Matt 27:1-5; Luke 23:26 - 48

Let us look intently these days at the great work God had accomplished on the Cross for us to redeem us from our sin. May it touch us, change us and reach our hearts. May we apply it personally and not merely historically. This is a very grave matter that God reached out to His people to redeem them from their sin.

Jesus said to His disciples that He would be persecuted, suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day. They did not understand what He was saying until He was risen from the dead.

Judas Iscariot walked with the Lord for three years. He ate and he drank in His presence. Jesus even sent the disciples out by 2 to preach the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons. And Judas was part of that. He was even trusted with the money bag, but he was a thief. He stole of the money that was entrusted to him. He never went to Jesus during those three years for salvation. He kept it his own secret. But the sin grew stronger and eventually he was the one that betrayed the Lord for money. When he realised what he had done, and that Jesus would be killed he had remorse, returned the money to the chief priests and committed suicide.

The chief priests and religious leaders hated Jesus because they would not accept His words which convicted them. They were jealous of Him. They saw the works of Jesus and realised that it was of God but they would not allow God to work in their hearts. They stopped their ears and clung to their jealousy and lust for power and position. So they rather condemned Jesus to death.

Do you see the danger of sin, how it will eventually sweep you away and destroy you if you do not part from it when God convicts you?

We also read of the women who followed Jesus weeping when they saw His terrible suffering. But Jesus was not concerned with Himself and said to them "weep not for Me but for yourselves and your children". And He prophesied of the terrible things that would befall the Jewish nation which also happened 40 years later. Jerusalem was flattened by the Roman armies, not one stone was left upon another, and the Jews were killed in their multitudes and the bodies left at the gates of the city. They rejected their time of grace when God visited them.

May we not do the same. Jesus' warning is even more applicable to us today. Unless we part from sin and apply His precious Blood to our lives we will face God's wrath and judgement which will be even worse than what befell the Jews. Consider your secret thoughts, motives and slackness in God's work and repent. Turn to the Lord Jesus for mercy.

Even on the cross Jesus did not think of Himself, but when the murderer next to Him cried for mercy Jesus saved Him and said to him, "today you will be with Me in paradise". This is contrasted with the religious leaders of Jesus' day, who when Judas came to them and said "I have sinned. I have betrayed innocent blood", they could not care less and answered him, "that doesn't concern us. You see to it yourself".

May this Good Friday and Passover time not pass by without your life being changed and Jesus' Blood working in your life. We have received so much more than the generations before us. May it not condemn us but may we make use of every opportunity God grants us. This time will benefit you only if you obey what God tells you.

(Here are more summaries of the Easter services)