How do you expect God to build His kingdom?

“The Cup”
(John 18:1-11, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 25, 2010)

18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,”they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

Now Judas (1-3)
With John 18:1-11 we begin two chapters that relate to us some of the experiences associated with the final sufferings of Jesus Christ culminating in His death and burial. In these verses we see Judas, and we see Peter; but with all of the people and events that are presented in these closing hours of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, we need to keep in mind the sovereign hand of one other player, Almighty God.

Through passages like Isaiah 53 we are persuaded that what is taking place here is not only happening by the hands of evil men, but also according to the “definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). What better way to see this than to find the leading role of God in the death of the Messiah presented to us in the Hebrew Scriptures written so many hundreds of years before Jesus was even born. It is important for us to embrace this concept when we consider the events of our Lord's suffering. As God Himself said through the prophet Isaiah. “It was the will of the Lord crush Him.” He tells us very clearly what this death was all about when He calls it an “offering for sin.” We need to also keep in mind that these events of treachery and pain could not change the fact that it was also recorded in Isaiah that the Lord would prolong the days of His Suffering Servant, and that this Servant would “make many to be accounted righteous.”

That was not the plan of Judas or Peter, but it was the plan of God. God's providence also involved men like Judas and Peter, and all of us hearing this Word today. Judas had an arrangement. He knew the place where Jesus often met with His disciples. He came there with a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and others who had discussed how all this should take place. They had determined that Jesus must go, and that nothing short of His death would accomplish their own purposes. Judas was a key to this plan. He was an insider, and he could lead the officers to Jesus, so that this arrest would not take place in front of a crowd, and so that the most important people who were part of this plot could not be tied to any of these events. They sent many to this spot with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Their plan was simple. All Judas had to do was identify the right man in the darkness of that night, and the military people would take over from there. There was no need for interaction with Jesus beyond his greeting, a necessary and unmistakable indicator so that they would get the right man.

Jesus knowing...(4-9)
One thing about this whole sad scheme: The one they were arresting was the Son of God. He had an indisputable ability to work miracles. We are dealing with a man who literally does walk on water. Don't you think we sometimes have a little too much confidence in our own weapons and our own plans? I'm not sure how they ever could have gotten Jesus to go with them unless He had been willing to go.

The One they came to arrest was actually in charge. The first three words of verse four say it all: “Then Jesus knowing.” Jesus knew about all of this. He knew about Judas, about the soldiers, about what Peter would try to do, and most importantly, about what would happen to Him. If He had wanted to avoid this entire scene there are so many ways that He could have accomplished that... a violent storm, a change of venue with His disciples,... but none of that happens. He is willing to do the Father's will. He has come to die for us.

We are immediately struck by the fact that the forces arrayed against Him seem like no match for the Christ. He says, “Whom do you seek?” They say, “Jesus of Nazareth.” He is not running anywhere. On earlier occasions in His ministry when people wanted to kill Him there was suddenly a way out. Now the time has come for the perfect Substitute for sinners to die the death that we deserve, and they did not even need a Judas to capture Him. He was willing. These soldiers are just as powerfully touched by the voice of Jesus as the original disciples when Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They are overwhelmed by His little statement, “I AM.”

This “I AM,” with the translators supplying the pronoun that makes His response, “I am He,” is a bold statement of His divinity as He takes this willing step to the cross. They are literally floored by this response, though it is not clear that they could have gotten the theological point of the “I AM” title, but they have to sense that He is in charge, and that He is willing to go with them. He tells them twice, “I AM,” and then He adds a note of protection for His disciples, “If you seek Me, let these men go.” That fulfills something from His earlier prayer to the Father, that He would lose none of these disciples, except Judas, the one who betrayed Him.

Then Simon Peter (10-11)
Everything should have been over at this point, but then there is sudden drama as Peter takes matters into his own hands. He has a sword and he is going to use it. From within the church we have someone who is confident in the use of his weapon. He presumes to protect the Son of God, when Jesus is very willingly surrendering Himself. This is at least as sad as the actions of Judas and his mob who come with their own weapons thinking that they will capture Jesus against His will. Peter has been the leading disciple, if we have to pick one, and He is a chosen instrument of God to preach the first message of the victorious death of Christ for sinners in just a few days. Here he supposes He should and can stop the cross with the weapons of this world.

