This Sunday (14 March) we are beginning a new series that will take us into the glorious Easter season of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The series is entitled;” The Power To Lay It Down.” The title comes from the words of Jesus in John 10: 17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
In this first sermon of the series entitled, “Christ, Our Passover Lamb”, I will be looking at a story from Matthew 26 that occurred just 2 days before the crucifixion. Jesus, in His last week of ministry here on this earth, knows that He is going to die. He knows that this is the time, and that Jerusalem is the place. All of these things have been prophesied.
How would he be able to lay His life down willingly and voluntarily to be the sacrifice for our sins? How does a sinless man in one weekend get arrested for a crime that He has not committed, get convicted of a crime deserving capital punishment, get sentenced and have the punishment carried out in a single day?
There's only one answer to that: Jesus had the power and the authority; the permission and the ability to do so. This is a supernatural arrangement of events that were designed to present the Life of Christ as a sacrifice for our sins.
But that's not all. The enemy knows that this moment is coming and he is doing his best to thwart the plan of God. The devil doesn't want Jesus to be the sinless, voluntary, atoning sacrifice for man. He does not want to be defeated nor does he want to see an end come to his evil devices; death, hell, and the grave. But Jesus is resolved to be the “Lamb” who will be slain for the sins of the world; in spite of the demonic agenda that opposed Him. He was, and is the Passover Lamb; the Prepared Lamb; and the Risen Lamb.
Join us at church on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or go to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and click on livestream; for communion and the word: “Christ, Our Passover Lamb.”
Take heart and be blessed!
Pastor Kevin