New Creatures in Christ

Turn to the Gospel of Luke. We
find ourselves in chapter 23. Once again, Luke chapter 23.
The passage we’ll be looking at is there in the bulletin with
places for notes. But if you would take your Bible
and turn to Luke 23, I want to back up and take the passage
with a little bit fuller context. backing up all the way, if you
would, to the crucifixion as it begins in verse 33. Where
Luke records, when they came to the place of the skull, there
they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other
on the left. But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them, for they
do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing
up his garments among themselves. And the people stood by looking
on. And even the rulers were sneering
at him, saying, he saved others, let him save himself. If this
is the Christ of God, his chosen one, the soldiers also mocked
him, coming up to him, offering him sour wine and saying, if
you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Now, there was
also this inscription above him. This is the king of the Jews.
One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse
at him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other answered and rebuking
him said, Do you not even fear God since you are under the same
sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly,
for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this
man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, today, I
say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise. It was now
about the sixth hour and darkness fell over the whole land until
the ninth hour. Because the sun was obscured,
and the veil of the temple was torn in two, and Jesus, crying
out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit
my spirit. Having said this, he breathed
his last.” Now, when the centurion saw what had happened, he began
praising God, saying, certainly this man was innocent. And all
the crowds who came together for this spectacle when they
observed what had happened began to return, beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and
the women who accompanied him from Galilee were standing at
a distance, seeing these things. And a man named Joseph, who was
a member of the council, a good and righteous man, he had not
consented to their plan and action. a man from Arimathea, a city
of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God. This
man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And he
took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid him in
a tomb cut into the rock where no one had ever lain. It was
the preparation day and the Sabbath was about to begin. Now, the
women who had come with him out of Galilee followed. and saw
the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and
prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath, they rested
according to the commandment. As we saw last week, it was a
striking scene. As the sun was obscured, we don’t
know whether it dipped behind some divine cloud or some kind
of an eclipse. But we do know the sun was obscured.
Something stood in the sun’s way that it was a divinely wrought
miracle. But it wasn’t the only one. There
was an earthquake. Dead bodies were raised. And
something in the religious realm also occurred. the tearing of
the curtain of the temple, the curtain that separated the holy
of holies. That, too, occurred, and that,
too, was a miracle. I read this past week, one commentator
said, let us observe what a remarkable miracle occurred at the hour
of our Lord’s death in the midst of the Jewish temple. And I paused,
having already begun to reflect on the passage before us, on
the passages around it. And it’s absolutely true. I told
you last week that I absolutely believe the tearing of the curtain
in the temple was absolutely a miracle. No doubt about it.
But I believe an even greater miracle occurred that day. In
fact, multiple miracles. And in fact, I still I believe
that Those miracles still occur even today. It is the miracle
of regeneration. Where God takes an ordinary,
deadened sinner, He enlivens him. Where the Holy Spirit breathes
new and everlasting life into him by means of the Gospel. And
this sinner, who was once contrary and opposed to God, at enmity
with Him, according to the Scriptures, hateful and hating God, is suddenly
turned and he is saved and he is placed on a path of perpetual
righteousness. That’s a miracle. I’m not saying that the curtain
wasn’t a miracle, but the curtain was about pointing people to
God. The curtain was about the Holy
of Holies dwelling within. The curtain, absolutely the tearing
of the curtain, had eternal ramifications that day. But the miracle of
changed lives is what the torn curtain is all about. It’s the
very significance of the torn curtain. Paul said it this way
in writing to the Colossians. In Colossians 1 20, he said of
this church, I was made a minister according to the stewardship
from God bestowed on me for your benefit so that I might fully
carry out the preaching of the word of God. That is the mystery
which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but
now has been manifested to his saints. To whom God willed. to make known the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory.” The greater miracle wasn’t the torn
curtain. The greater miracle was that
God visited regular sinners that day and changed lives forever. And God is still in that business.
