This twelve-part series outlines the “Vintage Jesus” sermons of Pastor Mark Driscoll. See part 1 here.

Click here to watch the sermon “What Did Jesus Accomplish on the Cross?”

5:25: A brief history of crucifixion

James B. Janknegt, Crucifixion at Barton Creek Mall, 1985. Acrylic on canvas, 96 x 48 in.

• Invented by the Persians c. 500 BC
• Perfected by the Romans
• Outlawed in the fourth century AD

9:18: A description of crucifixion

17:04: Bloody –> scourging, crowning, nailing

19:51: Shameful –> victims lose control of bodily functions

21:58: Public –> it would be as if Jesus were crucified in a shopping center parking lot

22:35: Isaiah’s prophecies about the crucified Christ

24:14: Thousands crucified, only one worshipped

“Tens of thousands of men have been crucified, but Jesus is the only one remembered and celebrated, because unlike everyone else, he was guiltless, and he was the God-man. We don’t know the names of these men; there is no religion for these men; there is no holiday for these men; there are not books written about these men; there aren’t songs sung to these men. There aren’t billions of people gathered around the earth today to worship these men. We celebrate Jesus not just because he was crucified, but because he was different and superior to these other men.”

27:27: Christians chose the cross as their logo, their brand

29:25: Differing perspectives on Jesus’s death, then and now: Was it worthwhile? Did it accomplish anything? Is it something we should adore or despise? 

This first- or second-century anti-Christian graffito, found in Rome, depicts an ass-headed figure on a cross and reads “Alexamenos worships his god.”

33:08: The cross in popular culture

Gervais: “I’ve wanted to do this picture for about 20 years. Finally did it this week with photographer Rich Hardcastle.” After pitching the photo to Rolling Stone magazine and being rejected, Gervais shopped it to the New Humanist, who used it for their September 2011 cover.

During her 2006 Confessions tour, Madonna performed the song “Live to Tell” while hanging from a giant disco cross and wearing a crown of thorns. In a statement released afterward, she said, “I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing.”

34:57: Why do Christians proclaim the cross as “good news”?

35:56: Jesus Christ alone is without sin.

36:34: All the rest of us are sinners.

• By commission and omission
• Thinking that you and Jesus have the same resumé (“I’m a good person”) is the worst sin of all.

37:57: The result of sin is death.

“Marriages die because of sin. Friendships die because of sin. Families and communities and love and hope and joy and unity and peace die because of sin.” Our bodies and souls, too, die because of sin.

(From the book) “Sin is us separating ourselves from God. Because God is the living God and the source of life, sin results in death. This is similar to a piece of technology being unplugged from its power source; it continues to exist but is functionally dead.”

38:47: Jesus died for our sins (“penal substitutionary atonement”).

41:05: “The Great Exchange” (Martin Luther): Jesus didn’t just die for your sins; he became your sins. On the cross, Jesus became the worst of what you are—a pedophile, an addict, a self-righteous Pharisee, a pervert, a liar, a cheater, etc. He became the most despicable, deplorable, disgusting person on the face of the earth—and so the Father had to turn his face from him.

48:30: Jesus lived the life I could never live, and died the death I should have died.

50:51: An Old Testament picture: Yom Kippur –> one goat demonstrates the doctrine of propitiation, the other the doctrine of expiation

54:18: God’s wrath burns against sinners. His wrath is mentioned more than 600 times in the Bible, outweighing the number of verses about his love. If someone sins against you, you get angry, so why shouldn’t God?

57:22: Your identity is marked by either the sins you have committed, or the work of Jesus which takes away those sins.

58:59: No one offers what Jesus offers: forgiveness of sin, and cleansing from it. He takes away our sin and the guilt and wrath associated with it. And he gives us his Spirit, makes us a new creation.

1:01:48: Do you really believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross? If you still have shame, you don’t. If you still have fear, you don’t. If you still try to present yourself as a good person or try to earn God’s love, you don’t. If you try to excuse your sin, you don’t. Jesus wants more for us than sin and death—he wants us to have salvation and life. And that comes through trusting in his finished work on the cross.

Read part 4.