”Truly, this was the Son of God” Pastor Jamey Houghton, March 28, 2026

Hello and welcome to church. We're so

glad that you were able to join us here

at the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church for our worship time. I hope that

your time is blessed. I hope the music

blesses your soul. I hope the message

touches your heart. And if if it does,

we would be honored if you would share

this content with somebody else so they

can be blessed as well. We're so glad

that you can be a part of our online

church here at McDonald Road and hope

that you are blessed in your worship

together with us today. God bless and

enjoy our worship service.

Good morning and happy Sabbath, church

family.

>> It's good to see you. This is the first

third service at McDonald Road. So,

welcome to the third service here. Uh

we've had uh some great worship in the

first two services and so this is kind

of a big transition for our church here.

But so glad that you are here to worship

with us today.

Um we will be doing kind of a two-part

series as we look at uh the death and

resurrection of Jesus here this week and

next week. A very special time to look.

We're also going to be having uh

communion service this coming Friday

night. would like to invite you to uh to

join us for that as well.

It's interesting to look at the history

of religion and how people worship.

There's a wide variety of how people

have worshiped both the God of heaven

and a variety of other gods and idols

and and uh different different deities

that they've worshiped. and you see some

bizarre turns and sometimes those

bizarre turns will jump across the lines

of denomination and even the gods that

people worship. For instance, back in

Egypt, which was known for having a wide

variety of deities, one of their deities

was Isis, and I believe this was the god

of the underworld, if I'm not mistaken.

The followers, the devout followers of

this god had a practice where they would

take whips and whip themselves on the

back.

Self flagagillation is what it was

called. And it was a a a whip that that

sometimes they would tie on little

shards of of sharp like glass or things

like that or pottery so that it would

make them bleed. And the whole idea was

to be able to somehow make up for the

mistakes that they had made over the

last year or month or whatever it was.

We see this all the way fast forward to

modern times. I remember being uh living

over in Asia and I I was we were

visiting another country and we saw

people doing the same exact thing in a

totally different religion where they

were inflicting self harm as a way to

make up for the sins of their last year.

very disturbing if you see it where

people are physically harming themselves

as a way to deal with the things that

they have done wrong over the last year.

This was something that came up also in

the middle ages in about 1260. There

were groups of people that felt the need

to suffer in order to better deal with

the sins that they had committed. And

they would go, they were known as

flagagulants. And they would go from

town to town whipping themselves

publicly in the different towns and kind

of sharing the need for people to do

this. Surprisingly, you wouldn't think

this would be a very popular thing that

people would convert to and join. But

people would join in and they would all

join themselves whipping and going

through different villages and whipping

themselves on the back until they bled.

Eventually the the middle a church of

the middle ages uh frowned on this and

tried to put a stop to it. But then

eventually that same church ended up

embracing this later on to the point

where they have a a a subgroup within

the uh the Catholic church called Opus

Day. And Opus Day some of their

congregants will whip themselves.

Someone came up to me uh years ago, one

of my church members, and she handed me

a box and she said, "I've got something

for you." And I said, "Okay, what is

it?" She says, "Open it up." And I

opened it up and it was a whip.

I was like,

"This is unusual." And she said, "No,

this is a whip that people use in Opus

Day to whip themselves on the back." And

I was like, "Wow, I don't know what I'm

going to do with this, but but it's

really interesting to see it." It was

just it was just bizarre to think that

someone would take that today and whip

themselves on the back. Pope John Paul

II was known to do this and to whip

himself. In fact, it was in a BBC

article in the 80s where the article

said, "Pope John Paul II grew up in an

era where bodily punishment was seen as

pious and the possibility that he may

have engaged in it will aid in the

campaign for his beatification." It

continues and says, "The Vatican body

which decides these matters, the

Congregation of the Causes of Saints,

would regard this as a sign of his

religious commitment.

Just east of Naples, Italy, every seven

years, there's a religious procession

that dates back to the 17th century

where they whip themselves until they

bleed seeking forgiveness." You can see

pictures of this online. I decided not

to put those pictures up on the screens

today because it's pretty it's pretty

bizarre and disturbing,

but people will still do this today.

Humans have felt the need for centuries

to account for their sins and their

wrongdoings.

There is something within humanity that

knows there has to be an atonement for

their sins.

People have gone on pilgrimages, paid

money, harmed themselves, all in an

effort to cancel their sins and to ease

their guilty conscience.

But there isn't enough that we can do on

our own to deal with the sin problem.