That is God’s great business. I want to take you to just a
few this morning, a few of these new creatures in Christ, whereas
I believe as we get into this passage, you will see the life
changing power of Christ’s death. That’s what it was all about,
right? First of all, we see lives transformed. Number one, from cool indifference
to heartfelt remorse. From cool indifference to heartfelt
remorse. Now, especially after what took
place several weeks ago in my overstatement regarding the ladies,
I don’t want to overstate it about the centurion, but let’s
be honest. This wasn’t a passionate follower
of Christ. At the very best, he was coolly
indifferent to Christ. Look at verse 47. It just says,
when the centurion saw what happened. The very word centurion would
make a Jewish person’s stomach turn. They were the Roman soldiers. But as centurions went, they
were of the more noble stock of the Romans. Usually they were
wise, impassionate, objective, cool-headed men. They were placed
in charge for a reason, because they were unique and uniquely
qualified men. Polybius, one historian, said
this of the centurion. As a rule, he is the best of
the men in the army promoted to the rank of centurion. And
we see that play out in Scripture. I want to take you on just a
brief tour. If you would stay in Luke, but turn all the way
back to chapter 7. Chapter 7. of Luke’s gospel where we need
another centurion. There have been those that conjecture
that one of these centurions that you’re about to meet is
the same one standing at the foot of the cross. There is absolutely
nothing to prove that some have even proposed the man’s name
standing at the foot of the cross. We have nothing, no biblical
data to go on in that regard either. But let’s meet one of
these noble minded men called a centurion in charge of these
great quantities of men. Look at verse two of chapter
seven, a centurion’s slave who was highly regarded by him. Here
you have, even in that statement, an astounding statement. Slaves
were a dime a dozen. And yet to this centurion, there
was one whom he loved. He really cared for this one. He was highly regarded. This slave was sick and about
to die when he, that is the centurion, heard about Jesus. He sent some
Jewish elders asking him to come and save the life of the slave.
This is astounding. This is a heathen soldier. a captain, if you will, in the
army, now asking for the help of Jesus to save the life of
a slave. Noble-minded men. And they came
to Jesus. They earnestly implored Him,
saying, He is worthy for you to grant this to Him. For He
loves our nation and it was He who built us our synagogue. So
He had done kindness to the Jews as well. Now, Jesus started on
his way with them. And when he was not far from
the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him. And listen
to this. Listen to the graciousness of
this host. Lord, do not trouble yourselves yourself any further,
for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. For this
reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you,
but just say the word and my servant will be healed. Great
faith on the part of this heathen centurion. They’re just hearing
about Christ. If He is who He says He is, He
doesn’t need to come here to heal my slave. All He’s got to
do is say it from afar. Great faith. For I am also a
man placed under authority with soldiers under me. And I say
to this one, go. He goes to another, come, and
he comes. And my slave, do this, and he
does it. Now, when Jesus heard this, he marveled. And this is
the Lord. He was astounded at the faith
of this slave. And he turned and said to the
crowd, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great
faith. When those who had been sent
returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. Jesus
answered his prayer. There’s another slave I want
you to meet in Acts chapter 10. Another centurion I want you
to meet in Acts chapter 10. And certainly in pointing out
these few, I’m not suggesting that all centurions were noble
minded, God fearing men that stood right on the edge of receiving
Christ at just a moment’s notice. But they were of a good stock. Look at verse one of chapter
10. There was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion
of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one
who feared God with all his household. and gave many alms to the Jewish
people and prayed to God continually. This is astounding. Just utterly
astounding that somebody who should be godless is one of the
great examples that we see in Scripture of what a godly person
should be like. Giving, generous, devoted and
devout. Says in verse three, about the
ninth hour, he clearly saw a vision, an angel of the Lord. And, you
know, the whole how the whole thing unfolds. He sees the vision
of animals and and essentially what this opens the door for
Peter is to go and to take the gospel even to the Gentiles.
A good man. A righteous man, a God fearing
man. Later on in the book of Acts,
and don’t turn, because it’s literally one sentence, another
centurion, when the centurion heard this, he went into the
commander and told him, what are you going to do for this
man is a Roman? He pleaded on behalf of Paul
in front of the authorities. Back, if you would, to Luke’s
Gospel. Not all centurions were these
unshaven, gruff, dirty, vile soldiers that so often are caricatured. This was a noble man. This was an objective man. An
objective man who was doing a job and in the midst of doing that
job was gathering data and as he gathered the data, the more
he looked at it, the more he realized something doesn’t stack
up. And it just says that when he
saw what happened, not merely the fact that Christ died, but
all of the things that attended to it, this trial, this trial
that was so contrived and put together and so over the top,
the near riot that followed every element of that trial, the hatred,
the venomous hatred that spewed from the people toward this man,
And for what? Because he claimed to be the
son of God, which will be noteworthy in a moment. When that centurion saw all that
had happened, what all had happened? Matthew adds a little more detail
in Matthew 27, 54, it says the centurion and those who were
with him keeping guard over Jesus when they saw the earthquake.
