DESCENDED
[1] WELCOME: Good morning. If you’re new with us I want to personally say thanks for making the time to spend with us. My name is Nic Cook and I’m one of the Pastors here at Cornerstone Community Church in Auburn IL. SERIES: We’re continuing our sermon series on THE CREED: WHAT WE BELIEVE today. Now I want to say that the last 2 weeks especially have been particularly hard. Take a culture that is frustrated and confused and ready to explode and then show the brutal murder of another human being and the whole thing erupts. [2]But the truth is, none of this is new. Racism, murder, hatred, indifference, poverty, corruption, arrogance: same story, new chapter. The only difference is we now have the internet and tiny computers and video cameras in our hands to instantly share what’s happening and to comment on it. And I have searched for a way to respond to it all. And I keep finding myself returning to the foundational truths of the Creed. [3]
I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and earth. The reason we are so outraged is because life is precious. There is an Almighty Creator God who made humanity. He lovingly shaped it with his own hands. It says we’re made in his image. That means we are inherently valuable and share some of his characteristics. But he’s a Father as well. We are loved deeply, and he wants to be close to us. But humanity when given a choice between loving, trusting, and obeying God, regularly chooses loving ourselves most, distrusting God, and rebelling against God and acting like we run and rule the world. And this world is the way it is because of sin in the heart of humanity. Sin is not some abstract ancient concept that can be explained away. It is a real spiritual cancer and disease that destroys everything. And Like we talked about last week, [4]God sent Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, who was conceived the Holy Spirit, meaning he was both human and fully God to live a perfect life. He didn’t give into racism, he didn’t give into hatred, he lived in poverty, he pushed back on arrogance, he exposed corruption. [5]And most of all, we are told that he died not for US GOOD PEOPLE, but for ALL OF US EVIL PEOPLE. Jesus suffered, and that word means he didn’t deserve it, we deserved it. And the cross is where we look to see just how horrible sin really is. Why is this world so broken? Look at the cross! Because our evil does that to both us and to others and separates us from God. The creed helps us make sense of what’s going on in our world. Why it is so broken. But it also helps us realize God didn’t stand idly by. He stepped in and not only experienced it, but he came to expose it and reverse it. The creed gives us direction on how to respond to the brokenness of this world. As we’ll be talking in the next few weeks about the Holy Spirit and the Church. So, on the cross we see the horror of our sin, but the cross also shows us
The beauty of our Savior. God loved us enough to take our punishment on himself. He didn’t lash out at us in anger, he took the lashes of anger. And the day Jesus was crucified we typically call it…[6]
· GOOD FRIDAY. And it’s a somber day. That even though it’s called Good Friday because our Good Savior rescued us from sin, it cost him his life. [7]And in the churches, I grew up in, we typically went from the darkness and sadness of Good Friday to the Light and Celebration of Easter Sunday. But the Creed makes us stop and realize that there was a time in between. [8]Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we have Silent Saturday or as the Creed says “He descended to the dead” So this morning I’d like for us to stand and say the creed together as an act of allegiance and a declaration of resistance and then we’ll dig into what that phrase means. [9-15]
(TEACH) JESUS AT WORK ON SILENT SATURDAY (God)
[16]CHANGING WORDS: For some of you who grew up hearing the creed said out loud in churches you have already noticed by now that we have chosen to say a couple things a little differently. And we’re not the only ones. Some Catholics say it one way. Some Eastern Orthodox Christians say it another. Some versions of the creed say he descended into Hell, He descended into the grave, and even today, because of my study I chose to modify it to he descended to the dead. And often words are modified because of misunderstandings or because words take on different meanings. But whatever words we use, we must make sure it lines up with God’s word so let’s take a look at what the Bible says about what happens after we die, specifically in regards to three different words…[17]
· SHEOL, HADES, & GEHENNA: Let’s start with [18]SHEOL. The most famous passage that talks about Sheol is [Ps. 16:10] The Original word for the phrase “among the dead” is Sheol. In the old testament, God had not revealed very much about what happened to a person after death. But over time the Jewish people began to talk about the waiting place of those who die before they are resurrected and experience judgement as a place called Sheol. [19]So simply put, it is the temporary waiting place of the dead. Now when Greek became the predominant language because of Alexander the Great conquered major parts of the world, it became important to help translate Hebrew into Greek. So they chose the word HADES. [20]HADES AND SHEOL SPEAK ABOUT THE SAME PLACE. To help us understand it a little better, let’s see how…
o JESUS SPOKE ABOUT HADES [21-30] [Lk. 16:19-31] Jesus describes two men who die and are buried. And Jesus says they are in hades, the waiting place of the dead. Now here is something important to note. [31]HADES IS ONE PLACE WITH TWO PARTS. There are those on one side of hades that are experiencing torment, and there are those on the other side that are experiencing comfort. Jesus says that there was a man who lived comfortably while he was alive and everyday walked past someone at his doorstep who was suffering. And they both die. And the man who experienced suffering found comfort and the one who had lived in comforted was now suffering. Both of them are in Hades, but they are having radically different experiences. I want to pause just a moment and say that I believe that Jesus is giving us a warning that…[32]
