{"id":552,"date":"2023-04-20T14:09:09","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T14:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chuckhilltoday.com\/?page_id=552"},"modified":"2025-12-15T20:36:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T20:36:39","slug":"his-passion","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chuckhilltoday.com\/index.php\/his-passion\/","title":{"rendered":"HIS PASSION"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

His Passion! \u00a0–\u00a0Unreasonable: Series – Message #1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah 53:7-12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For centuries now, there has been an ancient custom or practice within the church that would take place when one Christian would meet up with another Christian. This practice was that of stating or reciting a declaration about their faith which has it\u2019s roots in this very day we are celebrating today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The practice was where one believer would declare, \u201cHe is risen!\u201d and the other person would reply, \u201cHe is risen, indeed!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we are going to talk about the cross and the price Jesus paid for our sin\u2026but I want to make it clear as I begin\u2026the real power to this day is that Jesus came out of the grave after just 3 days to prove to the world that He was the Messiah, the promised one who gave his life and became the savior of the world. And we know this, because…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is risen!\u201d (\u201cHe is risen indeed!\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, this morning I am beginning a new series of messages entitled: UNREASONABLE! And I\u2019ve called it that because\u2026honestly, God is unreasonable! And this is a series about getting to know Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, before any of you begin to get an attitude with me for calling God \u2013 UNREASONABLE. Let me take you to the dictionary to enlighten you as to the definition of the word!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Merriam-Webster\u2019s Dictionary\u00a0defines \u201cunreasonable\u201d as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot governed by or acting according to reason; exceeding the bounds of reason or moderation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this series of messages, we are going to explore the nature and character of God. A God who exceeds the bounds of our human ability to reason\u2026He is clearly a God who is not governed by or acts according to the limitations we would place upon him by our finite and human minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is in short \u2013unreasonable! Here\u2019s the thing though\u2026when I was preparing for this series, I discovered something I never knew. I had always thought of \u201cunreasonable\u201d as someone who was hard-headed or determined\u2026someone who had made up their mind and was unwilling to listen to others. But here\u2019s what I found when I examined this word \u2013 unreasonable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One synonym for the word \u201cunreasonable\u201d is the word: Extravagant!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Webster\u2019s, someone who is \u201cunreasonable\u201d may be someone who is simply \u201cextravagant\u201d in the way they live \u2013 or give. Someone who is over the top. Someone who seems to operate outside the box. Someone who goes beyond and does more than we could ever imagine for us. That kind of person is \u201cextravagant\u201d \u2013 or, if you will: UNREASONABLE!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I submit to you this today that our God is much more complex than any of us have ever begun to understand. He is over the top in how He cares for us and the way He gives to us. He operates outside the box that most of us would put Him in\u2026and according to\u00a0Ephesians 3:20,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>God can do anything, you know\u2014far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ephesians 3:20 (MSG)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next 7 weeks we are going to discover just who God is and the way He works within our lives. And undoubtedly, there will be many moments where you are just completely caught off guard by the depth of His love and card. Because He always exceeds the bounds of our reason and cares for us (His creation) in extravagant ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first 6 weeks of this series we are going to use this cross beside me as a focal point to bring some insight into His nature. And with each week, we will uncover one of the six pictures which we have chosen to communicate His unreasonable nature. And they will surprise you \u2013 so you don\u2019t want to miss any week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, this morning we have uncovered the center picture to the cross\u2026because it is the hinge of our faith! It is the lynch-pin to all that we believe. The central picture to our faith is the picture of our savior. It is Jesus himself. Fully God and yet, somehow \u2013 fully man!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are convinced of this. We believe this to be true. Jesus was God. As we stated in the opening moments of this service this morning,\u00a0We Believe\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We believe that the Lord Jesus accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where, as our High priest, He fulfills the ministry as Representative, Intercessor and Advocate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 And, that\u2019s what this day; Easter Sunday 2009 is all about! Toda we celebrate the FACT that our Lord and Savior \u2013 our Redeemer, Jesus the Christ lives!