And the things that were happening, they became frightened. We lived
in L.A. I’ll tell you, an earthquake
to me is one of the most unsettling, no pun intended, it’s one of
the most unsettling things that you could ever go through. The
whole world and everything on it is shaking and you can do
nothing about it. And the earthquake often brings people literally to their
knees. It is a humbling experience. And in this case, it’s no different.
This earthquake and the things that were happening frightened
these hardened soldiers to the core. Some think that right here
is where the centurion comes to Christ, and I’m not inclined
to disagree with them. Centurion looks up and says,
this truly was the Son of God. He had heard the testimony. He
had heard the accusations about Christ claiming to be God’s Son.
He had heard the epithets called out to him while he was on the
cross. If you are the Son of God, come down, save yourself. But when the centurion saw all
of those things and began to put all of that data together,
It says in verse 47 that he began praising God, saying, certainly
this man was innocent. Matthew’s Gospel says that he
cried out and said, truly, this was the Son of God. This man,
who at least up to this point, we know of no religious background
of this soldier, Only what would have been likely as a Roman soldier,
absolutely nothing agnostic, atheistic. All of a sudden he
makes this cry of repentance, a cry of surrender, a cry of
worship. It is a cry of absolute confidence. And it’s a cry that as soon as
he uttered it would change his life forever. The soldiers would
never look at it in the same. to superiors. Caesar would never
look at him the same. The Jewish elite would never
look at him the same. And Christ would never look at
him the same. He declares Christ as being righteous. And he reminds us of us, doesn’t
he? He reminds us of us who was transformed
from cool indifference Some of us went to church for years,
didn’t we? Before we truly came to know
Christ. Some of us had heard all the stories in Sunday school.
Some of us had been aware and around all of these things for
years before God got a hold of us. Even for some of us, even
after hearing of Christ, there was a cool indifference. Not
a hatred. Not a detestation. We weren’t
venomously against the Lord Jesus. But we were just indifferent.
He was just there and we were here. We even would say that
we believed in God. Maybe like this centurion who
believed in some higher power. But God changed him. And God
changed you. And he changed you from a cool
indifference to a heartfelt remorse. You hated your sin. And the centurion
hated his sin. The centurion loved righteousness. And he extolled the very virtue
that Christ embodied. Righteousness. And he acknowledged
The very thing that put Christ on the cross that he claimed
to be the son of God and the centurion said this, this was
it. This man was him. Centurion wasn’t alone that day,
the passage goes on to point out that all the crowds who came
together for this spectacle. when they had observed what had
happened, began to return beating their breasts. The centurion,
I believe, repented. The centurion was changed by
God’s grace, but he wasn’t the only one. And the miracle goes
on. Note, first of all, the character, the nature of this event. It
was a spectacle. It was something to observe.
It was a show of sorts, free entertainment, something for
gawkers to take in. We should remember that the crowd,
though, was coerced into their actions against Christ, which
were mostly verbal. Remember the taunts that they
were almost goaded to participate in. The Jewish religious elite
pushed and pushed until they got the public reaction that
they really desired, disdain for Jesus. But now that disdain
has settled, Now that the facts begin to gather, the crowd begins
to feel remorse as well. And I’m not going to stand here
and tell you that everyone in that crowd came to Christ that
day. But I will tell you that it seems
that a mighty sweep of remorse overtook that crowd. One characterized the scene in
these terms. In speaking of the remorse, he
said, this is not difficult to understand. Think of what these
people had heard and seen and experienced. There had been three
hours of darkness, the earthquake, the splitting of rocks and opening
of graves. Add to this the behavior of Jesus,
completely righteous on the cross, not opening his mouth, not lashing
back. the behavior of Jesus, including
His words of trust in the Heavenly Father, forgiveness towards men. Besides, many of these people
may have been feeling a feeling of guilt. Do you think? Here
they participated, having been goaded along in this direction.
