Gladiator

Acts 13:26-41

Pre-Service Questions

1. Where does the Bible speak about Jesus? Demonstrate from the Old Testament.

2. How did condemning Jesus fulfill the promises of God? (V.27 calls this- “fulfilling the prophet’s words.”)

3. Explain to what the “good news” of Jesus’ resurrection refers.

4. Why does Jesus’ death and resurrection do something that Law of Moses could not do? (In other words, what is the difference between the Old and New Testaments of the Bible?)

5. Pray for our city- that the good news of Jesus would be preached to many that don’t know Him.

I’d like to explain to you this very strange sermon title you see today. Several weeks ago we started a sermon series on movies from Hollywood. If you were to look at many of the major motion pictures, if you were to listen carefully to the songs that you hear on the radio, if you paid careful attention to the books that you read, you would hear images of the greatest story ever told in human history. The story is that God steps into the human arena and rescues us from our sin.

Today we will look at one the most unlikely movies you may think of to have this message and it is the movie Gladiator. I want you to see through the movie Gladiator how God rescued us back and gave us eternal life.

We will be looking at the scripture Acts Chapter 13. This is Paul preaching at a very important city and he is describing how Jesus becomes the gladiator who enters the arena and does something for you that you can’t do for yourself. He purchases you back from your sin.

I want you to see how Jesus was rejected by everyone to include his own people.

I. Jesus was rejected by everyone.

²⁶ “Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also you God-fearing Gentiles—this message of salvation has been sent to us! ²⁷ The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath.

I want you to imagine that you lived 2000 years ago. I want to imagine that Jesus comes onto the scene. You see these incredible miracles that he does. You hear the earth-shattering message that Jesus says. He says, “I am the guy that you’ve been waiting for for thousands of years. I am the Son of God. ” He speaks to his own people. The apostle Paul tells us that the people, even the sons of Abraham (which by the way includes us), turn their back on him and rejected him. By saying this Paul lays the perfect ambush. He says, “You guys got up every Sunday and went to church. You heard the stories that the prophets told. You read the law and you should have been the very ones to recognize this guy Jesus as the rightful ruler, the Creator of heaven and earth. You are the ones who missed it.” Paul says the ones who should have recognized him most clearly are the ones who rejected him.

In the movie Gladiator the emperor of Rome who ruled over the entire world is about to hand the empire to a very unlikely person. I want you to watch this clip from the movie Gladiator.

The emperor of Rome, Marcus Arillius, realizes that the country has become corrupt because of sin and the only hope is to hand the leadership off to the person Maximus. The problem is that Arilllius has a son by the name of Claudius. Claudius will stop at nothing to become the leader of Rome even if it means killing its most popular general, Maximus.

When the apostle Paul preached this sermon thousands of years ago, all of the people that heard the message had already heard about Jesus and the miracles and his death. Paul is saying that you don’t recognize Jesus as Lord. By the way he would say the same thing to us today, that you don’t recognize Jesus as Lord of your life if he’s not calling the shots in your life. Then you too have rejected him and are just as guilty as those who called for Jesus to be killed on the cross thousand of years ago.

Jesus rejected by everyone, even those closest to him. I also want you to see that Jesus received your and my punishment for sin.

II. Jesus received your punishment for sin.

⁸ They found no legal reason to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway. ²⁹ “When they had done all that the prophecies said about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb.

The death that Jesus went through was the worst death that he could go through in his days. We’re not talking about dying in a car accident or contracting a disease. This is Jesus, in the most violent way possible, dying for our sins. It’s like him going to the electric chair for something that he didn’t do. The apostle Paul says that if we were there we would have been the ones crying out to crucify him because it was our sin that was the punishment that Jesus took on our behalf.

You should be asking yourself this question right now, if Jesus were truly the Son of God why would God allow His Son to die? The answer to that question is the center of Christianity. John MacArthur said, “Christ’s suffering on the cross is the focal point of Christianity”. It is the hub and until you understand that nothing else will make sense. Jesus’ deity and his humanity met at the cross. His perfection and our sin collided at the cross.

The man who is writing this message down for us to remember is a medical doctor. He tells us that the Roman officials were very efficient at killing on the cross. There is no question that he literally died and was placed in a tomb. He didn’t just pass out from the pain. Jesus was really dead and in a tomb for three days and he suffered the death that you and I deserve.

Jesus the rightful emperor of the universe became a slave so that you and I could become free from our sins. Watch this next clip from Gladiator.

Claudius sent General Maximus off to die because he believed by getting Maximus out of the equation he could do whatever he wanted. He could live any way that he wanted.

When the Pharisees celebrated Passover 2000 years ago there is no question that it was a big party. They were thinking, “We’ve got this guy, Jesus, out of our hair and now we can do whatever we want because the guy was claiming the authority of God is dead. He’s out of the picture.” If that were simply the case there is truth in that statement. If Jesus simply remained in the tomb then you and I can do whatever we want because there is no one to answer to after this life is over. But, if he rose again then you and I all have a problem because one of these days you and I will stand before Jesus as our righteous Judge.

I want you to see next that Jesus was raised from the dead to prove that he’s the Son of God.