>> Amen.

>> We're not capable of it.

We don't have the merits to cancel sin.

But that's why Jesus came.

>> Amen. Because Jesus knows how to handle

the sin problem. Sin has wre havoc on

this planet. Every person sitting here

has dealt with some type of the effects

of sin, disappointment, pain in your

life. Every single one of us have dealt

with struggles in our lives because of

the fall of man.

And Jesus saw the need for

an intercessor to deal with this sin, to

take the responsibility for this sin so

that we would have a chance to be able

to be saved.

The mission of Jesus coming to this

earth was to deal with the sin problem

and save us from the ownership of those

sins by substituting himself on our

behalf. Now, sometimes and and many

preachers in in uh the Middle Ages

especially, but all the way up into the

uh um the early 1900s, many preachers

would would um assume and preach that

because we were sinners, Jesus didn't

have any time for us and that we had to

clean up our lives before we came to

Jesus.

That's not how grace works. That's not

how Jesus works.

In Desire of Ages, page 24 that goes

along the story of Jesus, the author

says, "Since Jesus came to dwell with

us, we know that God is acquainted with

our trials and sympathizes with our

griefs. Every son and daughter of Adam

may understand that our creator is the

friend of sinners."

>> Now, Jesus doesn't wink at sin. He

doesn't ignore sin. He takes us and

changes us and cleanse us. Cleanses us

from those sinful ways. He doesn't leave

us in despair. He changes us and makes

us new.

>> That's the beauty of the grace of Jesus.

But I love it where the author says he

is a friend of sinners.

Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin

Romans 6:23

is death, but the gift of God is eternal

life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The

heavenly plan was for Jesus in his love

for you to take the wages of your sins

and my sins

on himself so that you and I could have

eternal life in heaven someday.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

chapter 27. We're going to look at the

last moments of the life of Jesus.

We see the prophecies in the Old

Testament about the arrival of the

Messiah. We see those prophecies

fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. We see

throughout the gospels the story of

Jesus. We see his hands reaching out to

do good and healing people, touching the

lepers, healing the blind man, healing

the lame.

The miraculous story of Jesus and his

saving grace throughout the gospels is

one of the most inspiring parts of all

the Bible. And we see as Jesus at the

end of his ministry comes to to the

culmination of his mission here. It's

really actually kind of hard to read

through.

It's tough to read through the

crucifixion scene.

If anybody's ever read through uh any of

Roger Morno's books or seen his his

testimony, Roger Morno would read

through this every single day

as a way to process and to appreciate

the gift of grace in his life. I think

it's a great suggestion.

It is still hard to read through though,

to read through about how people are

spitting on my Jesus,

about how people are mocking my Jesus,

about how people crucify my Jesus.

That's hard to read.

The Jesus who came for me being mocked

and ridiculed. That's hard to read. But

I'm so glad he came. And here in verse

32, we see the story says, 'Now as they

came out, they found a man ofSirene,

Simon by name. Him they compelled to

bear his cross. And when they had come

to a place called Golgtha, that is to

say, the place of the skull, they gave

him sour wine mingled with g to drink.

But when he had tasted it, he would not

drink it. Why would he not drink this?

By the way,

Jesus needed clarity of mind.

And I would suggest to you that as we

deal with sin and temptation in our

lives, we also need clarity of mind and

should not cloud our minds with anything

that goes into our bodies, including

alcohol. And here Jesus turns it away

when he realizes what's in it. He needs

clarity of mind now more than ever. And

I would suggest to you that we need the

same in the world that we live in. Amen.

>> Says verse 35, "Then they crucified him

and divided his garments, casting lots,

that it might be fulfilled, which was

spoken by the prophet. They divided my

garments among them, and for my clothing

they cast lots. Sitting down, they kept

watch over him there, and they put up

over his head the accusation written

against him. This is Jesus, king of the

Jews." Then two robbers were crucified

with him, one on the right, and another

on the left, as if he was the chief of

sinners in the middle.

Hard to imagine

Mary, the mother of Jesus, being there,

seeing this happen to her son.

It's hard to imagine what it was like

for the disciples as they were there,

seeing this happen to Jesus.

Hard to imagine what this was like for

anyone who was in the crowd who had been

healed by Jesus

to see him up on the cross

posted between two sinners.

Now, this next section, starting in

verse 39, you hear wording that is

awfully familiar if you studied the

story of Jesus

coming from those around the cross

accusing him.

