The
Scandal of Grace
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. On Sunday morning, September 8, 1974,
President Gerald Ford made a nationally televised speech in which he issued a full and unconditional pardon to his
predecessor, Richard Nixon, for any crimes committed against the United States.
Though many of you have only read about this in history books there are still many
who remember that difficult time in American history. Nixon had been the only
president to resign from office. Some of his top aides were convicted of crimes.
Some people were outraged that Nixon had been pardoned. It seemed scandalous.
Until his death in 2006 President Ford said there had been no deal to pardon Nixon
but conceded that it probably cost his re-election in 1976.
B. The English word, “scandal,” refers to something that is considered morally or
ethically wrong. The Greek word, “skandalon” is found 13 times in the New
Testament and is translated, “stumbling block”
1. In Matthew 16:23 Jesus told Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling
block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."
2. This word was also used to describe Jesus.
a. Matthew 21:42 -“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”
b. In Acts 4:11 Peter told the Jewish leaders, “‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.”
c. I Peter 2:8 refers to Jesus as a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
C. Have you ever considered the scandalous aspect of grace?
1. The fact that you and I can receive a pardon from sin though we have done
nothing to deserve it seems scandalous.
2. The fact that Jesus died when He had no sin or guilt seems scandalous.
3. Even the means of His death, “the old rugged cross,” was scandoulous. No one at
the beginning of the first century would have understood our song, “The Old
Rugged Cross,” because it was an instrument of cruelty and torture.
D. How can God’s glorious grace be connected to something as scandalous as
crucifixion? There are three answers to that question in 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also
died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God,
having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”
I.THE SCANDAL OF SUBSTITUTION.
A. What did Jesus do? According to Peter Christ died for our sins once for all. . His
sacrifice was so immense and incredible that it can eradicate the spiritual effect of
sin for all time. Be sure to notice the next phrase, “the just for the unjust.”
1. In 1873 William Holman Hunt released a painting entitled, “The Shadow of
Death.” The painting depicts Jesus as a young man in his father’s carpentry
shop. It was the end of the day and the sun was beginning to set. As Jesus
stood in the doorway of the shop after a long day of work he stretched out his
arms and yawned. On the back wall of the shop was his shadow with his
outstretched arms forming the cross.
2. Jesus’ entire life was lived in the shadow of the cross. From the moment he
drew his first breath as the precious baby of Bethlehem until He cried, “It is
finished,” His life was focused on the cross. He said, “The Son of Man has come
to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
3. When Isaiah saw the Lord in the temple (Isaiah 6:1-7) the cherubim sand,
“Holy, Holy, Holy.” The Hebrew language repeated a word to emphasize it. This
is the primary characteristic of God. He is the antithesis of sin. He cannot ignore
sin or allow it to go unpunished. God’s way of dealing with sin is through
substitutionary atonement.
B. In Genesis 22:2 God told Abraham, “take you son, your only son, whom you love,
and offer him as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you.”
1. What a sad journey this must have been for a father who loved his son.
2. When they came to a place called Mount Moriah (the same location where the
temple would later be built), In verses 6 through 8 we read, “Abraham took the
wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand
the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac spoke to
Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And
he said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt
offering?’ 8 Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt
offering, my son.’”
3. Issac bore the wood of the sacrifice up the mountain. He willingly submitted to
his father as he was bound and laid upon the altar. Suddenly, God stopped
Abraham’s hand and then provided a ram whose horns were caught up on a
patch of thorns. Do you see any similarities between this account and the
crucifixion of Christ?
C. At the time of the Passover in Exodus 12 God commanded that the blood of alamb
was to be spread on the doorposts of the homes. For hundreds of years lambs by
the thousands were sacrificed by the Jewish people. Where were those lambs
raised? Many of them came from fields located in Ephratha near a small village
named Bethlehem. The shepherds watching their flocks the night Jesus was born
were in all probability watching over Passover lambs.