Jesus has an uncompromising answer for Peter, and for all who intend to bring about the kingdom of heaven through their own force or coercion. “Put that thing away.” He does not need their sword to fight His enemies. Those who would win the Lord's battles with the world's weapons don't understand the nature of God's kingdom and the overwhelming force that the King will soon unleash through the weapon of His own righteous life and obedient death. His answer is simple: “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

What is this cup? It is the last thing anyone would want to drink, yet Jesus will consume it to the dregs. It is the wrath of God against us for our sins. Our Savior has been fully prepared to drink this cup by passages like Isaiah 53. He will be wounded for our transgressions. By His pains we will be healed. The Lord will lay upon His own perfect and powerful Son the iniquity of all who are to be in the Kingdom of heaven. This cup will include great indignity. It is all beginning to happen in front of us. This is the Father's cup, and Jesus is willing. But this is the holy way that the earth will be won for the kingdom of heaven. And now the will of the Lord will truly prosper in the hand of the Son who will soon be reigning again at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

APPLICATION: How do I expect God to build His kingdom? See 2 Corinthians 12:9.

1. What seems to have been the plan of those who were in league against Jesus?
2. How did the events of their plan unfold in this passage?
3. What was Peter's response to these events?
4. What is the cup that Jesus must drink, and in what sense has this come from His Father?

A Living Gift

“I am praying for them...”
Part 5: “God's love in us and God in us”
(John 17:26, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 11, 2010)
4/4/2010
24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known,
4/11/2010 that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

Opening Thought: Worship should be Christmas and Easter... Unwrapping new gifts of resurrection from God...
Jesus promised in this prayer to make the Father's Name known to us... But my prayer life...

The Love of God for Jesus
Prayer may sometimes feel to us like one person speaking in the wilderness with no one else there to hear. I remember when I first visited First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley California on Easter Sunday, 1982. I was amazed by the minister, not just by His preaching, which was very engaging, but more especially by His praying. He prayed as if He knew God. It was something I had never really seen before. It seemed like He thought that God was there in the moment, and that God was listening. That kind of recognition of both a speaker and a hearer there together in prayer is on my mind as we conclude John 17 today. Jesus prayed knowing that the Father was listening to Him. There's something about knowing that God is present...

Back in the twelfth chapter of this gospel, Jesus was talking to His disciples. He made a comment, and suddenly it was clear that God was right there with Him just as the disciples were with Him. He said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?” It was not even precisely a prayer, at least not at first. Jesus was talking about a hypothetical. Then He simply affirmed His purpose in coming. He said, “But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” That last few words was His prayer. But then something happened. John reports, “A voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’” God was with God. The Father was there with Jesus, His Son.

That was not the only time a voice came from heaven revealing something from the other side of prayer between the Father and the Son. At Jesus' baptism there was a voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Later at the Transfiguration we hear the same words, and an instruction to the disciples, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Peter remembered this experience many years later and recorded it in 2 Peter 1:17. He said that when Jesus received honor and glory from God the Father, God's voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” He emphasizes, “We ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.”

The Father called Jesus His beloved Son. We are not surprised to hear that the Father loved the Son. In the Old Testament, in a passage that refers either to the creation of the world or to existence even before creation, we read from the perspective of the Son of His Father's affection, “I was daily His delight.” When Jesus talks of the love of the Father for Him, He speaks of His death and resurrection, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.” The love of the Father for the Son did not begin at the cross. It is eternal. We know that it is the normal way of life for parents to love their children. Though children may not feel this, there's something to it. The model of all relationships between a parent and a child is that of God the Father and God the Son. In the deepest, most sincere, most sacrificial, and most beautiful and powerful way possible, because of the essence of who His Son is, and with an awareness of the incomparable greatness of what Christ has done, the Father loves the Son.

THAT love in you
Maybe I have used too many words to talk about something so obvious, the love of the Father for the Son. Here is why I made so much of this first point: Jesus asks the Father that “the same love” with which the Father loved the Son might be in us. Jesus does not ask that the Father might simply know us, or even that He would somehow find it in His heart to like us, or even to love us. He is very specific: “That the love with which you have loved me may be in them.” That is a very particular request, and a very big love. Can anyone suppose that the Father would deny this request? There is no indication anywhere that any of the petitions in John 17 were denied. They are like promises that are sure. You can count on these things.

