Series — The Road to the Resurrection — Message 17 — For God so Loved the World — At the foot of the Cross

Introduction

Good morning Church!

It’s good to see each and every person who could make it out today. I want to thank you for coming to be a part of today’s services with us and all those who may be joining online as well.

We are coming to a close on our study of the Book of Matthew with only 4 messages left and we’ve came such a long way over the last couple years now. Following the footsteps of our Lord from His birth to where we find ourselves today…His crucifixion.

We’ve covered 33 1/2 years over the last two years and the majority of that time being spent looking at the last 3 1/2 years of Christ’s life in His public ministry.

Last week we looked at the scourging of our Lord and the way of the cross through the eyes of a man named Simon the Cyrene.

Today, we are going to be looking at the Crucifixion of Christ and some of the events that took place on that dreadful day through the view of a Centurion present at our Lord’s crucifixion.

Next week, we will see the death and burial of our Lord through the view of those who loved and despised Him most.

The week following, we will see the resurrection of our Lord and then, we will finish the year out with the great commission of our Lord.

I’m super excited about those last two messages and as joyous as they will be, we must first go through the valley of darkness and death before we can get to the mountain tops of life and light!

Last week’s message was a tough one…seeing our Lord beaten and treated as the scum of the earth and today’s message, will be no easier. In fact, it will be even more heinous, vile and wicked but nonetheless, it’s the road we must travel if we are to get to where we want to be.

I’ve given today’s message the title… “For God so loved the world”…and if you can’t see by the end of this message, the depths of love that God has for you and what lengths He’s willing to go to have a relationship with you, then dear friend you are blinded to the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ by none other than that ole deceiver, the adversary of God, whom we call Satan.

And my prayer is that God in all His glorious might and power will remove those scales of doubt from off your eyes and that He will break up that fallow ground of unbelief that has hardened your heart and that you will be gloriously saved today!

John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

If you have your Bible’s turned to Matthew 27:33 please say, Amen.

The Crucifixion — (Vs. 33-37)

We pick up where we left off last week with Christ being led away from Pilate’s Hall to Golgotha.

“Golgotha” is the Hebrew/Aramaic word meaning skull while in Latin it means Calvary.

Calvary is translated from the Greek word “kranion” from which we get our English word “cranium” which also has the “skull” meaning.

So, they lead our Lord outside of Jerusalem to a rocky, hilly place that resembles a skull and it’s here that they will crucify our Lord.

And the Bible tells us here that they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.

Marks gospel calls it “wine mingled with myrrh.”

Either way it was a bitter concoction and the reason they would give this to the victims who were about to be crucified is to help deaden the excruciating pain of what they were about to experience!

But the Bible tells us here that Jesus refused to drink it!

John Phillips — Having tasted it and realized its character and purpose, He refused to drink it. He was not going to bear our sins in His body on the tree in a drugged condition. Every nerve, every fiber of His body must be awake to endure the pain. He was to meet death in full possession of the faculties of body and soul.

At this point, Matthew almost nonchalantly simply records… “And they crucified Him.”

Sadly, we often read it the same way… “nonchalantly.”

But the fact of the matter is, crucifixion was anything but.

In this day and time, crucifixion had become the norm for Roman capital punishment.

John MacArthur writes — Crucifixion originated in Persia, where a deity named Ormazd was believed to consider the earth sacred. Because a criminal who was executed had to be raised above the earth in order not to defile it, he was suspended on a large pole and left there to die. The practice was picked up by the Carthaginians and then by the Greeks and especially the Romans, whose extensive use caused it to become identified with them.

It is estimated that by the time of Christ the Romans had crucified some 30,000 men in Israel alone, primarily for insurrection. The crucifixion of only three men outside Jerusalem was therefore virtually insignificant in the eyes of Rome.

For the gospel writers, who here very familiar with the act of crucifixion, this form of punishment was nothing but ordinary to them and that’s the reason none of them go into great detail about the cruel, despicable and inhumane act of how it was carried out.

But in order to grasp the lengths of love that God’s Son went through so that you and I could inherit eternal life and have a relationship with Him, we need to understand the pain, the agony, the sheer determination of Jesus to hang there on that cross for you and I.