§ THE WAY YOU TREAT OTHERS IN THIS LIFE IS AN INDICATOR OF HOW YOU WILL BE TREATED IN THE NEXT. That should give us pause in light of everything that is going on right now. I’m not talking about Karma and being rewarded if you are good and punished if you are bad. I’m saying, if you truly love God, then you will love people like God does. If you are in a place of comfort and capable of easing the suffering of others, we need to ask “God, what would you have me do?” And if you ignore the suffering of those made in the image of God, it’s possible that you’re not paying attention to God either and that leads to an eternity away from him. Now Jesus also spoke of another place called…[33]
· GEHENNA: One day as Jesus was preaching, he said this [34-35][Lk. 12:4-5] The word translated Hell here is Gehenna. Gehenna was the name of a place outside of the city of Jerusalem. During certain times of history people had worshipped false gods there, they had offered their children as sacrifices. And eventually it became the city garbage dump and sewer. It was crawling with maggots and worms. And they were constantly starting fires to burn the garbage. [36]So, Gehenna was a physical PICTURE of the spiritual place of eternal torment we call Hell. A place outside of the city of God and it’s people and a place of suffering. The creed probably said descended to Hades originally. So let me be clear, Jesus descended to the temporary waiting place of the dead, not the eternal place of judgement reserved for those who reject Jesus. But a question you might have is [37]what was Jesus doing in Hades? Good question, I’m glad you asked. He was doing two things…[38]
· CONFIRMING THE FATE OF GOD’S ENEMIES: One of Jesus’ followers named Peter wrote this [39-40][1 Pet. 3:18-20] [41]He says that although Jesus’ body was laid in the tomb, he was at work preaching to those who had set themselves against God in the days of Noah. Now there is a lot of debate on whether these spirits are demons, or those of humans who denied God, or both. Noah had warned that Judgement was coming and they ignored him, but now they were seeing their judge directly and knew there was no hope. This is not purgatory where you work off your sin and end up in heaven. There is no such thing as purgatory. You get this life to listen and respond and then you must stand before Jesus. Jesus was confirming the fate of God’s enemies, but he was also…[42]
· CONFIRMING THE FAITH OF GOD’S PEOPLE: The writer of a book in our bible called Hebrews said this about the people who loved God and followed him in the times before Jesus…[43-46][Heb. 11:13-16] The people we read about in our bibles that came before Jesus but trusted and loved God like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, the prophets, didn’t get to see what all of their stories were pointing to…Jesus. But they loved God and worshipped him, so on Silent Saturday, when Jesus entered Hades, they finally got to see all of the promises that God had made face to face! Everything they had hoped for and longed for was finally coming true. And as we will celebrate next week, when Jesus Christ rose from the grave he…[47]
o JESUS PLUNDERED THE GRAVE AND OPENED THE GATES OF HEAVEN [Eph. 4:8-10] says… [48-51]When Jesus rose from the grave and ascended into heaven he led a humongous throng of people out of captivity. Jesus made a way from that point forward to no longer await to be in the presence of God, but to immediately pass from this life and into heaven. All those that had longed to see Jesus and be with him were now experiencing the joy they had been promised. Every believer since then that has chosen Jesus and given their lives to him have closed their eyes on earth, and have opened them in heaven. And as amazing as that can be for giving us hope for eternity, the question is, how does that change things here and now in the present? It changes everything because we can know that even…[52]
(APP) IN THE DARKNESS & SILENCE HE’S STILL WORKING (You)
SILENT SATURDAY is probably the darkest day in all of history. It is the day when it appeared like evil had one. The disciples were locked in their rooms, there was weeping and mourning. They couldn’t possibly understand how this could be part of God’s plan. I think they probably felt anger, disappointment, and numbness. But just because they couldn’t see Jesus at work doesn’t mean that he was defeated. Even in the Darkness and Silence Jesus is at work! He was confirming the judgement of God, and he was fulfilling his promises to his people, and he was about to split the grave wide open and lead a party into the presence of God.
· DESPITE HOW IT SEEMS RIGHT NOW, JESUS IS AT WORK! And I want to urge you, in light of Jesus’ teaching on what happens after this life to make some choices.
(INSPIRE) TRUST & OBEY (We)
[53]TRUST HIM WITH YOUR LIFE IN THIS LIFE: The reason we talk about what happens in the next life is because it should change the way we live in this life. The very first sermon preached after Jesus rose from the grave said “save yourselves!” Save yourselves from what? We need to be saved from wasting our lives. We need to be saved from destroying ourselves and others. We need to be saved from judgement for our sin after this life. So if you have not chosen to give your life to Jesus, this is an invitation. [54-59]John 3:16 says “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son, so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. “ but then it’s so important to go on because it says [Jn 3:17-20] Death comes for us all, and it’s not the end. What happens after you die is all about not about being good enough, it’s about giving your life to Jesus who is alone is both good and God! And if you have claimed to love Jesus, then…[60]
LOVE HIM BY LOVING OTHERS: Jesus was asked to summarize how we should live our lives. And he responded, love the lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength. AND love your neighbor as yourself. It is my deep hope, that out of this season in our lives and our nation, that the church will take the lead in showing the love of God by loving EVERYONE well. Not just because what we do in this life affects us in the next, but because how we love others now invites them to follow Jesus and join us with him in the next life.
Let’s pray. God, You have said that the gates of Hades will not prevail against your church. Help us trust that even in the darkness and silence, you are at work. Spirit, stir us into loving others as we have been loved. That you willingly went to the grave to rescue us, may we die to ourselves and follow your example of love. And we thank you for the promise of eternity with you! Amen!