The eternal church, destined for heaven, has the Father's love for His Son Jesus in us. There is every reason to believe, both from the Old Testament and the New Testament, that God's plan was to have a very mysterious union between one unique Man, and many people who would be called by His Name. When the Lord Jesus spoke from heaven to Saul of Tarsus, he said to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me.” The bond between our one Savior and the many He saves is so real, that if you abuse the many, you have persecuted the one. People who abuse the church, attack Jesus. The Father's love for Jesus is in us. It is not a safe thing to hurt us.

Jesus in you
Not only does Jesus pray that the love that the Father has for the Son would be in us. He prays that He Himself would be in us. If it is hard for us to fathom that God sees us as united to Jesus in His righteous life, His death for our sins, and His resurrection for our heavenly life; if it is hard for us to understand what it means that the love of the Father for His Son is in us; it is even harder to think about this final passion of Jesus in this chapter, that He Himself would be in us. Yet this is exactly what is ours when we are united to Jesus by trusting in Him. The Apostle Paul calls it a mystery that has now been revealed to us, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

This glory Paul refers to as our hope is heaven, the life to come, but Paul's point is that Christ is in us now. We have the love of the Father for the Son in us, and we even have Jesus in us. This is a great blessing for you now, and the greatest power for living. Paul says in another place that because we have the Spirit of God in us, we have the mind of Christ. Therefore when we pray to God, we can know that God is with us, closer than a brother. He hears us, so we can pray with that in mind. We know that He hears us. He is in us. He loves us, and God's Name is known...

If we take all of what we have seen in this chapter, if we take it to heart, and allow it to change our prayers, what do we hear Jesus asking for, and how can we pray for one another and for the church that Christ has bought with His blood? What can we pray, knowing that God is here.

Father, may Your church glorify Your Son Jesus today.
Keep us in Your Name,
And keep us from the evil one.
Sanctify us in the truth. Your Word is truth.
One day, bring us to heaven to see Jesus in His glory.
Until then, may the love You have for Your Son be in us,
And may Jesus Himself be in us, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Thought for application: How can we walk in this gift of divine resurrection love and presence that is in us?
(1 John 3:17, but with a positive read)

1. How can we understand the love of the Father for the Son?
2. What does it mean for the church to have that love in us?
3. What does it mean for the church to have Jesus in us?
4. What does this prayer teach us about heaven, and about our lives now?

The Desire of Jesus...

“To See My Glory”

(John 17:24-26, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 4, 2010)

4/4/2010
24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known,
(4/11/2010) that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

The Resurrection of Jesus and the World of Resurrection
Everyone wants the good life, but most people settle for something that is barely adequate. In a world that is under a sentence of death, there can be only one truly right solution. We must have a life beyond all the misery, futility, and decay; a world beyond floods, earthquakes, surgeries, personal betrayals, and fits of depression. The Bible says that our souls long for this good eternity, and the reason is, according to Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has put eternity into man's heart.”

The Bible also tells us that the same Jesus who died for us, created the “ages” (literal Greek in Hebrews 1:2). We live in one age right now, and there is another age coming. That age is already reserved for us in heaven. Our hearts have eternity in them be God's design, and His plan has always been for eternity. Jesus is the key to that eternity, and His resurrection is the foremost display of the coming world of resurrection. He is the firstborn of the new age.

I desire... (24)
Christ speaks of this new age in his prayer to His father before He goes to the cross. The idea of a resurrection age was nothing new in the Bible. There are hints of it everywhere, and some very explicit passages, like Daniel 12, that plainly teach us of resurrection life. When we confess that we believe in the resurrection of the dead, we are holding to a doctrine that centuries of faithful Jews believed in but that they had never seen. Then it happened. Jesus rose from the dead. When Jesus prays for us in verse 24, He not only prays about our lives now, He speaks of a greater desire that must be fulfilled in a greater age and a greater place. He says, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

This new age and new place are well-known to our Lord. He came from there, and He knew that after His death and bodily resurrection, He would be returning there. It was the place of perfect power and glory. Jesus' glory was hidden during His days here below, though He gave signs of that resurrection glory in His healing, His transfiguration, His teaching, and His character. All of these great displays were, in a sense, out of place in this world of trouble and hate. There is another world where the glory of Christ and His victory over sin and death already shine brightly, and where the perfect love of the Father for His Son is now seen by men and angels. You were made for that new world. You were made for the place where the glory of Jesus is perfectly seen. Your presence in that world is not only something that you can desire; Jesus in His prayer to the Father says it is His desire, His petition, that you would be there one day with Him in heaven. Jesus wants you to be with Him in the land of resurrection.