III. Jesus was raised from the dead to prove he’s the Son of God.

³⁰ But God raised him from the dead! ³¹ And over a period of many days he appeared to those who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to the people of Israel. ³² “And now we are here to bring you this Good News. The promise was made to our ancestors, ³³ and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.’ ³⁴ For God had promised to raise him from the dead, not leaving him to rot in the grave. He said, ‘I will give you the sacred blessings I promised to David.’ ³⁵ Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’ ³⁶ This is not a reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed. ³⁷ No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.

Listen carefully – Buddha, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, Gandhi, George Washington, Napoleon, Genghis Kahn, Alexander the Great, Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale, your sweet old grandmother – it doesn’t matter how good they were, how powerful they were, how religious they were – when they died they all remained in the grave. Not so with Jesus! If Jesus dies and stays in the grave, he’s just another cult leader and you and I can do whatever we want. But, if he returns to life again it is the proof that he is not just the Son of God but he’s also God the Son. All of us will one day stand before him. God’s raising Jesus from the dead proved that he is more than just some moral teacher but he is the Son of God sent to change the eternal destiny of every human being that will ever walk on the face of the earth and place their faith in him and him alone to be made right with God.

The apostle Paul says that God has made this promise. The promise that he made is set in legal contract language. It is the kind of contract that you and your family can never get out of for the rest of your life. Paul said God had made a promise and is obligating himself to you if you will place faith in Jesus Christ. You will one day inherit the same thing that Jesus inherited – eternal life in the presence of God the Father if you turn to him in faith. He did it all because he raised his Son Jesus from the dead. The one who was dead came back to life.

Watch this last clip from the movie Gladiator.

Claudius is convinced that with Maximus out of the picture that he can do whatever he wants until he sees Maximus in the arena. When he sees Maximus in the arena, Claudius realized he had a problem. The truth is the same for you and I today. Let me take a line from the movie Gladiator. If Jesus is dead we can do whatever we want because there is no accountability after this life is over with. If Jesus rose again and is alive today, then what we do here echoes in eternity. All of us will one day stand before God and give an account to his Son Jesus. That’s exactly what Paul says when he wraps this passage up.

IV. Jesus’ resurrection demands a personal response.

³⁸ “Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. ³⁹ Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God—something the law of Moses could never do. ⁴⁰ Be careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said, ⁴¹ ‘Look, you mockers, be amazed and die! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.’”

You can’t ignore it. You can’t walk out of this room today and act like it’s no big deal. God doesn’t give you that option. The apostle Paul was urgent when he preached this message.

Let me give you a little bit of background on where he was standing when he was preaching this sermon. He’s standing is a city called Pisidian Antioch. The Greeks built this city many years before Paul stood there. It had a huge Roman aqueduct that ran through it which made it a very important Roman city. It had a massive Jewish population. Here’s what you really need to know. No kidding. True story. There was a very famous Roman general by the name of Maximus who was born in Pisidian Antioch. He was the commander of the Roman armies in Egypt and he served under the emperor by the name Claudius. Paul is saying there is a Gladiator who went into the arena and purchased you back from your sins and now you have a personal decision that you have to make. It’s not an option! I’m sure if he were standing here today, Paul would say, “Every single one of us, no matter where you came from, what color your skin is, or how bad you’ve messed up your life. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done.   Every one of us in this room can be transformed by the living God and his name is Jesus. He transforms you from the inside out. Jesus did something for you that you could never do for yourself. He purchased you back from your sin. Now you have a choice to make. That choice is what do you believe about Jesus.

I’m not a big fan of the group U2. I don’t think I have any of their music in my iTunes playlist. I’m not even a fan of the front man for the group, Bono. But, I think this guy understands Christianity. I stumbled across this clip this week of Bono and his faith in Jesus. Listen to this video.

He’s absolutely right. The truth is that Jesus came to declare to the world I am not just the Son of God but I am God the Son. The apostle Paul, when he was preaching this sermon, looked at the crowds and said, “Now you have a decision to make.” That’s the exact same thing that we are asking you today. We are not here asking you for your money today. We’re not asking you to join this church today. We’re not asking you to be baptized. All of that stuff can wait. The question that we want to ask you to answer is this…Do you believe that Jesus is who he said he was or not? Either you receive him as your Lord and he calls all the shots in your life or you reject him and walk out of here to one day stand before him as your righteous Judge.

The real meaning behind Easter is not chocolate bunnies, spring dresses, or colored eggs. It’s the living God who paid your price and my price for our sin, who was laid in the tomb, and three days later rose again. I want to challenge you before you walk out of here today to settle this issue once and for all. Don’t leave here without settling this issue.

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Post-Service Questions

1. Has Jesus really been rejected by the person who has never heard His name? (Explain your answer.)

2. Explain why the Jews had to ask Pilate to kill Jesus rather than doing it themselves.

3. What does the resurrection of Jesus demonstrate? (List as many answers as possible.)

4. Why does Jesus’ death and resurrection do something that Law of Moses could not do? (In other words, what is the difference between the Old and New Testaments of the Bible?)

5. Pray for our city – that the good news of Jesus would be preached to many that don’t know Him.