Jesus entered our world as a human being, and his passion to draw near to us in this way exposed our greatest dilemma: that we are alienated from our King and our God. Jesus’ passion to die on the cross went even further in proving our guilt. Every human being is a sinner in need of forgiveness from God. And we can’t get there on our own. But there is hope for that, however faint we may think it is, because his passion didn’t end with his coming or his death but became a realized hope on the morning of the third day when he rose from the dead. That was his passion. And it resulted in the offer of salvation to all who would believe.

If you missed the Palm Sunday opener to this series, you could watch that on our YouTube channel or in the sermon archive. Be sure to join us on Good Friday for message two and on Easter Sunday for the exciting conclusion.

Series: His Passion. My Salvation
Todd Dugard
Message: 2 – Forgiven By His Defeat On The Cross
Harvest Bible Chapel
Text: Matthew 27:32-61
April 18, 2025

Jesus’ passion to die proves my guilt.

The posted sign on the cross proves my guilt:
“This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (v. 32-40)

Isaiah 53:12

The claim he made proves my guilt:
“I am the Son of God” (v. 41-44)

The words he spoke from the cross prove my guilt:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (v. 45-50)

This is no dispassionate theological statement, but an agonizing expression of a real sense of alienation.
R. T. France

Jesus is conscious of being abandoned by the Father. For one who knew the intimacy of, ‘no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son,’ such abandonment must have been agony.
D. A. Carson

The shocking events that day prove my guilt:
“Truly, this was the Son of God” (v. 51-54)

The faint hope of the women proves my guilt:
“Looking on from a distance…sitting opposite the tomb” (v. 55-61)

Matthew 20:18-19