muy Thai. Do any of you guys know what Muy Thai is? It's kickboxing, very brutal. You use your hands, you use your feet, it's Thai kickboxing. And he says to me, I've never lost a fight. Well, I stand back. I'm like, okay, I'm not going to get you angry, right? And how did it go? I wrote it down just to, and I said, so? He goes, yeah, I've never lost a fight. And he goes, Thank God. I said, oh, so you're a Christian? He said, 100%. Don't you love how young people talk? 100%. I'm like, Yes, 100%. He goes, Are you? I said, 100%. And I said to him, what did I say to him? I said to him, I said to her, I said, Are you Are you a Muslim? She said, Yes, but I grew up a Christian. So she's an ex-Christian turned Muslim. I said, that's interesting. And then he says to me, so what are you doing? I said, oh, glad you asked. And then I kind of passed in that flyer. I said, I'm promoting a book also about a man who's never lost a fight. His name is Jesus. You know him. Maybe the one next to you, you know? And he looks at it and he goes, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I've seen this. I said, well, maybe you've had a dream about it. You know, because Muslims have dreams about Jesus. That's how Jesus can reveal himself to Muslim countries. He said, no, no, no. Someone's told me about this before. And I said, well, here I am telling you about it again. It's a sign. He said, well, maybe. I said, yeah, definitely. And I said to him, well, what's your name? And then he says, Muhammad. I'm like, you serious? And she's just laughing. She's like, Ha ha, the funniest thing he said. And I said, and I suppose your name is Mary? So I didn't know whether they were serious or joking. And then he goes, what's your name? And I said, I'm Andrew. You know, like the disciple Andrew, he brought people to Jesus. Andrew brings Peter to Jesus. Andrew brings the five loaves and two fish, the little boy, five loaves and two fish. He brings him to Jesus. You know, I bring people to Jesus. I like to do that. And then Muhammad said, thank you. And I said, thank you. Kind of, it was a short conversation then I said, God bless you. And I looked at her and I didn't know what to say. So I said the wrong thing and I said, Allah bless you. Mistake because Allah is not the same as my God. Because Allah says it's okay to be violent and kill. So I said the wrong thing. Then I walked off praying for them as I walked off. Was that a victorious encounter? Maybe, maybe not. Because the battle goes on. Every hour, every minute, every moment, the battle goes on. Through the merits of His Jesus blood, you may overcome every spiritual foe and remedy every defect of character. Jesus makes it possible to be an overcomer, to be truly victorious, Paul said, I have fought a good fight, I have run the race, I have kept the faith. Victorious. My little children, these things I write to you that you sin not. And if anyone sins, notice the word if, if anyone sins, it's the exception rather than rule. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. I write to you young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I have written to you young men, because you are strong and the Word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. This is what Jesus said to the woman. Don't continue sinning. It is possible. Otherwise, is Jesus mocking the woman? The woman caught in adultery, does she say, no, you're kidding me. I'm going to go back to sin. Jesus is asking her to do something that it is possible for her to do with His help. And they overcame him, Satan, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. It is possible to overcome and Jesus helps us to overcome. No story is complete without the resurrection. and I just love this, I'm just going to read it as it's written. Mary stood outside the tomb weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. She saw two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She replied, Because they've taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have laid him. and when she had said this, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, but didn't know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing Him to be the gardener, Mary said to Him, Sir, if you have taken Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will go get Him. Jesus said to her, Mary, She turned around and said to him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master. Jesus was right there next to Mary, and she didn't know it. She was crying, and the tears blinded her. She's wiping away tears of sadness, and the next minute she's wiping away tears of joy. Our sorrow can be turned to joy, with Jesus. Jesus is right there next to us. We don't see him, we don't sense him because of the tears of the pain, of the sorrow, of the death, of the mourning. And tears can be replaced, tears of joy can be replaced, tears of sorrow can be replaced with tears of joy. Jesus said, I am He that lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Behold, this is our God. How can you say this without tears of joy in your eyes? Behold, this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. You can't say these words without tears of joy. God can replace tears of sorrow with tears of joy. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. This is our experience here on earth. This is our experience, death, sorrow, crying, pain. It's replaced with tears of joy, and God will wipe away those tears. Aren't you glad about that? Calvary shows us how He'll do that. What are these wounds in your hands? This is my final slide. What are these wounds in your hands? Jesus answered, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. We began this journey in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus loves you. He would die for you. He poured out His life for you, for me. And then He calls us His friends. These are the eternal reminders, the eternal reminders that He loves us. He didn't just use words, He showed us. He said, I will sacrifice myself to save you. God loves you. Let's pray. Dear Father in Heaven, thank you that heaven was emptied to save us. Thank you Jesus that you are a willing sacrifice. May the Holy Spirit please impress these truths on our minds. We pray in His name. Amen. SPEAKER 1 This message was made available by the Glenvale Seventh Day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their YouTube page. Glenvale SDA Church. SPEAKER 2 This program has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia Radio.