You don’t always get what you deserve—and that’s a good thing. Celebrate grace, mercy, and second chances in a special Easter message and see why there’s hope, even when what we deserve is death.

Transcript

Today we’re concluding our series, Things Jesus Never Said. Why look at what he didn’t say? To truly understand the power of what Jesus did say, it can be helpful to compare it to what he didn’t say, what he could’ve said, or what you or I might have said.

To start off, let me tell you what Jesus didn’t say about Easter:

• He didn’t say, “Blessed are those who wear fly Easter outfits, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” He didn’t say that, but some of you are looking really fly.

• He didn’t say, “As often as you gather together, eat chocolate bunnies, peeps and Cadbury Eggs in remembrance of me

• He definitely didn’t say, “Come follow me, and no one will fight in the car on the way to Easter service.” If you had a little unredeemed moment in the car this morning, I forgive you in the name of the Toyota, Honda, and Holy Minivan.

Well, today, we’re going to look at what Jesus didn’t say about sin and guilt. How many of you struggle with feeling guilty? Makes sense. We have so many types of guilt around us.

• Mom Guilt – If you’re a working mom, you feel guilty you’re not at home more. If you’re home, you feel guilty for not working. And if you have that Pinterest-perfect mom friend, you love her and hate her.

• Man Guilt – What if you’re not good at fixing things, don’t like sports, and you don’t hunt, fish, or build your own log cabin? Are you really a man?

• Spiritual Guilt – You don’t pray enough. You don’t read your Bible enough. You’re selfish. You drink too much. You say bad words. On the report card of being a Christian, you just feel like a D-student sometimes.

What do you do when you find yourself feeling guilty before God?

Today, I want to talk about what Jesus did not say about sin and guilt. We’re going to be in Luke’s gospel, chapter 23, describing the last few hours in the life of God’s Son, Jesus.

Let me give you a bit of context. It would surprise you to see Jesus now.

• Instead of wearing a gold crown, he was wearing a crown of thorns.

• Instead of being surrounded by servants, he was surrounded by soldiers.

• Instead of sitting on a throne, we see Jesus hanging on a cross.

And amid this scene, Luke writes these words, “32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.”

Let’s talk for a moment about death by crucifixion. This will give you some context into what Jesus did for us, and it’ll give you some insight into who was hanging next to him on the cross.

Crucifixion was the most horrific form of Roman execution. It was a painful and brutal way to die. First, they would whip you repeatedly across your back, tearing open your flesh. They didn’t want to kill you, just get you close. Then you were marched outside the city, sometimes carrying a 100-pound cross beam on your shoulders. Then, you were tied or nailed onto a cross or something in the shape of a T or even onto an actual tree. Then, you were left to suffer, usually for 3-4 days, until your body died from blood loss, heart failure, asphyxiation, infection, or even birds of prey.

It was also a humiliating way to die. You were stripped naked for the whole thing. That whole loincloth on Jesus you see in pictures—nope! Totally exposed. People would spit on you, throw things at you, and shout insults to your face. It was meant to be brutal and degrading.

That’s why this form of punishment was reserved for the worst criminals. These two criminals who were hanging on either side of Jesus… they weren’t pickpockets. They had done something horrible to deserve this very painful, very shameful execution. Probably terrorists or insurrectionists.

Now, in the middle of all this violence, abuse, and humiliation, Jesus raises his head to heaven and prays. He did not pray, “God, send down 1,000 angels with giant swords and wipe them out.” He also didn’t pray, “God, send them a plague of locusts, boils, lice, anything. I might have, but he didn’t.

Instead, what he did pray was, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”’

Scripture goes on to say that 39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” This arrogant, prideful, very guilty man, who saw no need for grace, mercy, or a Savior, hurls insults at Jesus.

“40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? Then in verse 41, he says something very interesting. 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

The other criminal recognized that we committed some heinous crime, and the punishment that we’re getting for our actions is fair and just. We’re getting what we deserve.

Now, we’re going to have a little audience participation here. I’m going to give you the first part of a statement, and you complete it.

• What goes around… [comes around]

• Your past will come back to… [haunt you]

• You made your bed. Now you gotta… [lie in it].

• Karma’s a… Okay, don’t say that. We’re in church.

These are all different ways to say: You get what you… [deserve].

If you’re like me, there’s a dark part of me that actually likes when somebody gets what they deserve. If I’m driving along, like a law-abiding citizen, going the speed limit-ish, and I guy zooms past me in a tuned-up Honda Civic, weaving through traffic. Then I see that same guy pulled over by the cops a few miles down the road, there’s a part of me that gets… really, ridiculously happy. Because he got what he deserved.

I like it when somebody gets what they deserve… except when it’s me. I don’t want to get what I deserve.

Let’s look at that second criminal again. He said, “We’re punished justly, for we are getting what we deserve.” But then he looks at Jesus and says, “This man, Jesus, has done nothing wrong.”

Then watch what this criminal, who’s aware of his own sin, does. He turns to Jesus and says, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

And Jesus turned to him and said… “Nah. Sorry, buddy, you’re going to hell.” No, that’s not what he said. He didn’t say, “Sorry, after the way you’ve lived, what you did, you’ve gone too far. It’s too late for you.” Jesus didn’t say anything like that.

Let me tell you what Jesus did say, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” And in case you’ve forgotten, let me remind you WHO he said that to.

• He said that do a criminal who couldn’t do a single thing to earn his right standing with God.

• He said it to a person who couldn’t serve others because his hands were nailed to a cross.

• He couldn’t turn over a new leaf because his feet were bound.

• He couldn’t read Scripture

• Couldn’t get baptized

• Couldn’t join a church

• Couldn’t give an offering

• He couldn’t even lift his hands in worship

• He couldn’t do a single thing to earn his right standing with God.

And Jesus looked at this guilty, sinful, but repentant man and said, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” But what a minute, that’s not fair. He doesn’t deserve that. You’re right. But that’s the good news of the gospel.

He doesn’t deserve that. You don’t deserve that. I definitely don’t deserve that. And that is the very definition of grace.

Ephesians 2 describes this better than anywhere else in Scripture.

“1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins… Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Jesus Christ did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. Our God is that good. He loves us that much. He is that rich in mercy.

And thank God we don’t get what we deserve. You know the darkness inside your heart. I certainly know what’s in mine. We know what we really deserve.

But God’s mercy is not giving us what we deserve. And God’s grace is giving us what we don’t deserve.

And we don’t deserve Easter. But God gives it to us anyway.

• We deserve crucifixion. God gives us resurrection.

• We deserve Friday. God gives us Sunday.

• We deserve utter darkness. God gives us his abundant light.

• We deserve death. God gives us life.

We don’t deserve Easter. But God… because of his great love for us… because he is rich in mercy… because of his abundant grace… he offers to make you alive with Christ on this Easter Sunday morning. That is the true gift of Easter.

And just like that criminal, there is nothing you could do to earn Jesus’ forgiveness. There’s nothing you can do to resurrect yourself. All you just need to say:

• I am guilty

• I need your forgiveness

• I need healing

• I want the peace

• I want the joy

• I feel dead inside. I wanna feel alive.

• Jesus, remember me in your kingdom.

If that’s you, I want you, right now, to say, “Resurrect me, Lord. I don’t deserve it, but you give it anyway.”

We don’t deserve Easter. But, thank God he gives it to us anyway.