They became a mob. They took on a mob mentality
and took on what the Jewish religious elite was pushing This hatred
for Christ, it was manufactured. And now all of a sudden it’s
empty. And they must have felt terrible. Another said many of them who
had no share in clamoring for Christ’s death and those who
had taken part, hounded by the priests, now felt remorse for
what they had caused. And you say, well, where is your
proof that any of these people were changed? I don’t have any
proof. All you have is this drift, this
sense. The remorse overtakes the crowd. But I will offer this. Do you
remember on the day of Pentecost? At least 3,000 people came to
Christ that day. Could it have been some of these
very ones that stood at the cross that day and began to sense remorse
for what they had participated in? It’s more than possible. The passage goes on. Verse 49
says, not only the centurion, not only this crowd, but it says
all of his acquaintances. And remember, I don’t like this
word. I don’t want to go too far, but
I don’t want to be called an acquaintance of Christ. I don’t
know what it is to be called an acquaintance of Christ. It
isn’t really a follower. It’s not really a disciple, not
really a Christian, I don’t believe. to someone who came to know Jesus,
but not really, not deeply, not passionately. And there they
stand at a distance. Jesus had met a lot of people.
We’re going to see one of these in a moment. And I even surmised
a couple of weeks ago, who could it have been that was referred
to as an acquaintance? Could it have been some of the
Pharisees? Some of the scribes who kind of secretly were interested
in what Jesus had to say. Could it have been some of his
own disciples? The apostles? I don’t think so. I think the
Bible names one for a reason. I think there’s only one that
was there, and that’s John. Could Zacchaeus and Martha and
Mary? I think there were far more than just acquaintances.
Lazarus, the owner of the cult, the worshippers, all of whom
are at the triumphal entry. I think there’s a couple that
probably were there that at this point in their life are nothing
more than acquaintances of Jesus. A man named Nicodemus and a man
named Joseph of Arimathea. There really isn’t anything recorded
of either of these two men prior to this moment. that points to
anything else than them being just acquaintances, just kind
of observers, casual followers of Christ. And it also points to those women. The women who accompanied him
from Galilee, they were standing at a distance and seeing these
things. And we’ve looked at this list
for the last several weeks. Mary, his mother, we knew she
was there. Whether she’s still there, we
don’t know. Salome, Mary of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, Johanna. And
these are noble women. They are there when even Jesus’
own apostles are not. But what were they doing? What
was their role? They just were servants. They just cared for
Christ. You say just? It was noble work that they did.
They followed Jesus from place to place to place. Luke 8.1-3,
which was a happy discovery during our course of preaching through
the Gospel of Luke. I looked at it originally as
just a transitional passage, but the more I looked at this
short little passage, it really points to ministry, what ministry
is. It’s not only a ministry of preaching
the word, it’s a ministry of changing lives and it’s a ministry
of participation. Listen to how it reads. Soon
afterwards, he that is Jesus began going from one city and
village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of
God. The twelve were with him. You talk about changed men. And
also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases.
Mary, who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone
out. And Joanna, the wife of Cusa,
Herod’s steward. And Susanna. In all of Scripture,
not even another syllable is mentioned about Susanna. And
of many others. And you say, well, what’s so
noble about them? final clause says they were contributing
to their support out of their private means. They were caring
for Christ in a practical way from town to town. And these
are at the cross. And you say, well, they weren’t
radically changed. Not at the cross, they weren’t.
The centurion was and we want to look at that and we want to
say, yeah, I wish I had a testimony like that. I was a Roman soldier
and then all of a sudden I crucified Christ and then God brought me
to repentance. Don’t we all like testimonies
like that? But what about Susanna? The scripture
says absolutely nothing about. We don’t even know her testimony. She has heard Christ and followed
Christ and served Christ. What a great testimony that is. Regardless of the glitz, regardless
of the details of your testimony, the bottom line, God is in the
business of transforming lives from cool indifference who don’t
care about Christ at all to those who have heartfelt remorse for
their sin and act accordingly. Secondly, in looking at the new creations
in Christ, new creatures, we see the life changing power of
Christ’s death, not only from cool indifference to heartfelt
remorse, but secondly, from secret faith to bold respect. From secret faith to bold respect,
look at verse 50, where we meet a man named Joseph of Arimathea. Was he up to this point nothing
more than an acquaintance? I would say yes. Look at verse 50. A man named
Joseph, who was a member of the council, a good and righteous
man. He had not consented to their
plan and action. A man from Arimathea, a city
of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God. You see,
there was still this detail that absolutely had to be accomplished. It wasn’t enough for Jesus just
to die on the cross. He had also to be buried and
to be raised again, according to his own words. According to
Scripture’s testimony. As one said, there was one thing
needful in order to make it certain that our Redeemer accomplished
the great work of redemption, which he undertook. That holy
body in which he bore our sins on the cross must actually be
laid in the grave and rise again. His resurrection was to be the
seal and headstone of all of his work. And that is just yet
to be accomplished. And perhaps would not have if
it weren’t for a man named Joseph. Up to this point, we’ve never
heard a single word about him, never been introduced, not in
any of the gospels, not even slightly, except on this one
occasion. All of a sudden, Joseph of Arimathea
comes to the very forefront. In this very interesting event. And it actually gives us a great
amount of detail about this man. We know his name was Joseph.