Listen to the words and see if you hear

anything familiar

that people are saying to Jesus as he's

hanging on the cross. Verse 39 it says,

"And those who passed by blasphemed him,

wagging their heads and saying, you who

destroy the temple and build it in three

days, save yourself. If you are the son

of God, come down from the cross." Did

you catch that part? If you are the son

of God, come down from the cross and

save yourself. Has there been anywhere

else in the Bible where you've heard

someone say to Jesus, "If you are the

son of God,

>> Satan where?" And that when he was being

tempted in the wilderness, right?

The same exact temptations, the same

exact words we hear at the foot of the

cross. If you are the son of God, come

down from the cross. Likewise, the chief

priests also mocking with the scribes

and elders said, he saved others.

Himself he cannot save. If he is the

king of Israel, let him now come down

from the cross, and we will believe him.

He trusted in God. Let him deliver him

now if he will save him. For he said, I

am the son of God. Even the robbers who

were crucified with him reviled him with

the same thing.

Very familiar the words that we see

around the cross, aren't they? Now, I

think I think someday

when we get to heaven, we're going to

recognize our guardian angel's voice or

face maybe even. I think when we get to

heaven, we're going to hear our guardian

angel say, "Welcome to heaven." And

you're going to be like, "I know your

voice. Where do I know your voice from?"

from and he'll be like remember that one

time you'll be like that was you? The

Bible says that angels can be in human

form. Remember it says beware to

entertain strangers because you might be

entertaining angels without knowing it.

That means angels can show up

looking like people and you don't even

know it. That blows my mind.

That really blows my mind. Maybe you'll

show up in heaven and somebody an angel

you'll see an angel and for a quick

second they'll change faces and you'll

be like I know that face too.

They were a person at the gas station

that helped me out when I you know

whatever. I believe God sends his angels

to minister to us. And the Bible says

that

if it's possible for good angels to do

this and the Bible says that Lucifer can

change himself into an angel of light

and pretend to be an angel of light, we

know that in the Bible spiritualism is

talked about that that fallen angels can

impersonate the dead, right? So it would

make sense that fallen angels could also

impersonate those that are alive, right?

We hear these same accusations against

Jesus word for word almost with the

beginning. If you are the son of God,

listen to what the author says in Desire

of Ages page 749. She says this, "If you

are the son of God, they said come down

from the cross. Let him save himself if

he is the Christ, the chosen of God." In

the wilderness of temptation, Satan had

declared, "If you are the son of God,

command that these stones become bread.

If you are the son of God, throw

yourself down from the pinnacle of the

temple. And Satan with his angels in

human form were present at the cross.

The arch fiend and his host were

cooperating with the priests and rulers.

Christ who could have come down from the

cross. But it is because he would not

save himself that the sinner has hope of

pardon and favor with God.

>> Because Jesus saw it all the way

through. We can have hope in a future.

Jesus handled those same temptations

from the same people,

the same fallen angels around the cross.

Picture in your mind what it's like

around the cross at this time. The eyes

of the universe are on this place.

Probably every angel that's ever been

created, every being that's ever been

created has its eyes on Golgtha.

I doubt any time in the great

controversy between good and evil has

there ever been a time when both sides

were so focused on one place.

In Desire of Ages, page 754, it says,

"God and his holy angels were beside the

cross. The father was with the son, yet

his presence was not revealed."

Jesus couldn't tell. And that's why he

says in verse 46, "My God, my God, why

have you forsaken me and yet God was

close by?

The heavenly angels were close by."

Picture in your mind what this looks

like around the cross. Fallen angels

inspiring the crowd.

Holy angels

surrounding the cross, the father close

by.

Jesus says, "My God, my God, why have

you forsaken me?" Verse 47 says, "Some

of those who stood there when they heard

that said, this man is calling Elijah."

Immediately one of them ran and took a

sponge and filled it with sour wine and

put it on a reed and offered him to

drink. The rest said, "Let him alone.

Let us see if Elijah will come and save

him."

And there is Jesus is hanging on the

cross.

He cries out with a loud voice

and it says he yielded up his spirit

and there hangs on the cross

the son of God.

A lot happens just after this. Even

in verse 51, it says, "Then behold, as

soon as Jesus dies, at the very next

verse, it says, "Behold, the veil of the

temple was torn in two from the top to

the bottom. The earth quaked and the

rocks were split.

All kinds of stuff starts to happen as

soon as Jesus dies."

As they're looking around, rocks are

just seemingly to explode, just cracking

in half.