I want to read you two different passages on the process of crucifixion to help you gain a deeper insight into exactly what Jesus experienced on this dreadful day.

In his book The Life of Christ, Frederick Farrar describes crucifixion as follows:

A death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have of the horrible and ghastly — dizziness, cramping, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, traumatic fever, shame, publicity of shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of intended wounds — all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness.

The unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrened [when a victim took several days to die]; the arteries — especially at the head and stomach — became swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood, and while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of a burning and raging thirst, and all these physical complications caused an internal excitement and anxiety, which made the prospect of death itself — the unknown enemy — at whose approach man usually shudders most — bear the aspect of a delicious and exquisite release.

One thing is clear. The first century executions were not like the modern ones, for they did not seek a quick, painless death nor the preservation of any measure of dignity for the criminal. On the contrary, they sought an agonizing torture which completely humiliated him. And it is important that we understand this, for it helps us realize the agony of Christ’s death. (Vol. 2 [New York: E. P. Dutton, 1877], pp. 403–4) — John MacArthur

Then we have Dr. Truman Davis who gives an additional description of Jesus’ crucifixion:

At this point another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.…

Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber; then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

It is now almost over … the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. The tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. (“The Crucifixion of Jesus; The Passion of Christ from a Medical Point of View,” Arizona Medicine, vol. 22, Mar. 1965, pp. 183–87) — John MacArthur

On top of the pain and anguish caused by the crucifixion itself, the crucified was stripped of their clothes and left with only a linen cloth to cover their privates. Not only is there the pain and anguish but the humility itself of the crucifixion no doubt took it’s own toll on the human psyche which brings us to what Matthew says next.

Look at Verse 35.

Matthew 27:35 KJV 1900

35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

Now, if you will remember from last week, we learned that when someone was led to be crucified they were ushered to their place of crucifixion by 4 Romans soldiers, right?

Now, this is why what we read here is important.

John G Butler writes — In those days, clothes were scarce, so one of the perks of the soldiers in crucifying someone was to receive the clothes of the crucified person.

William Barclay writes — “criminals were crucified naked, except for a loin cloth; and the criminal’s clothes became the property of the soldiers as their ‘perks’. Every Jew wore five articles of clothing—his shoes, his turban, his girdle, his inner garment and his outer cloak. There were thus five articles of clothing and four soldiers. The first four articles were all of equal value; but the outer cloak was more valuable than all the others. It was probably for Jesus’ outer cloak that the soldiers drew lots.”

John 19:23 KJV 1900

23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

Now, I read you this so that you can get a better picture of what’s taking place but don’t miss the most important part…the prophecy fulfilled!

John 19:24 KJV 1900

24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

This is a direct prophecy fulfilled from...

Psalm 22:18 KJV 1900

18 They part my garments among them, And cast lots upon my vesture.

These Roman soldiers before us were simply worried about who got what but what they didn’t know was that in their actions they were proving Jesus to be the prophesied Messiah even more!

Even in Jesus death He was in full control!

This was one prophecy out of many that was fulfilled just in His crucifixion!

And we don’t have time to cover them all but what you need to know is that in Jesus lifetime it is believed that He fulfilled at the very least somewhere around 300 Old Testament Prophecies! Some believe that number to be upwards of 500!

Now some of you may be sitting here wondering what the significance of that is…the significance is this...

Professor Peter W. Stoner was Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College and Chairman of the science division at Westmont College. In his book, Science Speaks, Professor Stoner outlines the mathematical probability of one person in the first century fulfilling just eight of the most clear and straightforward Messianic prophecies.

He said, we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.

In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing that we take 100 quadrillion silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep.

Now, mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that his is the right one.

What chance would he have of getting the right one?

Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them according to their own wisdom.

Now, these prophecies were either given by inspiration of God or the prophets just wrote them as they thought they should be. In such a case, the prophets had just one chance in 100 quadrillion of having them come true in any man, but they all came true in Christ.

