Luke 9:44 "Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men."

1. It may not look like it, but Jesus giving himself up to sinners to be ____________ is the grandest work of ____________ in the history of the world.

2. Christ's love is a sacrificial ___________ that sets __________ all that is wrong in the world.

3. The death of Jesus fulfilled the purposes of the Old Testament _____________ so that we, God's chosen people, can come into His glorious ______________ for all eternity.


Scripture Readings
Luke 9:28-45


Take It With You!

During the season of Lent we will be examining the sacrifices prescribed by God in the book of Leviticus. Here we will offer thoughts and meditations on the sacrifice of Christ to help us as we contemplate and discuss and wrestle with the messages.

The question begs to be answered, how can Christians celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus as good news, indeed, the best news they have ever heard? To answer this question we must move from the historical fact of Jesus' death to the theological meaning of that fact.

The most succinct summary of the gospel in Scripture provides insight into this theological meaning: "That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3b-4). In this packed section of Scripture, Paul appoints the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as the most important event in all history and the verification of the truthfulness of all Scripture. He then explains why this is good news with the simple word for, showing that Jesus died "for our sins." The word for (huper in Greek) can mean either "for the benefit of" or "because of." Think for a moment: Jesus did not die "for the benefit of" our sins. He did not help them at all! Rather, he died "because of" our sins. So it was our sins, but his death.

From the beginning of sacred Scripture (Gen. 2:17) to then end (Rev. 21:8), the penalty for sin is death. Therefore, if we sin, we should die. But it is Jesus, the sinless one, who dies in our place "for our sins." The good news of the gospel is that Jesus died to take to himself the penalty for our sin. In theological terms, this means that Jesus' death was substitutionary, or vicarious, and in our place solely for our benefit and without benefit for himself. Therefore, we find the cross of Jesus to be the crux of good news, because it was there that Jesus atoned for our sin according to the promises of Scripture.

Gary Breshears & Mark Driscoll, Death By Love. pg. 20