The ground is literally shaking.

And over in the temple, the curtain that

divides the holy place from the most

holy place is torn. Not from the bottom

to the top. So anyone could say, "Oh, a

human did this." From the top to the

bottom. This was a God thing. Because

the type had met the antitype.

No longer did they need to sacrifice a

lamb in order to be forgiven because the

lamb of God had just been sacrificed.

And he now was worthy to take care of

the sin problem in this world.

As I was reading through this, I thought

to myself, you know what? with all of

the forces of evil around there as well.

This could not have gone by unnoticed.

When this when this curtain was torn

from top to bottom, the fallen angels

must have looked at this and thought,

"Oh no,

we've failed."

Because his mission has been successful.

He is able now to extend grace and

forgiveness

to the human race.

He has been accepted as the lamb.

He's achieved what he came to come to to

earth to do.

There's no need for the temple, for the

holy place, the most holy place. And in

in God doing this,

he's showing that his presence is no

longer there in that most holy place.

This was a big deal, a huge deal because

if you read in the Old Testament, the

high priest was the only one that could

go into the most holy place once a year.

And it's fascinating to read how they

did this and how how important and how

holy this place was with the presence of

God there. The Bible says they would tie

a rope around the high priest's ankle as

he went in in case he had some

unforgiven sin or there was some sin he

was harboring that he went in there and

sin could not exist in the presence of

God.

And if he happened to be struck down

dead in there, they could pull him out

by the rope around his foot. You can

read about that in the Bible.

This is this is the reverence that they

had for the for the most holy place. And

so as the priests are in there and all

of a sudden the curtain is torn and they

can see into the most holy place, that

must have shook up some priests.

>> Amen.

as the presence of God is no longer

there in that most holy place. The need

to sacrifice a lamb was no longer

necessary as the lamb of God had just

been slain for the sins of this world.

Now, as that happens, the earth is

quaking, rocks are split, and verse 52,

we get a little bit more of a picture as

to what's going on. And this this uh

this is wild.

It says, "And the graves were opened,

and the bodies of the saints who had

fallen asleep were raised. Coming out of

their graves after the resurrection,

they went into the holy city and

appeared to many."

This is wild.

Can you imagine living there at that

time and seeing this? And second of all,

which of the saints were raised?

I would love to know a list of all the

names that were raised in case we

recognize any of those names from the

Bible.

And when it says the saints, some of the

saints were raised, I hope so bad that

John the Baptist was one of them. Amen.

>> That God took his head and put it back

on his shoulders and said, "Go preach."

And that would have everybody's

attention in the whole town with John

the Baptist coming and saying, "I'm

back.

Here's the message you need to hear."

Can you imagine if John the Baptist came

back

and the powerful preaching that he would

have with his head reattached to his

shoulders? Even death can't stop me.

What a time to be alive, huh? As you see

God doing incredible things.

Verse 54.

So when the centurion and those with him

who were guarding Jesus saw the

earthquake and the things that had

happened, they feared greatly, saying,

"Truly, this was the son of God."

Even as Jesus is being crucified,

there's something about him that appeals

to the sinner where they know there's

hope in this man. A rough

battlecard Roman soldier takes a knee at

the cross and acknowledges Jesus

as his Lord and Savior.

John 15:13 it says, "Greater love has no

John 15:13

one than this than to lay one's life

down for his friends."

Jesus laid his life down for you.

He took any responsibility that you and

I would have for our sins and offered to

take them on his shoulders.

This is why the judgment is not scary at

all.

Because our advocate is Jesus. The judge

is Jesus.

And when Jesus says, "Hey, Jamie Hton's

here." And the accuser says, "Yeah, but

don't you know this?" Jesus says he's

repented of those sins. I take

responsibility for those sins. He's

covered by the grace that I paid for and

earned the right to give to him on the

cross. And that same thing is for you.

The Bible says if we confess our sins,

that is the only thing you have to do.

You don't have to go on a pilgrimage.

You don't have to whip your back.

You don't have to count prayer beads 45

times.

All you have to do is come to Jesus

and say, "Jesus,

I'm sorry. Please cover me with your

grace."

And the Bible promises that you are

forgiven.

>> Amen.

>> And because of that, you can stand in

judgment with your head held high. I'm

with him.

>> And the accuser has nothing on you.

Jesus stepped in your place in front of

the bullet as it were

and took the punishment for sin that we

deserved on himself.