Now, for sake of time I want to move on but he actually went on to say that the probability of any one person to fulfilling 48 prophecies was 1 in 10 to the 157 power. — Evidence that Demands a Verdict.

That my friend is a number that is so large it don’t even have a name for it! And yet that’s just 48 prophecies fulfilled! Jesus fulfilled over 300!

Can you imagine the probability of that number? I can only imagine in my little finite mind that it’s an infinite number which just proves even more how big, mighty, and awesome of a God we serve this morning!

Jesus was and is The Anointed One, The Prophesied Messiah, The One and Only Son of God!

Matthew tells us that our Lord has now been crucified, his garments disbursed amongst the guards and finally…Verse 37.

Matthew 27:37 KJV 1900

37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Now, before we move on to the next point here, I want to try and bring one more thing out that in my opinion goes to prove even more that Jesus of Nazareth was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

If you look over in John’s gospel it says in...

John 19:19–22 KJV 1900

19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. 21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

I believe Pilate knew he was in the presence of one much greater than he and although he didn’t believe in the Jewish religion, if there had ever been a King of the Jews or a prophesied Messiah, this was Him!

Even the gentile ruler submitted to the fact that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah and made sure to know how he felt by putting the charge against Jesus in every language that would pass by so they too would know that this man was the rightful King of the Jews!

John Phillips writes — Pilate’s inscription was correct. Jesus was the King of the Jews, the last rightful claimant to the throne of David. Two separate royal lines ran from David to Christ. One line ran from Solomon down through the kings of Judah to Joseph. But, a curse rested on that line, a curse centering on Jehoiachin (also called Jechonias, Jeconiah, and contemptuously Coniah). “Write ye this man childless”—so ran the divine decree in Jeremiah 22:30. Actually Jehoiachin had a number of sons (1 Chronicles 3:17–18), but no son or descendant of his was ever to ascend David’s throne. No natural-born son of Joseph (a lineal descendant of Jehoiachin) could be the Messiah; the curse forbade it.

But David and Bath-sheba had another son besides Solomon. He was called Nathan, doubtless in honor of God’s faithful prophet. Nathan’s royal line also pursued its way through history, though it ran down the back alleys and was overlooked by all except the sacred historian. Mary was a direct lineal descendant of David through this line. Jesus was the virgin-born Son of Mary and thus a direct lineal descendant of David. He was adopted by Mary’s husband Joseph and by adoption became legal heir to the Davidic throne. Thus the curse on Jehoiachin was both enforced and circumvented. Only in the person of the Lord Jesus could this have happened. He was David’s Son by birth and David’s heir by adoption. In Him the royal line terminated fully, finally, and forever.

Jesus was indeed the King of the Jews. Pilate stubbornly insisted on proclaiming that fact, and Jewish objections to his inscription were overruled by God.

If this does not prove the omniscience and omnipotence of God this morning, I don’t know what will.

God, in His infinite wisdom, before the dawn of time, had a plan to prove His love for His creation!

All He has ever wanted was a relationship with His creation and has went to the farthest lengths imaginable to prove that to us!

John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus has now been crucified and Luke’s gospel records that Jesus looks out amongst the crowd and says… “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

Which brings us to our next point…The Crowd.

The Crowd

There are many different characters in the crowd before us in scripture. Some we are going to look at today and some will look a little more into next week.

The Centurions — (Vs. 36)

The first group I want to point out is the Centurions. I don’t want to spend a lot of time here because we’ve looked at these gentlemen quite a bit already but I do want you to see a few things that jumped out at me.

First, I want you to put yourself in their shoes for just a moment. You’ve seen this man scourged already, you’ve seen Him barely make His way to Golgotha’s hill due to His already degraded condition and now, you’ve crucified Him.

No big deal to you. You’re a Roman soldier! You’ve done this hundreds of times!

You’re use to the gruesome brutality you inflict on others.

And so for you, it’s business as usual.

Lead the criminal to the spot of the crucifixion, nail them to the cross, hang them up in humility for all the world to see, ensure the presence of Rome is felt and people know you’re not to be trifled with, take your portion of the loot, wait for the deserving to die, botta bing, botta boom, head to the house job well done!

