A Journey to Calvary
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
AG: I heard about a man of science who was riding a ferryboat. He was talking to an uneducated man on the ferry. He asked him did he know Geology? He said, no, he didn’t. The man replied, well, ¼ of your life is gone. He then asked him, if he knew Biology? Again, he said no. The man said, well, ½ of your life is gone. He further asked him if he knew Zoology? The man answered him, no, he didn’t. The man came back and said, well ¾ of your life is gone. About that time, a wave hit the ferryboat, knocking the scientist into the water. The uneducated man shouted at him, do you know how to swim? He hollered back, no. He said, then, all your life is gone.
TS: Our text today sees Jesus led to Calvary and crucified on the cross. He carries His cross and is hung between 2 thieves. He endures the cross for our sake.
RS: Today, I want you and I to take a visit to Calvary. If you are a child of God you have already been there, for it was there you met Jesus in salvation. If you are here today and you are lost, you need to come to Calvary today for it’s the only place you will find forgiveness of sin. If you have never been to Calvary and met Jesus as your savior, your life is slipping away and unless you come to Jesus, you will lose your life in hell.
The Walk to the Cross
The Walk to the Cross
Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.
And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,
Pilate released Jesus to the soldiers who lead him (carrying His own cross) to a place known as Golgotha (Skull Hill)
It was customary to parade the condemned to Golgotha having them carry the horizontal cross-member on their shoulders.
Jesus made it to the city gate, but succumbed to the effects of the beating and could go no further.
Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.
He was led like a lamb
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
Nobody had to drag Him or drive Him
He went willingly
He went out of the gate and thus completed the picture from the OT
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. And they shall burn in the fire their skins, their flesh, and their offal.
Jesus went down this road to complete the sacrificial system by being the final sacrifice
The Crucifixion with Wrongdoers
The Crucifixion with Wrongdoers
where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.
Two thieves are crucified with Jesus
Crucified
Crucifixion was designed to be a slow and agonizing death
Measures were taken to extend the suffering
Rome had adopted it from Persians, Phoenicians and Carthaginians.
Most victims hung on the cross for days before dying of exhaustion, dehydration, and suffocation.
When the legs could no longer support the victims weight, the diaphragm was constricted in a way that made breathing impossible.
MacArthur Study Bible NASB (Commentary)
Jesus was made to lie on the ground while His arms were stretched out and nailed to the horizontal beam that He carried. The beam was then hoisted up, along with the victim, and fastened to the vertical beam. His feet were nailed to the vertical beam to which sometimes was attached a piece of wood that served as a kind of seat that partially supported the weight of the body. The latter, however, was designed to prolong and increase the agony, not relieve it. Having been stripped naked and beaten, Jesus could hang in the hot sun for hours if not days. To breathe, it was necessary to push with the legs and pull with the arms, creating excruciating pain. Terrible muscle spasms wracked the entire body; but since collapse meant asphyxiation, the struggle for life continued
Company
2 other men
Mt 27:38 calls them robbers:
This word denotes a rebel and brigand who plunders as he steals. Mere thieves were not usually crucified. These were probably cohorts of Barabbas
They both reacted to Jesus according to other gospels:
Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”
But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
The Mocker
1 began to mock Jesus
The crowds had been jeering and challenging Jesus to save Himself as a way of proving His claims of divinity
The first to speak joins in with the crowd
focused on the immediate : cross
The Mercy Seeker
Rebukes the former- we deserve this, Jesus doesn’t!
Requests salvation:
remember me when you come into Your kingdom
focused on eternity
proclaimed His faith
AP: The cross makes a difference
The Sacrifice had to be made
From Eden through Christ on the cross, sin required sacrifice
Sin brought death, and the sacrifice shed its blood as a substitute for the sinner.
Christ came to be the final sacrifice!
Why did He have to endure this?
Sin Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Every human will sin
We will fail to obey God by doing what He commands we do and we will outright disobey by doing what He commands we don’t do.
Not only through our actions (or lack of action), but even our thoughts are sinful
Separation Isa 59:2
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Sin brings separation
God is holy (Set apart)
Sin is a contaminant that can’t be in God’s precedence
Our sin, brings our separation
Salvation
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Christ’s sacrifice brings about our salvation!
He took our place!
We can identify with the 2 who hung with Jesus
Sadly, many today reject him
The saved Receive Him
Like the penitent thief, they
believe Him- He is who He says He is GOD
Turn to Him- they call on His name for forgiveness
The writing above the cross
The writing above the cross
Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS
Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.” ’ ”
Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
The custom was to place a tablet around the condemn’s neck as they went to the cross and then to nail it above them on the cross.
The Sign
Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews
Pilate mocked the Jewish leaders who had pushed Him into crucifying Jesus
The Requested Alteration
change to He said He was king
The Resolve to Keep it
Pilate’s reply: I wrote what I wrote!
Pilate would be pushed around no longer.
AP: Stand against the mob
The mob had called out for Jesus to die and Barnabas to be released. Pilate defied them at the end on the small matter of the sign. It was too little too late.
As a disciple of Jesus, we must stand firm on our convictions
The Scriptures tell us what to believe and how to God expects us to live
He truly is King and worthy of our allegiance
We MUST stand against the pressure of the crowd around us and follow Him
Seeing what Jesus endured for us, should strengthen our resolve to be faithful to Him.
The Wardrobe below the cross
The Wardrobe below the cross
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.
They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.
Soldiers gambled over His clothes
spoils of the executioners
They would split everything evenly (sometimes cutting the clothes apart)
Fulfilled Scripture
AP: All that happened from His birth to His death fulfilled the Scriptures
There were no accidents and setbacks.
Conclusion
Conclusion
There was a law in Tokyo around the year 1900 that no foreigner could take up residence there unless he had a "substitute." There were natives who hired themselves out for this purpose. If the foreigner broke any law, the substitute suffered the penalty for it, even if the penalty was death.
Jesus upon the cross is our substitute. He took our place. He paid the penalty on our behalf.
Have you journeyed to the cross?
Like the 2nd companion, have you believed in Jesus and turned to Him receiving salvation?
If not, do so today
If you have, live for Him!