“I Believe in Jesus Christ, Who Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was Crucified, Dead, and Buried” Matthew 27:1-2, 32-60

TRANSCRIPT

Date: March 1, 2026 Author: Wayne J. Edwards

The Penal Substitution of Christ’s death for our sins is the very soul of our eternal salvation. However, among the more theologically progressive churches, including some mainline Protestant churches, many pastors are shifting to the idea that God’s love, as expressed in the death of His Son, covers our sins. They say to believe God’s wrath against sinful man could only be appeased by the physical punishment of His only begotten Son is a harsh view of a loving God whose actions would be equal to divine child abuse. If you put away the doctrine of the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, you have nullified God’s eternal plan for our redemption, which is the central theme of the whole Bible, and therefore, the very essence of the gospel. Our atonement with God through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ is not just a part of the Christian faith; it is the very heart of the Christian faith, and to omit it or to just neglect it is to abandon the core of the very gospel itself, which is the basis for the “cheap grace” being proclaimed in many pulpits today, that minimizes the seriousness of sin. Many churches no longer display a cross, observe the Lord’s Supper, or call sinners to repentance, because they believe God’s love is the basis for the forgiveness of sin and, therefore, confession and repentance aren’t needed. The title of this sermon is: “I Believe in Jesus Christ who Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified, Dead and Buried.” We are deeply grateful for your continued support and for sharing these sermon study guides with those you think might be interested. PW

The Penal Substitution of Christ’s death for our sins is the very soul of our eternal salvation. However, among the more theologically progressive churches, including some mainline Protestant churches, many pastors are shifting to the idea that God’s love, as expressed in the death of His Son, covers our sins. They say to believe God’s wrath against sinful man could only be appeased by the physical punishment of His only begotten Son is a harsh view of a loving God whose actions would be equal to divine child abuse.

If you put away the doctrine of the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, you have nullified God’s eternal plan for our redemption, which is the central theme of the whole Bible, and therefore, the very essence of the gospel. Our atonement with God through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ is not just a part of the Christian faith; it is the very heart of the Christian faith, and to omit it or to just neglect it is to abandon the core of the very gospel itself, which is the basis for the “cheap grace” being proclaimed in many pulpits today, that minimizes the seriousness of sin.

Many churches no longer display a cross, observe the Lord’s Supper, or call sinners to repentance, because they believe God’s love is the basis for the forgiveness of sin and, therefore, confession and repentance aren’t needed.

The title of this sermon is: “I Believe in Jesus Christ who Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified, Dead and Buried.”

We are deeply grateful for your continued support and for sharing these sermon study guides with those you think might be interested. PW

Download the following translated Sermon guides:

The four gospels were written to four specific groups of people, to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah, the God-sent Savior.

However, the main focus of each of the four gospels is the final week of Jesus’ life.

While the suffering referred to in the Apostles Creed refers to the events leading up to, and including His crucifixion, there is a sense in which the Lord Jesus began to suffer the moment He left His Father’s throne.

But the Apostle’s Creed does not dwell on that surface level of the Lord’s suffering, but rather focuses on His suffering under Pilate.

Jesus was crucified on a charge of blasphemy by the Jewish Sanhedrin, for He claimed equality with God. However, to justify His crucifixion, the Romans charged Him with sedition; He claimed to be the King of the Jews, which was a direct challenge to Caesar.

In Christian theology, Jesus is understood as the ultimate “scapegoat,” who stood in our place, bore our sins, and took them far away. This concept is rooted in the Old Testament Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

There was nothing clean about the cross. Today’s Christians have turned it into jewelry, made it small enough to hang around our necks, polished it, and made it so weightless we hardly know we are wearing it.

Sin is not small or harmless; sin is cosmic treason against a holy God, and a holy God cannot just pretend it does not exist, or that it did not happen, and as it says in Hebrews 9:22, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.”

Forgiveness was not free; it was paid for, and Jesus paid it all, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

God did not send an angel or a prophet; He sent His only begotten Son, and while Jesus was born to die, He was not forced to die: he lovingly laid down His life in obedience to God the Father.

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