And so here you are, you’ve done your job and you’ve done it well.

You’ve put in a nice hard morning’s worth of work…already crucified 3 men by 9 a.m.

Things are going well. Now, it’s time to sit back and relax and wait for them to die!

Look back with me at Verse 36.

Matthew 27:36 KJV 1900

36 And sitting down they watched him there;

Here you are, you’re just chilling, eating yourself an apple after a hard morning’s worth of work. You were the lucky one who got the outer tunic! Things are going your way today!

So, you sit there and you’re watching this man named Jesus and the events that are taking place around you.

It’s at this point, we are introduced the second set of characters in our crowd… The Critics.

The Critics — (Vs. 39-43)

The critics of our story are made up of many different people.

First off, it was all those passing by as they entered Jerusalem for the day.

Remember, it’s Passover.

There’s hundreds of thousands of people coming and going daily for the festivities and there’s no way they could all stay in the city.

There simply wasn’t enough room.

So, undoubtedly many stayed somewhere outside the city in the neighboring towns bordering the city.

It’s 9 a.m. and they’ve awoke and they’re making their way into the city for the events of the day that lie ahead.

Many have heard of Jesus, heard of the miracles he has performed, heard of His teaching, and by this point I’m sure most have heard of the quarrels between He and the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and High Priest.

And now, here He is, He’s crucified for all the world to see.

Was He truly the Messiah? If so, this is no way to treat the prophesied Messiah!

He must have been a phony, a fraud!

They reviled Him!

The word “revile” means to slander or defame.

“Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself!”

Some of these had undoubtedly heard of the claims made against Christ at the previous night’s trial for He never said these words specifically.

“If you’re the Son of God, come down from the cross!”

They mocked, taunted and criticized our Lord as He hung there, suspended between God and man as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world!

If only they would have known!

It wasn’t only the passers by that mocked and scorned though.

Oh no, those pesky priests, scribes and elders couldn’t help but to make their way out to the crucifixion as well.

It wasn’t enough to have the Son of God crucified.

Now, they had to further humiliate Him by taunting Him as well!

“He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of the Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.”

Before we unpack what was said here, I just have to say…Jesus had to be the most merciful man to have ever lived.

If that were me, and I was the Son of God sent to do what He was, when they said these things....I would have jumped down off that cross and said, “alright boys, bow!”

Especially when they questioned His deity and relationship to the Father. Man, that would have did it for me!

But somehow, only through the power of His divine mercy and grace, He remained on that rugged ole tree for you and for me!

Little did they know, it took more power for Him to remain on the cross than it did to remove Himself from it!

And the grandest point to glean from this scripture is the fact that He remained there for even those who reviled Him!

Matthew 27:42–43 KJV 1900

42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

John Phillips said — “He saved others.” What a statement! That is how Luke presented Him in his Gospel—as the Savior of sinners. “The King of Israel.” That is how Matthew presented Him from beginning to end. “He trusted in God.” That is how Mark presented Him—as the divine Servant, who trusted in God in utter dependence and obedience. “The Son of God.” That is how John portrayed Him. So the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all taken together, give us the matchless story of this amazing One. And lo, the unbelieving, God-defaming religious leaders of Israel, in utter ignorance and with malicious intent, proclaimed Him to be all that He ever claimed to be. Truly God makes even the wrath of man to praise Him.

The Centurion is taking in all the passers-by mocking and reviling our Lord and yet Jesus in His dignity doesn’t even give them the luxury of responding to their taunting.

Now, we’re introduced to the third set of characters…The Companions.

The Companions

Now, this is only recorded in John’s gospel but if you go to...

John 19:25–27 KJV 1900

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

And if you look in...

Mark 15:40–41 KJV 1900

40 There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; 41 (Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.

So, we see the companions who came to support Christ in His final waking moments and from what we can see from the scripture, it’s as if the disciple whom Jesus loved…John…was the only man to have came to support His best friend and Savior.

Now, don’t forget about our friend the Centurion.

He’s still sitting here just taking it all in.

He’s witnessed the mocking. He’s witnessed now the mourning of all those who love this man.

