–Revelation 3:2 (NKJV)
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What do you expect from life?  What do you see happening in life?  Is it what you expected?  Solomon in verse 11 of Ecclesiastes 9 shows us five negatives.  

          “I have observed something else in this world of ours.  The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle.  The wise are often poor, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy.  And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives.  It is all decided by chance, by being at the right place at the right time.”  (NLT)

An opportunity doesn’t always guarantee success.  I’ve seen people with great talents use them for the wrong purposes, or they do not take time to develop them properly and for the right reasons.  Two things are seen:  the sovereignty of God and the simpleness and sometimes laziness of man.  Man may be given wonderful talents, but they are used incorrectly.  Elvis and Jerry Lee come immediately to mind.  Walter C. Kaiser states, “Believers are to be rebuked for rejecting God’s worldly gifts and refusing to use them in a proper way.”  To be given a gift by God and using it in a wrong manner may be worse than the man given a “gift” and hiding it.
       Most of you will not remember Jackie Jensen.  He was a premier hitter in the late 1950s and destined for stardom.  He led the league in RBIs twice, but eventually left the game because he could not overcome his fear of flying.  Another man destined for greatness in baseball was Herb Score.  His career was shortened by a line-drive in the face from the bat of Gil McDougald.  One never knows.
       Strength is impressive, but what is it that made you strong?  Steroids?  The wise counsel is never popular, rarely obeyed, and seldom remembered.   Human rulers will always outshout wise counselors, and fools prefer the former.  I look around at the world today and I see what is called “woke.”  It is really part of the postmodern agenda of deconstruction–make up your own truth; it is all relative.  In the church I see what could be called “Accommodating Theology.”  It’s your opinion about God that counts, not what the Bible says.
       Read the rest of chapter 9–it states what I just paraphrased.  Verse 12, “For a man also does not know his time:  like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.” (NKJV)  With evil all around are you ready to handle it?  What are you doing to prepare yourself for the times in which you live?  Are you a prepper or one who trusts in the Lord?  Preparedness is good, but faith is better.
       So how do you live your life?  How do you survive the times?  “In the divine plan of things, the race belongs to the one who runs in the strength of God.  Strength, wisdom, speed, discernment, and learning are only valuable in so far as they are ordered by God.” (Kaiser)  Therefore, use your gifts and talents wisely–as unto the Lord.  Remember the words of Paul when he wrote the church at Corinth.

               “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
                          –1 Corinthians 15:57-58 (NKJV)

                    –Luke 21:28 (NASB)
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How long?  How long will evil continue?  How long must we be assailed with the wicked agenda of the transgenders, drag queens, and gays?  How long will there be a mockery of the government?  How long will justice be perverted?  How long before You return, Lord?  
       Have you ever heard yourself say, “How long?”  How long will this sickness last?  How long until I can get financial stability?   Spurgeon said, “The ‘How long?’ sounds as if it were one of the saddest of all utterances in which misery bemoans itself.  Many times this bitter complaint has been heard in the dungeons of the Inquisition, at the whipping posts of slavery, and in the prisons of oppression.  In due time God will publish His reply, but the full end is not yet.”  Contemplate, if you will, the first part of Psalm 94.

          1 — O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs–O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!
          2 — Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render punishment to the proud.
          3 — LORD, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?
          4 — They utter speech, and speak insolent things; all the workers of iniquity boast in themselves.
          5 — They break in pieces Your people, O LORD, and afflict Your heritage.
          6 — They slave the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
          7 — Yet they say, “The LORD does not see, nor does the God of Jacob understand.”  (NKJV)

       In the midst of pain, suffering, turmoil and the seeming unfairness of life, know this–God is not mocked.  There is a day coming when God will settle all accounts.  The prophets declare it to be a day of doom and destruction.  Now, everyone, but especially those of the household of faith should be thankful for God’s mercy.  “Those who will not deliver themselves into the hand of God’s mercy cannot be delivered out of the hand of His justiice.” (Matthew Henry)  
       I used to “joke” with my students that be careful for once in a while the “spirit of slap” will come upon me.  Those in the front row better be ready to duck.  It was all in fun, but sometimes there is that real urge to slap, and maybe even more those of the realm of darkness.  I think that the Quakers might have had it right when they said that the retaliation hurts the person more than the one who is slapped.  Oh, but don’t it feel good, until the Holy Spirit convicts.
       More and more the devil is whispering to God’s people, “Where is the sign of His coming?  How long will you wait for something that will never happen?”  Evil is so rampant and is becoming more perverted and the devil smiles whispering to us “How long?”  He mocks the things of God; he mocks justice, morality, and the dignity of man.  He gets us to focus on the wickedness in the world and not on the person of Christ.
       Look at verse 4, “Hear their arrogance!  How these evildoers boast!” (NLT)   It seems that the Lord really does not see (verse 7), but remember, “This is the self-deceived condition of the godless.  In their sinfulness, they are unable to see God and thus assume that he is ignorant of their actions.” (Steven Lawson)  I have read Romans 12:19, several times.  “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (NKJV)  Notice the word, “wrath.”  We do not like to think in this modern and enlightened age of “woke” of God’s wrath.  Churches have thrown it out.  Preachers will not preach about the wrath of God, but it cannot be ignored.  Today, is the day of salvation–for tomorrow may be the day of God’s wrath.  How long? O, Lord–until He is ready.

