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Following Jesus – A Time To DIE! (Sermon Audio)

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This is the audio from the April 18, 2025 Good Friday sermon, “Following Jesus: A Time To DIE!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the West Side Church of Christ.

Text: Matthew 27:22-54

 

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
John 12:24 (NIV)

As one called by Jesus to “Come, follow me”, Matthew gives us great teaching on what it looks like to live a life which follows Jesus.  As we look at the crucifixion of Jesus, we find for our self a time to . . .

  • Decide:  Matthew 27:22-26

    • The time to die was a time to decide for Jesus long before the cross.  He made the decision while in heaven with His Father to humble himself and become obedient even to death on a  cross.  Our time to die is also a time for us to decide whether we choose Barabbas (sin) or Jesus. 

  • Invite:  Matthew 27:32-43, Luke 23:39-43

    • Jesus used His time to die as a time to invite a thief to join Him in paradise.  But it wasn’t only a thief who confessed the appropriateness of his own punishment who has been invited by Jesus — His invitation is to all who would agree with Him about our sin and choose to call upon His name in obedience.  When we choose to die to sin and self, we also find a time to invite all who would come to experience the goodness of Jesus that we know.

  • Exclaim:  Matthew 27:45-54

    • For Jesus, the time to die was a time to exclaim to the world that His work was finished.  The seed of the gospel was about to fall into the ground only to germinate and burst forth three days later.  Even the soldiers on duty at the crucifixion couldn’t help but to exclaim that this surely was the Son of God.  It it through joining with Christ in His death that our life is able to exclaim to the world that Jesus is indeed Lord and Savior.

 

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin —  because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”
Romans 6:1-7

Today, how will you choose to DIE?