119 Sermon Illustrations on Atonement

It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. — Leviticus 17:11.

• The blood of the cross has made peace for thee (Col. 1:20).

• The blood has brought thee nigh to God (Eph. 2:13),

• The blood has justified thee from every charge of sin and guilt (Romans 5:9).

• The blood of God’s Son has cleansed thee from all sin (1 John 1 :7) .

• The blood has permanently and eternally purged thy conscience (Hebrews 10:2 ).

• The blood is thy title and confidence to enter into the holiest (Hebrews 10:19).

May the Lord give us to recognize more deeply and fully the value of the precious blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

Of all the gifts Thy love bestows,

Thou giver of all good,

Not Heaven itself a richer knows

than the Redeemer’s blood.

Nothing could be clearer than the teaching of the New Testament as to the effect of the death of our Lord on the cross. According to it, that death is the means of eternal salvation to believing people; through that sacrifice they obtain the Divine forgiveness; Christ did something on the cross which was of vital importance for mankind and which we could never have done for ourselves. I take it for granted that we all believe and preach this as the Gospel of God. Christ is to us the supreme and infallible Master in all spiritual things. His word about the eternal realities is to us final. He said that He came to give His life a ransom for many and that His blood was shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). We accept the words of His servants who declare that He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. We say after His apostle Paul with devout thankfulness and joy, "He loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame, in his history of the Boer War, tells us how on one occasion a comparatively small detachment of the British army was surprised by a force of the enemy twice its own strength. The British were driven back upon their camp, and the Boers occupied a commanding position from which they were enabled to pour volley after volley into the English lines. The British wounded in the earlier part of the action found themselves in a terrible position, laid out in the open under a withering fire. One of this number, a corporal in the Ceylon Mounted Infantry, tells the story himself: "We must get up a red flag or we shall be blown from the face of the earth." He says, "We had a pillow but no red paint. Then we saw what to do instead. So they made an upright with my blood and the horizontal with Paul's." This grim flag, the blood red cross upon the white background, was respected by the Boers. Those lying beneath it were safe. Even so-beneath the blood stained Cross of Christ we find our sure refuge.

Final sermon in Proverbs series. Proverbs 21:27

REJECT ROTTEN RELIGION

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I. Religionland.

II. Rotten religion is rejected.

A. God looks at your heart, not your church attendance. 15:8

B. God shuts the door on the wicked. 15:29

C. Obedience is mandatory. 21:3

III. Put your faith on the right track.

A. Admit you are not God. 30:3-4

B. Acknowledge your sin. 20:9

C. Have a high regard for God's Word. 30:5-6

D. Consider your bargains with God. 20:25

IV. Love and atonement.

A. What is atonement? 16:6

B. Special considerations in Jewish history.

C. True atonement comes from Jesus' love.

The Lord hath laid on him. the iniquity of us all. — Isa. 53:6.

“Can it be true that my sins were laid on Jesus?” I thought. Oh, it is too good to be true! But it was true, nevertheless. God had said it and it could not be otherwise, and with the simplicity of a little child I took Him at His word. Yes, my sins were laid on Jesus. God had said it. He who cannot lie had said, “The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” I believed Him. The burden was gone, the cloud had vanished, despair was a thing of the past. — Richard F. Varder.

Where laid ye him? Ye Palestinian hills,

Tell, if ye saw, where laid they Judah’s seer?

I fain would place a wreath upon his grave,

Upon its sod let fall a silent tear.

He penned those soul emancipating words

That were the means of bringing life to me,

When dead in sins I wandered far from God.

On Him were laid all thine iniquity.”

‘Tis all in vain: I cannot find the place

Where he was laid, but in eternity,

It may be that I’ll grasp the hand that penned,

“On Him were laid all thine iniquity.” — Richard Varder.

A direct and impressive way to exercise transforming faith in Christ is to read the wonderful prophecy of Isaiah as Henry Moorhouse did. The evangelist was preparing a sermon at the home of a friend when a child came into the room and said, “Mr. Moorhouse, I want to be a Christian.”

“Well, you may be, for it is very easy.” He then asked the girl to read the fourth and fifth verses of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, making the pronouns “we” and “our” personal.

So she read the verses this way: “Surely He hath borne my griefs, and carried my sorrows, yet I did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities; the chastisement of my peace was upon Him, and with His stripes. . .” At this point the girl stopped and her eyes filled with tears.