All these things He’s seeing but it’s the thing He’s not seeing that’s weighing on him the most which brings us to the fourth set of characters in our story…The Criminals.

The Criminals — (Vs. 38 & 44)

Matthew 27:38 KJV 1900

38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.

Matthew 27:44 KJV 1900

44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.

Let me ask you a question…did Jesus choose who would be crucified with Him?

The answer is no.

But the Bible makes sure to tell us that there were two thieves crucified with our Lord.

Now, why do you think the gospel writers made sure to let us know this?

If you guessed because it fulfilled scripture, you would be correct.

If you go to Mark’s gospel in...

Mark 15:28 KJV 1900

28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.

The specific old testament scripture this is referencing is...

Isaiah 53:12 KJV 1900

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, And he shall divide the spoil with the strong; Because he hath poured out his soul unto death: And he was numbered with the transgressors; And he bare the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

In His birth, in His life, even in His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament that were inspired by God and penned my men’s hands hundreds, some thousands of years before.

And thanks to Dr. Luke, we have penned a conversation that took place between these malefactors and our Lord Jesus.

If you look in...

Luke 23:39–43 KJV 1900

39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Who knows how long has passed at this point but sometime between the 3rd-6th hour which would be from sometime between 9-12, after hearing the claims that Jesus was the Son of God, one of the thieves joins in with the crowd and begins to mock Jesus himself.

Matthew says, “The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in “his” teeth.

The term “his” here is singular.

I could be wrong but the way I take it is that one of the sinners decided to join in with the crowd while the other decided to believe our Lord’s claim and in a round about way ask for forgiveness.

One reviles our Lord while the other defends Him!

The New Century Version does a great job I feel in bring this passage to life.

Luke 23:39–43 NCV

39 One of the criminals on a cross began to shout insults at Jesus: “Aren’t you the Christ? Then save yourself and us.” 40 But the other criminal stopped him and said, “You should fear God! You are getting the same punishment he is. 41 We are punished justly, getting what we deserve for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Before us here, we have a picture of the condition in which every man, woman, boy and girl finds themselves in today.

Lost in our sin, deserving of condemnation, stranded between heaven and hell with an eternal choice to make.

Choose to continue with the world and end up lost in your sins and separated from God for eternity or believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be forgiven of your sins and reconciled into His presence for all eternity.

The Conclusion

As we come to a close this morning, I want to finish this message the same way I started it.

John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

At the foot of the cross every person finds themselves in the same condition…lost in their sins and in need of a Savior.

And every single one of us has a choice to make for ourselves. No one can make it for us. Each of us must choose what we’re going to do with Jesus.

Some of you, I hope most of you sitting here today have already made a decision to follow Jesus but I’d dare say there are some sitting here who have yet to make a decision about trusting in this man named Jesus.

There was one in our story today who also had not made a decision as of yet.

Remember our Centurion?

The last time we seen him he was sitting at the foot of the cross taking in the events and conversations going on around him as well.

And now, more than ever, the events of the day are beginning to settle on his soul.

Did we really crucify an innocent man?

Could he very well be the prophesied King of the Jews?

Some are mocking, some are mourning, some are believing.

And here He is, referring to His God as His Father and asking for forgiveness for us…for me!

I just don’t know what to believe!

Next week, we’ll see this Centurion’s decision but this morning, right now at this very moment, you have a decision to make.

Will you believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ?

Or will you side with Satan and the world and stand in direct opposition to the one and only Son of God?

You say, “preacher, I’m not making a decision today!”

Dear friend what you need to understand is that by not making a decision, you have already made one!

John 3:18 KJV 1900

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

There is no in-between!

You either choose Christ Jesus or by default you choose the world!

And if you choose the world, and you die in your sins, you will wake up on the wrong side of eternity and be eternally separated from God forever!

But if you choose this morning, as this wise sinner hanging next to Jesus chose to do and you decide to choose Jesus, then your fate will also be his fate should your last breath be drawn today.

Today you would be with Jesus in paradise.

The choice is yours to make but a choice you must make.

Will you choose Christ or will you choose condemnation.

Let us pray.