O righteous Father... (25)
God is perfectly righteous. There is nothing wrong in Him; no error, and no evil. The land where the Father and the Son dwell is a land of righteousness. Our entrance into that land is the problem of all history. How can the unrighteous, people who have many errors and much sin, be brought to a place of righteousness? The way for us to come to heaven had to be consistent with the righteousness of God. Evil must have a just punishment, and only those who are truly righteous can go to heaven. The eternal solution to this was the cross. There our righteous substitute died for us, and through faith in Him, our debt has been canceled and His righteousness has been given to us. This is the only ethical way for the desire of Jesus to be fulfilled that we would be with Him where He is. Are you able to see this as sensible and right?

Everyone does not know and receive this message of Jesus and the world of resurrection. That's why Jesus says here in His prayer, “The world does not know you.” Jesus knows His Father, and He says, that we know that the Father sent His Son. That's true. We know that the Father sent the Son to make a righteous way for us to be with Him forever. As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we can do so this year with more understanding than we have ever had before about the need for a righteous way to heaven.

I made known to them... (26)
If you find today that the statement that I just made does not appear to be true, if as you evaluate your current spiritual condition you feel more in doubt or confusion than you were last year at this time, let me just say first that I acknowledge that feeling. I do not understand the mysteries of God's providence, but I have had to live through some of them. I have had times in younger days when I thought I was walking away from God for good, and He seemed determined to keep me through all my wandering. I have had times of busy living and distraction when the presence of God seemed distant. I have had disappointments that seemed to grab me by the neck of the soul and not let go. Through it all, even when I could not feel His presence, the Lord was there.

Jesus kept His disciples even when it felt like He was not keeping them. He did that by making the Name of God known to them, and in this prayer He promises to continue to make that Name known to them. Next Sunday we are going to explore more of what Jesus means by this; specifically what He means in terms of having the Father's love in us, and having Jesus in us, but we are almost out of time this morning, so that will be for another day. For this morning I need you to notice one very important lesson from the first part of verse 26: Whatever Jesus means by making known the Father's Name to His disciples, apparently He can continue to do that from heaven, since He very clearly says, “I will continue to make it known.”

Believing in and living out the resurrection of Jesus
Let me leave you with one final point before we celebrate the Lord's Supper together. Resurrection begins now. You don't have to wait to go to heaven to live the resurrection life. You can believe in Jesus now. You can believe that it was His desire that you would be with Him in heaven, that you would see His glory. You can believe that His cross provided the righteous way for you to get to heaven, and that His resurrection was for you just as much as His death was for you. And you can believe that He is keeping you in the Name of God from where He reigns over heaven and earth right now. These are not things that anyone made up. These are things that Jesus said in these verses before us today. You can believe these verses, accept them, embrace them, and even live them out. And somehow, even now, you can take that eternity that God has placed within your heart, and you can receive and see Jesus. If all of this seems too good to be true, let me tell you how I defend this good news to myself. 1. I cannot get around the resurrection of Jesus, and He believed in heaven. 2. The Hebrew Scriptures amply testified to all these matters long before Jesus died for me. (Read 2 Corinthians 4:1-6).

1. What are God's plans for resurrection?
2. How extensive is the desire of Jesus for His church?
3. Does everyone know about Jesus and the resurrection? Why or why not?
4. How can we live out the resurrection now and forever?

Good Friday Sermon

“They hated me without a cause”

(John 15:25 and Psalm 69:, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 2, 2010)

John 15:25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

The Word
It is one of the many encouragements that my very weak soul needs that there are so many clear passages in the Hebrew Scriptures that teach the essential doctrines of the apostolic Christian faith. Those Scriptures reveal a God who knew all about the things that we believe long before the Son of God was born in Bethlehem, died outside the walls of Jerusalem, and rose again from the dead. Long before those great events, the words of the Hebrew Bible were written. That assures me that God is real, that the Bible is true, and that heaven is not a myth. One way to look at the life of Jesus is to see it as the fulfillment of Genesis through Malachi.