“Read on,” said the evangelist.

The girl continued, “...I am healed.”

“It is as easy as that,” said Moorhouse.

Every longing heart, every anxious mind, troubled by the burning question, “Where shall I spend eternity?” may settle the question once and for all by accepting Jesus.

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Source: Signs of the Times, Copyright (c) November 22, 1949, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com

The film ATONEMENT won a Golden Globe for Best Drama and has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture [it lost]. It may look like just another period drama, but there is something in this film that is resonating deeply with audiences. It might be the love story or the performances or even the look of the film, but I would venture that it is something deeper: the way it touches on one of our deepest spiritual needs. (Before I go on, you need to know that I am not recommending the film. It deserves its “R” rating. But I do think the film’s themes are having an impact, and Christians should be ready to discuss them.)

The story revolves around a little girl named Briony Tallis, who tells a lie. She claims she saw a man who molested her cousin one night, when it was actually too dark for her to be sure of what she saw. For reasons of her own, Briony is convinced that she really knows who committed the crime and that she is doing the right thing by swearing that she saw him do it. But her lie sends an innocent man to prison and lets the real rapist go free.

Her guilt, as she comes to realize what she has done, haunts Briony for the rest of her life. The title of the film, though, is deeply ironic, because although she tries in her own way to atone, all her attempts fall short.

It makes the story all the more poignant when you learn that Ian McEwan, author of the critically acclaimed novel on which the film is based, is an atheist. In a recent interview, McEwan told the New Republic, “It is crucial that people who do not have a sky god and do not have a set of supernatural beliefs, assert their belief in moral values and in love and in the transcendence that they might experience in landscape or art or music or sculpture or whatever.” He continues, “Since they do not believe in an afterlife, it makes them give more valence to life itself.”

But when you apply McEwan’s reasoning to his own story, the resulting principle is unbearable. Briony’s victim had the only life he could ever know taken away from him. But Briony’s plight is even worse. She is never able to earn forgiveness from the people she wronged, and, if McEwan’s beliefs are correct, there is no God to forgive her for her disobedience to the “moral values.” She has, as the novel suggests, played God with people’s lives, but she has neither God’s power of omniscience nor His power to bring good out of evil.

As his story suggests, McEwan’s universe — as noble as he tries to make it sound — offers no second chances for those who get it wrong. Atonement, the theological doctrine that for Christians provides the path to a restored relationship with God, here becomes only an elusive, mocking wish that can never be fulfilled.

Although McEwan’s atheism is not spelled out in the story, the viewer comes away with a sense of tragedy and waste that reflects the author’s ideas, perhaps even better than he knows. But the film also makes us face our own desperate need for atonement and forgiveness. It just goes to show, yet again, that the truth of the human condition and the law of God are written on our hearts, no matter what we tell ourselves we believe.

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Copyright (c) 2008 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

What is the Mormon Teaching about the Atonement?

THE GREATEST SUFFERING OF THE SAVIOR: IN THE GARDEN OR ON THE CROSS?

One year my wife visited a Mormon ward on an Easter Sunday. Strangely, for three hours they had nothing to say about Jesus Christ dying on the cross or His resurrection from the dead. Christians tend to get confused about the Mormon view of salvation and the cross. Why? Do the LDS believe in it or not? The LDS [Latter Day Saints] respond, “Yes, we do,” and then offer some statements and pictures to prove it. CLARIFICATION: Mormons affirm that Jesus Christ died on a cross but they reject God’s purposes in the crucifixion and what Jesus Christ accomplished there. For anyone to miss the gospel message of the cross and the resurrection, where does that leave one’s faith? Lost from God! Meaningless and empty - as “your faith IS vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17b).

Then what does Mormonism believe? To abandon the gospel, what has become their alternative? The LDS faith launched into a lot of high-sounding nonsense. What they convince millions of people to believe is just about enough to “blow your mind.” They have emptied the cross of its meaning into just a secondary role.

While we cannot and would not diminish our Lord’s struggle within the Garden of Gethsemane, that account in no way is described by God’s Word as being the atonement. So here is the question: How can anyone think themselves credible while elevating the garden to be above the cross?

