1. The Passion of Christ Why? How Do We Respond?

2. Why? Why does God Regenerate His people? Why is it that God Saves men? Why does God “remove our hearts of stone and replace them with a heart of flesh” Why does God, through Grace, Recreate us that we should be “born again”?

3. The Most Common Answer… God’s Love for Men

4. That Answer is …. Partially Correct, but is also Significantly… Incorrect

5. Correct…. Yet, Not Correct? Does God Love Men? Yes. Is God’s Love for men the PRIMARY reason that He saved certain men? No. Is there a greater reason for saving men? Yes.

6. The Biblical Answer…. Ezekiel 36:22 - 23 "Thus says the Lord God, It is not for your sake, house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name... And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name... and the nations will know that I am the Lord. It is not for your sake that I will act says the Lord God. Let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel."

7. Ezekiel 36:24-27 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

8. What was the Primary Motivation for Christ’s Passion? John 12:27-28 "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. [28 ] Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."

9. What was the Primary Motivation for Christ’s Passion? John 14:31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. John 17:1 "Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee."

10. Jesus Died on The Cross… As an Expression of His Love for His Father and to Display the Glory of God…. He did this by saving sinners who were unworthy Our salvation is a means to an end… the end being God the Son’s Displaying the Perfect Love, Mercy, and Grace of God

11. God’s Love For Man… God’s Love for us has nothing to do with our character, our attractiveness, or any other aspect of who we are. God’s love for us has nothing to do with us or who we are. God’s love for us has everything to do with Him, and who He is.

12. God’s Love For Man… The primary purpose of everything that God does is to display His own Glory. In accomplishing this end, His love, His mercy, and His Grace shower onto men. When God reveals His own Majesty, the result is His giving gifts beyond measure to men.

13. Thus, Good Friday and Easter… Are not about us…. They are about God Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world…

14. The Pattern of The World… Is to measure everything in terms of … MEN --- such is what the Bible calls… Idolatry

15. Remember…. Christ’s Love for His Father Sent Him to The Cross --- Where He Expressed His Love for God the Father by Saving You and I --- Displaying Perfect LOVE, Perfect SACRIFICE, Perfect GRACE

16. How Do We Respond? Regarding Ourselves: Be Humbled, Nothing in Christianity is About Us Regarding God: He is So Loving and so Full of Grace that as He Displays His Glory, He Infinitely Blesses us… Even When We Are Not the Point

17. How Do We Respond? Approach God in Prayer and in Life with Reverent Awe --- for He is INFINITE in Every Way

18. In Five Days…. We Commemorate Good Friday…. The Passion of Christ As we do so, Remember that we are not the Point…. He is Reverent Awe