D. When Jesus was on trial Pilate thought he had a way to let Jesus go. It was his
custom at Passover to release a prisoner. He sat two men before the crowd. Jesus
and Barabbas. The crowd cried out, “Give us Barabbas!” When Pilare asked, “what
shall I do with Jesus?” they cried, “Crucify Him.” Imagine the scene of a Roman
prison with a vile, violent and vindictive murderer locked under highest security. He
was under the sentence of death. On a nearby hill was place prepared for his
execution along with two other wicked men. Suddenly, a Roman soldier opened
the prison door, removed the chains from the prisoner and said, “Barabbas, you
are free.” He was not free because of anything he had done. He was free because
a sinless savior took his place.
E. Christ not only died “for” you, He died “instead” of you.
II. THE SCANDAL OF SUFFERING
A. After Jesus had observed the Passover meal with His disciples they sang a hymn
and went out east of the city to the Mount of Olives. Jesus took Peter, James and
John into the garden. Leaving them with instructions to “watch and pray” he went
further, fell to his face an prayed. The Bible says He was in “agony.” Agony comes
from the Greek word “agon” meaning, “to strive.” Jesus prayed with
such agony that his sweat became bloody, a documented medical phenomenon
known as,“hematohidrosis,” where the capillaries burst under extreme emotional
stress.
B. Pilate hoped that having Jesus scourged might satisfy the crowd. Jesus was
stripped of His clothes, His body was draped across a short post with his arms
stretched above his head. One or more experienced soldiers with whips of leather
strands embedded with shards of bone or iron began flogging Him, ripping his
flesh, wrapping around his sides and chest. Historians record that beating
was so severe very few lived through it. If that were not enough, the solders
embedded a crown of thorns on Jesus’ hear and placed a purple robe on his
shoulders and a reed in his hand. They mocked him, “King of the Jews” and began
to it him with their fists.
C. Why did Jesus endure such agony?
1. Peter wrote, “Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found
in His mouth; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while
suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges
righteously; 24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we
might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed”
(1 Peter 2:22-24).
2. Jesus willingly and obediently became the object of God’s wrath. He was willing
to be immersed in a baptism of suffering.
3. There can be only one reason for such scandalous action.. Grace.
III. THE SCANDAL OF SALVATION
A. During the Passover meal Jesus took the cup. Notice what He said, “Drink from it,
all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for
forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27-28).
1. This was a scandalous statement. “Blood!” The Jews were commanded to
refrain from consuming blood (Leviticus 7:26).
2. Jesus had raised eyebrows in John 6 when He referred to Himself as the “bread
of life” (John 6:50-52).
3. Without the shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness of our sins.
B. Without the scandal of the cross there could be no salvation.
1. N.T. Wright has written a book, The Day the Revolution Began. He contends
that the day Jesus died on the cross launched a revolution that continues today.
2. Something happened on one of those crosses. It had nothing to do with the
officials who ordered executions or the soldiers who carried it out. It had
everything to do with the Son of God who died and transformed the object of
wrath and shame into an object of love, mercy and grace.
CONCLUSION:
A. Our dear brother, Buddy Muirhead, keeps a poem tucked in his Bible. He shared the
poem with me last Sunday. Although I do not know the author the message is a
message of God’s amazing grace.
My sins laid open to the rod,
The back by which from the law was free;
And the Eternal Son of God,
Received the stripes once due to me.
No beam was in His eye, nor mote;
Nor laid to him was any blame:
And yet His cheeks for me were smote---
The cheeks that never blushed for shame.
I pierced those sacred hands and feet,
That never touched or walked in sin;
I broke the heart that only beat
The souls of sinful men to win.
That sponge of vinegar and gall
Was placed by me upon His tongue;
And when derision mocked his call
I stood that mocking crowd among.
And yet His blood was shed for me,
To be of sin the double cure;
nd balm there flows from Calvary’s tree
That heals my guilt and makes me pure.
B. We invite you to accept His grace through obedience and faith today.