We know he was from a city named Arimathea. We know he was a rich
man, a member of the council. We’ll talk more about these in
a moment. Good and righteous. That he did not collaborate on
this putting to death of Christ. That he was waiting for the kingdom
of God. That he was a disciple of sorts. When it says that he
was a member of the council, he was a member of the Sanhedrin,
one of 70, one of the 70 most distinguished members of the
religious ruling elite. This man was a member of the
council. This is a man of great distinction.
This is a man who would go about and people would give him all
kinds of long greetings. But it also goes on to say he
was a righteous man, a good and righteous man. It’s interesting, I don’t know
that it’s much more worth just acknowledging, that as one person
pointed out, Mark’s description of Joseph as a prominent member
of the council fits the Roman ideal of a man of power and stature. In Luke’s description of him
as good and just, it fits the Greek ideal. And in Matthew’s
description of him as a rich man, it fits the Jewish ideal.
All that to say, there is just a wealth of information about
this man that he was a decent guy in a very prominent place. And it says that he had not consented.
to the Jews’ plan and action. We don’t know whether he had
absented himself. You know, that’s the common way
of copping out in our own day and age. The senators, the congressmen,
they just won’t vote on that particular sticky issue. We don’t
know if he abstained from voting or he voted in opposition. That
would be the courageous thing to do in that setting. Can you
imagine that evening, 69 to 1? Let’s kill Jesus. But it goes on to point out that
he was not, he could not have been present when the vote or
the sentence rather was passed because it says that that was
unanimous. Mark 16 or 1464. They all condemned
him to be deserving of death. Joseph of Arimathea could not
have been present at that vote. We know that he was from Arimathea.
We know that he was waiting for the kingdom of God. What does
that mean? Weren’t all Jews? Not passionately, just like all
Christians aren’t looking eagerly for the return of their Savior.
This man was looking, this man was waiting, waiting for the
messianic kingdom. He was waiting for Jesus to establish
his kingdom. He believed, in a sense, in Jesus,
just like others, Simeon and others who believed in the kingdom
of God. Matthew records that when it
was evening, this rich man from Arimathea, this man named Joseph,
who had also become a disciple of Jesus. And you say, well,
there it is. He’s far more than an acquaintance. Yeah, but John’s
Gospel says this. After these things, John, 1938,
Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, But a secret one for
fear of the Jews. What is a secret disciple? It’s
kind of what Nicodemus was in a sense. He was interested. He
was curious, but he had to come and ask his questions under the
cover of darkness. He was a concealed, literally,
it means a concealed disciple, a hidden disciple. But not for
long. This Joseph of Arimathea being
a hidden or a concealed disciple. He wasn’t alone in this either.
John 12, 42 says many of the rulers believed in him. That
is Jesus. But because of the Pharisees,
they were not confessing him for fear that they would be put
out of the synagogue. So perhaps he lacked physical
or moral courage. Perhaps that was his one character
flaw. He was a wealthy man, a generous
man, a well-respected man. The one flaw that he had was
an inability to stand up and be counted for Christ. But not
for long. Because God is about to turn
his heart. God remembers in the business of changing lives and
God is about to do it to Joseph of Arimathea. Mark 15.43 records, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent
member of the council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom
of God, gathered up courage and went in before Pilate. Finally,
Joseph of Arimathea is willing to stand up and be counted for
Christ. He’s willing to go before the one that just put Jesus to
death. One said it this way, it required
great courage to go to Pilate on such an errand. He was not
a relative of the one crucified. Therefore, he had no claim to
this favor. His being a member of the Sanhedrin
might be fatal. The Sanhedrin had that very day
driven Pilate to condemn an innocent person to death. Can you imagine
Pilate sitting on his throne, just seething from the day’s
activities? He goes on. He says it would
have been humbling, humiliating rather, an exasperating thought
for a Roman judge. Pilate would know nothing of
Joseph having taken no part in this crime, not to mention whatever
the Sanhedrin would do to Joseph when they finally caught up with
him. But Pilate, I believe, saw in Joseph in an instant what
commended himself to him. that either this member of the
Sanhedrin was so utterly remorseful that he was willing to take his
life into his own hands, or he had no party to it. He had not
been part of this decision. And Pilate, either way, his own
guilt prompted him to respond and to relinquish Jesus’ body
to him without even almost a second thought. Another one put it this way,
it would not have been easy for a member of the Sanhedrin to
profess himself a follower of Jesus. But the death of Jesus
apparently affected him in a way very different from that of the
closer disciples. They all fled. Joseph asked permission