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, WHERE DID THE ATONEMENT TAKE PLACE? As clarified by one of their prophets, “What happened in that garden, said President Ezra Taft Benson, ‘was the greatest single act of love in recorded history ... It was in GETHSEMANE that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in GETHSEMANE that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of all men, in GETHSEMANE that He descended below all things so that all could repent and come to Him ... That holy, unselfish act of voluntarily taking on Himself the sins of all other men is called the ATONEMENT’” (Church News, 1 June 1991, p.14). If that was it, why would Jesus still die upon the cross? LDS prophet Benson emphasized Gethsemane three times in one sentence when “Gethsemane” is only found twice in the whole Bible, and never described as the atonement for sin. See Matthew 26:36 and Mark 14:32.

According to God’s Word, did Jesus bare our sin in the garden where He prayed or upon the cross where He died? “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.... reconciled to God by the death of his Son ... by whom we have now received the ATONEMENT.” (Romans 5:8-11).

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, WHERE DID CHRIST SUFFER FOR SIN? “In the Garden of GETHSEMANE, Christ suffered for the sins of all mankind, thus opening the way for all of us to repent and free ourselves from the bondage of sin” (Ensign Magazine, April, 1981, p.19).

According to God’s Word, sin is connected to His death, so did Jesus die in the garden or on a cross? “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18).

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, DO CHRISTIANS OVEREMPHASIZE THE CROSS? “Jesus then went into the Garden of GETHSEMANE. There he suffered most. He suffered greatly on the cross, of course, but other men had died by crucifixion; in fact, a man hung on either side of him as he died on the cross. But no man, nor set of men, nor all men put together, ever suffered what the Redeemer suffered in the garden. He went there to pray and suffer’” (Conference Report, Marion Romney of the LDS First Presidency, Oct. 1953, p.35).

According to God’s Word, where should the emphasis be? “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). Mormonism is impressed with the garden but the theme of scripture is, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, HOW ARE WE FORGIVEN? “Forgiveness is available because Christ the Lord sweat great drops of blood in GETHSEMANE as he bore the incalculable weight of the sins of all who ever had or ever would repent ... In a garden called GETHSEMANE, outside Jerusalem’s walls, in agony beyond compare, he took upon himself the sins of all men on condition of repentance” (The Promised Messiah, LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, p. 337 & 552).

According to God’s Word, was forgiveness provided in the garden or through the cross? “And you, being dead in your sins ... having forgiven you ... nailing it to his cross” (Col. 2:13-14). Total forgiveness is available right now through the blood of the cross. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7).

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, IS THIS FORGIVENESS THROUGH THE SWEATING OR SHEDDING OF BLOOD? “Forgiveness is available because Christ the Lord sweat great drops of blood in GETHSEMANE . . .” (The Promised Messiah, LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, p. 337).

According to God’s Word, did Jesus perspire or die for sin? “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). You must not trust in the sweating when “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Of the four accounts of the Garden of Gethsemane, only one mentions this blood in Gethsemane and never in the redemptive sense. Mormon leaders miss a very significant point. Sin is not cleansed because Jesus perspired as it were great drops of blood; it is based upon the fact that our substitute died.

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, HOW DOES CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION COMPARE TO OTHERS? “And as he came out of the Garden, delivering himself voluntarily into the hands of wicked men, the victory had been won. There remained yet the shame and the pain of his attest, his trials, and his cross. But all these were overshadowed by the agonies and sufferings in GETHSEMANE. It was on the cross that he ‘suffered death in the flesh,’ even as many have suffered agonizing deaths, but it was in GETHSEMANE that ‘he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him’” (The Mortal Messiah, LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, pp. 127-128).

According to God’s Word, what is unique about the cross? As one man with a match can start a forest fire, picture another single-handedly putting out the fire over millions of acres and to save millions of lives. The Lord’s redemption is great enough to save every trusting soul, which depends entirely upon the blood of the infinite God-Man, “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18-19). Mormonism totally misses the impact of the gospel and the sufficiency of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Jesus, as every sacrificial lamb, was born to shed His blood and die as a sacrifice. How did God purchase the church of God? - “with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). How absurd to turn anyone’s faith to trust in what happened in the garden for an atonement for sin!

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, LDS TEMPLES ACCOMPLISH WHAT THE CROSS COULD NOT. Temple rituals are thought necessary to reach exaltation or to be with God in their highest level of heaven. Whereas Christians might display the cross, the LDS replace it to reverence temple pictures in their homes.