               “We fight for truth; we fight for God;
               Poor slaves of lies and sin!
               He who would fight for thee on earth
               Must first be true within.”
                    –Thomas Hughs

                    –J. Lee Butts  (Written in Blood)

       “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.”
                    –1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV)
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I will not spend much of your time this morning as I want you to be pondering, meditating, and contemplating the events and meaning of Easter.  There are so many things to say, and so many sermons have been preached, but the question remains–What does it mean to you?  
       The crucifixion–the death of Jesus Christ.  We can throw all the words:  atonement, propitiation, redemption, reconciliation, sacrifice, substitution,  justification and contemplate each of them today.  For they all took place on the cross.  
       A week before He was hailed as a king when He rode into Jerusalem.  When He saw and heard the throng of people cheering and praising His eyes were not necessarily on them.  His mind was not really on the physical pain He would soon feel.  But He was thinking of what would happen to Him.  There would be darkness.  The light of the world would face darkness.  His Father would turn His back on Him.  He would be forsaken by the Father.  He would hang alone, even though there were two criminals hanging on either side of Him.  Alone, forsaken, the darkness creeping in.
       Jesus never doubted that He would rise from the grave.  That never entered His mind for He knew His power, the Father’s power, and that of the Holy Spirit.  No grave could ever hold Him.  That never crossed His mind.  In fact several times He mentioned the fact that He would rise again.

                “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
                         –Mark 8:31 (NKJV)
               “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'”
                         –John 2:19 (NKJV)

The leaders, those who had Him crucified, remembered His words,  “After three days I will rise.” (Matthew 27:63).  No, there was no doubt or concern that He would rise again.  
       It is important that we realize that all of the work was completed on the cross.  The resurrection was the demonstration that He had not died in vain (Stott) and that He is victorious in His purpose and forevermore.  Jesus accomplished what He came into the world to do.  The second phrase Jesus cried in a loud voice, “It is finished!”  In Greek it is but one word, “tetelestai.”  It means, “it has been and will for ever remain finished.”  The penalty of sin was paid, the justice of God was satisfied. (Stott)
       After that there was one final phrase uttered.  One full of confidence and knowing the final outcome,  “And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last.” (Luke 23:46, NKJV)  For you, for me, for humankind–It is finished.  Despite the pain, physical and spiritual, we are told that, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2, NKJV)  He knew that the cross was the finish of His and His Father’s work of salvation.  The hope of millions rest on that cross if only . . . if only they would look to the salvation brought on the cross and realize that the work of Jesus was finished.

Every man is born with death in him.  It’s only a matter of time.”

                         –Louis L’Amour  (Mojave Crossing)

 

       “O Death, where is your sting?  O Hades, where is your victory?”

                         –1 Corinthians 15:55 (NKJV)

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I think that sometimes we give the devil too much credit, and too much power.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, he wields tremendous power, but it cannot compare to the power of the Lord.  I also think that we often look at the devil as driving the nails into the hands of Jesus.  No, it was the Roman soldier.  Let’s look at this further.

       

          “‘But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”‘

          Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.'”

                    –Genesis 3:3-4 (NKJV)

 

We know that Adam and Eve did not die physically at that time, but death began to creep into their bodies.  We also know that there was a “spiritual death” that occurred.  Man was now doomed in his sin.

       Here is what I want you to ponder.  Can you think of a time in the Bible where it shows that the devil actually killed someone?  I have thought about this, especially in regard to Jesus hanging on the cross.  There may have been celebration of the imps and demons, but they did not crucify Jesus.  Satan may have rejoiced, or did he shudder realizing what was taking place?  But Satan did not kill Jesus.  Hovering in the spiritual realm around the cross were legions of angels, ready, should Jesus decide to call upon them and be done with mankind.  Yes, Satan may have smiled, but it didn’t last long.

       If Satan had the power to take the life of Jesus why did he not do it in the wilderness?  Why was there not the physical struggle in the wilderness?  See, we too often get caught up in this physical temporal world, and do not look at things with spiritual eyes.  For good reason–we cannot understand the temporal, how could we even begin to understand the spiritual?   

       Satan didn’t thrust the spear into the side of Jesus.  Satan didn’t place the crown of thorns on His head.  Yes, Satan is involved with the death of Jesus, but not in the way that we think.  And right here, let me emphatically say, that I don’t understand it all.  That it is a mystery to me.  But what brought death upon the Lord Jesus Christ was your sin and mine.  It was sin, way back in the Garden, that brought death.  It was sin that took the life of Jesus on the cross.  He became sin!  No wonder the Father could not look upon Him.  No wonder He was left alone in the darkness for He was sin.  

 

               We may not know, we cannot tell,

               What pains he had to bear;

               But we believe it was for us

               He hung and suffered there.

                    –unknown

 

       It was sin that brought about the death of Christ.  Satan did not kill Him.  And even in the midst of a seemingly victory for darkness, Christ rose and took the chains of sins and death.  See, when someone dies, God has allowed it.  Understand that the devil cannot overthrow the throne of the Almighty.

       So in this season of Easter, think of the cause of Jesus’ death.  It was sin.  Think of the agony–not the physical–but the spiritual agony He went through.  Think of the awesome plan of God that we cannot begin to understand.  Praise Him for His wonderful salvation to each and every one of us.