When we talk about foundational Christian doctrines being taught in the Old Testament Scriptures, there are no other doctrines that are of greater importance to us than the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and the truth that in three days He was risen again for our justification. Tonight we think especially about the first of these. One of the places in the Bible that gives us ample and amazing testimony to the life and death of Jesus is Psalm 69. It is this psalm, sung for centuries before Christ, which prepares us for a Messiah who will cry out to God for help, and be heard. He will live out a love for the temple that will fulfill 69:9, “Zeal for your house has consumed me.” He will die with people looking on who are against him, so that it could be said as in 69:21, “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” He will seek vindication in fulfillment of 69:29, “Let your salvation, O God, set me on high!” This resurrection and ascension of Jesus on high will be a great source of encouragement to many who will follow Him, this according to 69:32, “When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.” All of this will lead to the most overwhelming worldwide resurrection victory in accord with the closing verses in 69:34-36 “Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.” It is also this psalm that contains the important words for our text tonight in 69:4, “They hated me without a cause.”

They
Who are they? We are told in the psalm that whoever they are, they are numerous, “More than the hairs of my head.” We are told that they have power, and that they would want to use their power to kill the suffering servant of God; “Mighty are they who would destroy me.” We know that they are dishonest in their schemes, since we are told “they attack me with lies.” We learn more about them in John 15. These vicious enemies of God are of the world, and they do not know God. Jesus had spoken in their presence, and He did His mighty works in front of them, but despite the beauty and power of His healing Word, they hated Him.

Hated
But what do we mean when we use the word “hated?” While hate and love are words of emotion, there is more to hate than just emotion, just as there needs to be more to love than just our feelings. Real love is expressed in actions that may be costly. It is willing to give so that someone else can receive. True hate is also expressed in action. Hate does not want the one who is hated to have anything good, but to have all good taken away. Do you want to know whether you have fully forgiven someone who has wronged you? Here is a test: Do you sincerely want that person to receive every good blessing? Do you love, or do you still hate?

Jesus was hated. Earlier (13:26) He had given some bread, a morsel dipped in wine, to his friend Judas. He said to Him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Judas was already committed to hate. He had met with the chief priests and others who had taken counsel together with the elders plotting to kill Jesus. He had received the thirty pieces of silver. He went out after eating the morsel, and John writes, “It was night.” When you take money to betray your friend, when you plot murder, even if you kiss your victim or say nice things about him, you still hate him. Judas, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the elders, the chief priests; they all hated Jesus.

Me
Psalm 69:4 says, “They hated me.” Who is this “me” who is hated? We know that Jesus is the one, but who is Jesus? He is the eternal Son of God. He said earlier in John's gospel, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” and the people took up stones to kill Him (8:58-59). This Jesus was without sin. His was the sacred head wounded for our transgressions. He was the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, and He would soon fulfill His ministry when “the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). He taught with authority. He made the lame walk, the blind see, and He called His friend Lazarus back to life after four days in the grave.

Not only that, this Jesus was the One through whom all things were made, and He would be the heir of all things, the firstborn from the dead, and the King of the Kingdom of heaven. He is the One of whom it is written that every eye shall see Him, and before Him whom every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Without a Cause
It should be very obvious, that if it was this great God/man Jesus who important people hated, then they hated Him without a cause. There was nothing bad about Jesus. He had harmed no one, though He was appointed for the rising and falling of many in Israel, and many were envious of Him. Crucifixion was thought to be the worst of all deaths by the Romans who used it extensively. The point of this kind of death was the public exposure, as if to say, “Here is a man who deserves to die. Here is an enemy of the community. We will all be safer when He is gone. Do not imitate Him unless you are willing to die as He is dying.” Crucifixion insists that there was much cause for the humiliation and pain of this death.

But Jesus had done nothing deserving of death. Yet we must insist that though there was no cause in Him that would justify this brutal punishment, there was just cause in us, in our sins against God, for the Lord to demand this and more from us for our lies and rebellion. Here was the only cause for the death of Christ: Me. Did the Jews kill Jesus? Did the Romans? I don't know, except that Roman soldiers mocked Him, and a Jewish crowd yelled “Crucify him.” I can say this. “Mine, mine was the transgression, and thine the deadly pain.” Jesus was hated without a cause, but God had the greatest purpose in the pain, your salvation.

The Power of the Cross
This grave scene of injustice, where a completely innocent man, dies the death of a guilty sinner, this has now become not only the justice of God, but also the wisdom of God. And it is love, love to be received. There is another word that describes it: power. Outwardly it looks like pitiful weakness, but it worked the death of death and the cancellation of the great debt of your sin. God is calling you to be reconciled to Him tonight through the cross of Jesus Christ. He has determined, because of the power of the death of Jesus, a man that was hated without a cause, to count you as someone who has no sin. This forgiveness is very powerful. Receive it from the Lord, and worship Jesus not only as your substitute in death, but also your inspiration and source of power in resurrection.