According to God’s Word, the temple veil was torn to confirm that the way to God is through the blood of the cross, not temples (Mat. 27:51). “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” (Heb. 10:19). Christians are the temples of God now, not manmade buildings (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16). The temple in Heaven makes LDS temples comparatively disgusting (Rev. 11:19; 14:17). Israel as God’s people had only one temple at a time, not over a hundred baptizing people for the dead. The living God does not dwell in temples made by hands (Acts 7:48; 17:24).

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, WHY IS IT WRONG FOR CHRISTIANS TO DISPLAY THE CROSS? The cross is “inharmonious with the quiet spirit of worship and reverence” (Mormon Doctrine, LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, p.172). What a pitiful, simplistic remark! However, to remind the LDS of their temple covenants, they do have Masonic symbols on their underwear. Is that superior to the cross?

According to God’s Word, who would oppose the cross and what is their destiny? The Apostle Paul was grieved to say, “and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction” (Phil. 3:18-19). Under attack by the cults and at the very heart of the gospel is God’s message of the cross! The cross proves the immensity of the love of God. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). The cross reminds Christians of the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. As the symbol for the Christian faith, the cross is superior to a crucifix because the Savior was not perpetually nailed to the cross. Now since He arose, we have the empty cross and an empty tomb. Jesus Christ has conquered sin, death and hell for every one who will trust completely in Him.

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, ARE PENTAGRAMS WORTHY SYMBOLS? Mormonism makes little of the cross as it is never on LDS buildings. For being so strongly against the symbol of the cross, how peculiar that Satanic pentagrams are on the Nauvoo and Salt Lake City temples! In “Mormonism, Magic and Masonry, p. 68,” pentagrams are the symbol for the occult. “The Pentagram, the sign of the Microcosm, was held to be the most powerful means of conjuration in any rite.... with two points in the ascendant [upside-down star] it was the sign of Satan” (The Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, Vol. 2, p. 552). Furthermore, Joseph Smith was not wearing a cross at his death, he wore “a silver Jupiter medallion constructed according to the instructions for making ‘Magic Seals, or Talismans,’ in Barrett’s 1801 The Magus” (Mormonism and the Magic World View, Mormon author D. Michael Quinn, p. 66).

According to the God’s Word, these occult activities are an extreme abomination (Deut. 18:9-14). Who is behind this apostasy taking people away from the basic essentials of the faith? “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1). The LDS religion is of the devil.

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THE CROSS? The cross is inadequate. Christ’s sacrifice atoned only for Adam’s sin. For personal sin we read, “It is by grace that we are saved, AFTER ALL WE CAN DO” (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 25:23). “To receive this great gift, we must do more than repent of our sins and be baptized and confirmed by appropriate priesthood authority. Men must receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, and all Church members must make and keep sacred covenants in the temple, including eternal marriage.” (TRUE TO THE FAITH, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 153). It’s all about works inside of Mormonism to get there. Generally, a Mormon claiming to be “saved” only means that he will be resurrected from the dead. In other words, no big deal as “there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). That means everyone! So that would make all of the Bible references to qualify only those who are saved totally pointless. And for the unjust, how could the LDS identify a resurrection to the Great White Throne judgment as being saved? (Rev. 20:11-15)

According to the God’s Word, “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us FROM ALL SIN” (1 John 1:7). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

ACCORDING TO MORMONISM, WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? “The central doctrine of the gospel is the atonement of Jesus Christ. The Prophet Joseph Smith said, ‘The first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost’ (Articles of Faith 1:4). In it’s fullness, the gospel includes all the doctrines, principles, laws, ordinances, and covenants necessary for us to be exalted in the celestial kingdom.” (TRUE TO THE FAITH, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 76).

According to the God’s Word, how is the gospel defined? There are many manmade gospels, so which gospel saves? “I declare unto you the gospel ... By which also ye are SAVED ... how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1-4). What is the opposite of SAVED? - To be lost! “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:3-4). Now why are Mormon people blind and lost? Are we instructed to preach the garden or the cross? “But we preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23). Do LDS temples, commandments and works bring anyone the power of God? “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). See what is missing from those who diminish the cross? God’s message is to “preach the gospel ... For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:17-18). Did Christ redeem us in the garden? “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).