Greater love has no one than this than

to lay one's life down for his friends.

One of the highest

honors that can be given in the military

is the Medal of Honor. And if you've

never been down to the Medal of Honor

Museum down in in Chattanooga, right by

the aquarium, you should go check it

out. It's a great museum.

In 2006, at age 19, there was a young

gentleman in the army serving in

Baghdad, Iraq,

who manned a 50 caliber machine gun and

a turret on a Humvey.

And there was a crew of four down in the

Humvey driving and and keeping security.

and he was up on top with the 50 cal.

And on December 4, while his platoon was

on mounted patrol, a grenade was thrown

into his vehicle,

he shouted a warning to the other four

men down below in the vehicle so they

could prepare for the blast.

When one of the men responded that they

could not see where the device had

landed,

this young man had two choices.

He could either bail and jump out

of the turret on top and save himself

or he could drop down into the Humvey

where he knew where the explosive was,

jump on it himself and save his four

friends. Young 19-year-old young man.

And he had just a split second to make

this choice.

In those

fastmoving moments, he decided to drop

down inside that Humvey

because he knew that if he didn't go in

there, all four of his buddies were

probably going to die.

He dropped down into it, abandoned his

gun, and jumped straight on that

explosive with his torso.

The explosion killed him instantly,

but all four of his buddies in that

Humvey

lived.

He was honored with the Medal of Honor

by the president. He's buried in

Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

He was one of five soldiers

in the Iraq War

who selflessly jumped on grenades

and were killed to save their buddies.

It is one of the most honorable things

you can do to selflessly save somebody

else at your own personal risk.

And it was out of love

for each one of you that Jesus did that

same exact thing for you

and stepped in on our behalf

to save each one of us so that we could

be in heaven with him someday. He says,

"I go to prepare a place for you." He's

counting on you being there in heaven

someday. He came down here and made a

way for you and me.

And more than anything, he wants you to

be there someday.

In Romans 5'8, it says, "But God shows

his love for us and that while we were

still sinners, Christ died for us." One

of the most famous verses in the Bible,

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world

John 3:16

that he gave his only son that whoever

believes in him should not perish, but

have eternal life."

All he asks is that you believe in who

he says he is and what he says he can

do. And he says he can handle your sin

problem and mine if we will just come to

him.

Ask for that forgiveness and accept his

grace in return.

That is how we can be saved.

So many people think that they have to

do something

to assist Jesus in this salvation.

Jesus is enough.

>> His sacrifice was enough for you and I.

Today friends,

I want to invite you to

consider accepting Jesus' grace in your

life if there's been a need for that.

If there's been a time in your life

recently where you felt like you've

drifted away or there's something in

your life where you think it shouldn't

be there and you know it shouldn't be

there and your conscience has been

bothering you. That's been the Holy

Spirit pricking your conscience. And I

want to invite you today to take that to

the Lord and make it right and ask for

forgiveness because Jesus promises to

extend grace to you for whatever it is

that you struggle with.

And you can walk forward with a clean

conscience and a newness of life that

will be the best fresh start you've ever

had. There's a song that we're going to

sing as we close that talks about this.

I invite our worship team to come up and

lead us. The song is I will sing of my

redeemer and his wondrous love for me.

On the cruel cross he suffered from the

curse to set me and you free.

Sing, oh sing of my redeemer. With his

blood he purchased me. On the cross he

sealed my pardon, paid the debt and made

me free. Those are words for each and

every one of us. And as we sing those in

closing, may our hearts go out in

gratitude to our loving Savior who did

all of this just for you and me. Let's

stand as we sing our closing song.

Father in heaven, Lord, today we are

grateful for your gift of grace to us.

Lord, help us even in our hesitation to

come boldly to the throne of grace and

ask for forgiveness and mercy. And we're

so grateful, Lord, that you offer that

grace to us

and promise us

that when we accept that grace, we are

heaven bound.

And so Lord, be with each person here.

Help them as well to come boldly to the

throne of your grace and accept that

grace and forgiveness in their life.

Lord, we are so anxious to go home and

to be with you in heaven. We're so glad

that we have a place already reserved

with our name on it. You've promised to

to prepare a place for each one of us

and we're so grateful and that you are

anticipating us coming. Lord, help us to

remain faithful to you until you come to

take us home. And we're so grateful

today, God, that we're one Sabbath

closer to being with you in heaven. In

Jesus name I pray. Amen.

>> Amen.

>> Hello and w Thanks so much for joining

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