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folks, Jesus is God. And it is Jesus that makes all the difference in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0apostle Paul\u00a0would put it this way in\u00a0Colossians 1:18-20. He wrote,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChrist is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ\u2019s blood on the cross.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colossians 1:18-20 (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus and God are one. But today, we have come together to remember \u2013 to commemorate the day that Jesus (who having given his life on the cross, died and was put in a grave\u2026didn\u2019t stay there, but rather) rose again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the most important day in the entire year for the church \u2013 for believers in Christ. This is the day that Jesus demonstrated His\u00a0extravagant power\u00a0and overcame death \u2013 by rising again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I heard a funny story this week about a pastor who was speaking to a group of second-graders about the resurrection of Jesus. And while talking, one of the little boys raised his hand and asked, “Pastor, what did Jesus say right after He came out of the grave?”<\/em> Well, the pastor was a bit caught off guard. And so he simply said, \u201cWell, son\u2026to tell you the truth, I\u2019m not sure what He said.\u201d<\/em> And to that, a little girl raised her hand and said, “I know what He said pastor: He said, \u2019Tah-dah!\u2019”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, there\u2019s probably a lot of truth to that answer \u2013 because this is the day we celebrate where Jesus surprised everyoneby coming back from the dead and walking out of His grave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just saying it like that almost makes it seem very simple. But it wasn\u2019t. It was anything by simple or small or easy. This was death\u2026and not just any death \u2013 but death by the cross. It was one of the most painful and most inhumane was of dying this world has ever known.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Old Testament\u00a0prophet Isaiah\u00a0would write about this \u2013 in sort of a foreshadowing way and say,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off\u2014 and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStill, it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it\u2014life, life, and more life. And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah 53:7-10 (MSG)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you catch that? In\u00a0verse 10,\u00a0Isaiah writes that this whole thing wasn\u2019t some accident that just happened because Jesus ticked off the wrong people. He says, that this whole thing was God\u2019s idea! It was what He had planned since the beginning of time. None of this caught Him off guard\u2026it all worked out just as He had expected and planned that it would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look with me again at\u00a0verse 10. It says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it\u2014life, life, and more life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah 53:10 (MSG)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this brings us to the question of why? Because I have to tell you \u2013 this whole thing seems a bit over the top to me. And it drives us to this thought that God is really \u201cunreasonable\u201d, but not in a good way. Maybe God is being unreasonable by being \u201chard-headed\u201d and stubborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you will allow me, I\u2019d like to unpack this thought of God\u2019s passion. This whole thing of Jesus dying and rising again was rooted in God\u2019s passion for you and me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me begin by going back to the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\u00a0Genesis 1 & 2\u00a0the story of life unfolds as God creates everything \u2013 humanity included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And everything was going according to plan until Adam and Eve made the tragic mistake of disobeying God. They broke faith with Him by taking what was not theirs. They embraced the fruit from the tree of \u201cGood and Evil\u201d and in doing so, sent all mankind into a tale-spin of sorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their one decision to go around God\u2019s direction cost them everything. They were expelled from the Garden and forced to toil and labor for everything they had. Where once all was provided \u2013 now it would take great effort and pain to provide for their family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sin cost them everything \u2013 it has cost us everything\u2026and eventually, it would end up costing God everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just so that you understand the seriousness and far reaching nature of their sin, Paul would write to the ancient church in Rome and say in\u00a0Romans 3:23,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God\u2019s glorious standard.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 3:23 (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, none of us are exempt. We are all tainted by the issue of sin. Everyone of us are guilty. We have all fallen way short of God\u2019s amazing standard for our lives. And because of that, a price had to be paid. Or as Paul would put it in\u00a0Romans 6:23,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the wages of sin is death\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 6:23 (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s really where this story comes full circle\u2026the wages of sin has always been death. And from the time of Adam and Eve, death has occurred \u2013 in many ways, and on many levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n