to take Jesus’ body away for burial. It may be that he felt
that in Jesus’ lifetime he had paid him little honor. And he
was now presented with his last opportunity. What a poignant
statement. that here, just as Jesus’ twelve
closest friends abandoned him, in walks Joseph. Empty-handed, not a life full
of service and worship. Up to this point, really no more
than an acquaintance, but ready to stand up and be counted because
of God’s transforming grace. Pilate gave him the body. Joseph
took it and it says that he took it down from the cross, wrapped
it in a linen cloth, laid him in a tomb, cut into a rock where
no one had ever lain. What a courageous and gracious
thing. These rock-hewn tombs, they were
said to be common around Jerusalem, but they were used for well-to-do
persons, which exactly fits what Scripture says. that his grave
was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in
his death. I believe Joseph gave him his
own tomb. His own tomb. God is in the business of transforming
lives. And in the case of Joseph, from
secret faith, and how many of us conducted a life of secret
faith for way too long? We were curious. We went to camp.
We sat in church. How many of us still practice
a life of secret faith? But unless somebody asks us a
direct question, we will not say, oh yes, I’m a Christian. There’s a third. The life-changing power of Christ’s
death is seen in lives transformed from cool indifference to heartfelt
remorse, from secret faith to bold respect, from worthless
devastation to passionate reverence. It was the preparation day, verse
54. The Sabbath was about to begin.
Friday was the preparation day for Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
And the women, remember all the women, the women who had come
with him out of Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his
body was laid They returned and prepared spices and perfumes,
and on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
I don’t know the testimony of the rest of the women because
Scripture doesn’t provide it. I do know about Mary Magdalene.
And it says that she was one from whom seven demons had gone
out. And there have been all kinds
of fanciful conjectures that somehow Mary had invited these
demons through her misdeeds, through her sorcery, through
her drug use or alcohol, whatever. We don’t know of any of that.
We just know that at one point her life was utterly worthless,
devastated by these demons, and God himself transformed her as
only God can. We all come from that background. I don’t care what your family
life was like before you came to know Christ. I don’t care
what kind of noble stock or what you had accomplished. Outside
of Christ, it is a life of worthless devastation that you can live
the greatest life and do all kinds of philanthropic things.
And if you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ, it is utterly worthless. And so, in that sense, we have
all been transformed from worthless devastation to passionate reverence. And that’s what we’re called
to. And that is exactly what Mary Magdalene embodies. Everywhere
we see her, she is passionately worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ.
The question is, have we been transformed? Have we really been changed from
cool indifference to heartfelt remorse, to bold respect, to
passionate reverence? Second Corinthians says it this
way. The love of Christ controls us,
having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died
and he died for all so that they who live might no longer live
for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their
behalf. Therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according
to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to
the flesh. Yet now no longer. Yet now we know him this way
no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ. He is a new creature, the old
things are passed away, behold, new things have come. See, when
God begins to change your life. When God moves upon the life
of a sinner, He aims to change it completely. He aims to utterly
change and reform that life. Spurgeon said it this way, the
same power which raised Christ Jesus from the dead must be exerted
in raising us from the dead, the very same omnipotence without
which angels or worms could not have had a being. must again
step forth and do as great a work as he did at creation in making
us anew in Christ Jesus, our Lord. God is in the business
of changing lives. And for those of you in Christ
who have begun to experience that, that ought to be a great
encouragement to go home and get rid of all that baggage.
Go home and press on for Christ. And if you are not in Christ
yet, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, you have desperate need of transformation. You have desperate need of forgiveness
in Christ. And only He can change your life.
And only after you yield your life to Him. Let’s bow before
Him in prayer. Our merciful King, we thank you
and praise you for the transforming power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who took simple, deadened sinners just like us and dramatically
transformed them there around the cross. Some immediately,
some over time, and some were there because you had long since
touched their lives. Lord, grant us the grace to rejoice
in the grace that we enjoy, the transforming grace of God. It’s
in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen. you