HOW CAN WE COME TO GOD? God sent His Son to the cross to pay for your sins. To say in effect that Your Son is not good enough is to offend God. The result is to hear God say, then you are not good enough into enter My heaven. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ ... by the cross” (Eph. 2:13-16). Salvation is through the blood of the cross!

IS PEACE WITH GOD OFFERED THROUGH GETHSEMANE, LDS TEMPLES AND OBEDIENCE TO MORMON COMMANDMENTS? There is only one way to have peace with God as Christ “made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself” (Col. 1:20).

BUT DON’T YOU BELIEVE THAT MORMONS ARE GOOD PEOPLE? For those who defend the merits of Mormonism, what are you saying? What virtues are so important that you would support what God abhors? Do the LDS differ from the seemingly nice Jehovah’s Witness who come to doors to spread Watchtower poison? How can you defend any cult that purposefully usurps God’s way to install their own? Do you bid God speed by telling how you are so impressed by their dedication? “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Pro. 14:12). The LDS church is taking people to hell. The obituary columns are filled with LDS faces being destined to eternal, outer darkness because they believed the Mormon church over God. Walter Martin described Mormonism as the devil’s best lie!

DECEIVERS OR DECEIVED? But on the other hand, what sympathy is there for lost LDS souls? Please separate in your thinking the deceivers from the deceived, “even weeping” to have compassion for those being betrayed (Phil. 3:18-19). If you have no concern for that long line of millions of Mormons marching towards a Christless eternity, you need to check you heart, because how can you honestly be right with God?

Fully God and fully human, Jesus made a decision. He chose to die on the cross. That’s how much He loves you. Stay with me as we reflect on Good Friday.

Sometimes, you hear something that sticks with you for the rest of your life. That “something” may be no more than a sentence, but it has such a profound impact that your life can be divided into two parts: before you heard that “something” and afterwards.

Well, that’s what happened to a colleague of mine here at BreakPoint. He was taking a class on the Epistle to the Hebrews nearly thirty years ago when the teacher, a wise and holy man, quoted the seventh-century theologian Maximus the Confessor.

The eleven words that changed everything were, “We are saved by the human decision of a divine person.”

The Son of God who, as Paul told the Galatians, “loved me and gave himself for me,” had a human will just like yours and mine. Think about that. That human will freely embraced the act of love by which he died and restored us to fellowship with his Father and with each other.

Most reflection on the events of the first Good Friday center on – to borrow some terms from journalism – the “who,” “what,” “where,” and “why” of Jesus’ death. But reflecting on the human decision that saved us requires reflecting on the “how.”

By “how” I don’t only mean an exploration of the physical agony that Jesus endured; I also mean how he fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy about the Suffering Servant, “The Lord God is my help, Therefore I am not disgraced; Therefore I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.”

As the Gospel of John tells us, Jesus set his face like flint because He loved us. What theologians call the “Book of Glory,” John chapters 13-20, begins what may be the most moving words in scripture, “Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.”

“He loved them to the end.” You could spend a lifetime contemplating the meaning of those six words but one thing would be clear: there was nothing passive about our Passover. Jesus was, as Peter told the crowd on Pentecost, “delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God,” [Acts 2:23] but it was a plan he freely accepted.

This acceptance permeated all of Jesus’ actions, even where he walked. In John 18, we are told that after the Last Supper, “Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to where there was a garden.”

While the other gospels omit this geographical detail – Jesus couldn’t have gotten from the upper room to Gethsemane without crossing the Kidron valley – John includes it by way of reinforcing Jesus’ words about laying down his life of his own accord.

It’s an allusion to David’s fleeing from his son, Absalom [2 Samuel 15:23]. Thus, while David crossed the Kidron valley to escape death, David’s greater son crossed it as part of his laying down his life.

Having crossed it, as Hebrews tells us, Jesus “offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death” [Hebrews 5:7]. All of these were the acts of a human will. As was “still, not my will but yours be done” [Luke 22:42].

In the end, as the events of the following Sunday show, He was not put to shame. Instead, that human decision made him the source of eternal salvation to all those who obey him by loving their brothers to the end.

So today, I urge you to find the time to contemplate Jesus’ sacrifice of love for us.

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Copyright (c) 2015 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.