The Cross

Jackson West
Kamp Love  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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The Cross and Crucifixion

Howdy everyone, it’s such a privilege to be here before y’all tonight. It’s funny I remember last year at Kamp sitting down for Jeff’s message that first night and thinking to myself, “man I’m glad I don’t have to do that, that seems terrifying” and now look where we are a year later. But all jokes aside God has been so faithful in guiding me through preparing this message for yall tn. I am constantly reminded that I am just the clay that the Lord has placed here tonight to convey His message to yall. And man am I excited for what God has placed on my heart. tonight, I want to walk through a story with yall. A story that many of you are probably pretty familiar with. A story that I thought I knew pretty well myself until I sat down and studied it for a couple of weeks. I realized that there is so much more to this story than we realize and I quickly came to see the beauty of this story. Its the story of the Cross. A story that four different books record in the bible. One that we could spend hours on. Its deep and thought provoking yet simple and easy to understand. A story that very well may bring me to tears tonight in front of yall but also can be seen as one of the most beautiful stories ever told. Oswald Chambers says, “ Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world” I think its so fitting that on valentines day I get to share with y'all the greatest love story ever told. As I studied and prepared for this there were so many things that stuck out to me that we can learn from and I’m barely scratching the surface tonight with what I will cover But the reason that I felt like the Lord placed this on my heart and the true meaning that I want you to grasp tonight is that the cross is the foundation of our faith. that without the cross none of us would be here tonight. there would be no Kamp love there would be no weekend, the cross is it. and so as I share the story with you all tonight and as we walk through the story together and take this journey together I hope and I pray that you see the cross in its weight and in its glory and that you see the beautiful picture of what Christ did for us that day. It is the greatest love story ever told and I’m so excited to take this journey together with y'all and to walk through the final day of our Lord and savior on the cross
Chapter 1
Our story starts out at this place called the Mount of Olives. I like to think of this time and the Mount of Olives as the first chapter of the story. Mark 14:32 “and when they had sung a hymn they went out to the mount of olives” more specifically a few verses down vs 32 says, “and they went to a place called gethsemane” This is where our story will begin. This was a place Jesus and his disciples often came to when visiting Jerusalem. It provided seclusion, a place to get away from the bustling city. Gethsemane literally means “Olive Press”. There was a famous grove of olive trees here with an olive press. The olives were harvested here and then crushed in this press under extreme pressure in order to extract precious oil. This olive oil was used for many things and was a key part of life back then.
Here we see the first of many beautiful representations. The olives that were crushed here brought about life giving light, in the same way Jesus was about to be crushed to bring forth life giving redemption.
So Jesus and his disciples come to this place.
Mark 14:33–36“And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.””
Here we see the first glimpse of Jesus struggling through what he is about to endure. He is distressed, troubled, his soul is grieved to the point of Death! Luke gives us a more in depth glimpse of the pain and suffering he is already enduring when it tells us in
Luke 22:44 “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.”
This is a condition called hematidrosis. In simple terms this is when the body is in so much anguish or stress you literally sweat blood. The agony and stress you have to be under to sweat blood is excruciating. It is beyond anything you or I have probably ever experienced. This cry in Mark of Abba! Father! reminds me of a child crying out to his dad. In This Moment, Jesus is coming before His father begging with him saying Lord if this cup can pass please take it! He is in so much stress so much anguish over what he knows is going to happen that there's blood dripping off of him onto the ground. But, He says, if not Lord your will be done not mine. Jesus knows what is coming he is asking the Father, “Lord, is there any other way”, yet He stays, committed to the plan, committed to the exact reason why God the Father sent him down to this earth. Jesus returns back to His disciples and finds them sleeping.
Mark 14:37–38“And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.””
How discouraging must that have been to Jesus. He is fighting, wrestling with what is about to happen and comes back to find his disciples asleep. He calls out Peter specifically which we will come back to in a few minutes.
In Mark 14:42-43 Jesus says, “Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand: And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders”
John 18:4 “then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, Jesus of nazareth.” Jesus said to them I am he….. When Jesus said to them I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground”
Take a second and think about this. Jesus knows what is about to happen and yet he goes towards them. Then when he says I am he; they fall to the ground. We are talking about roman soldiers. Killing machines, beast of men. Picture these tall huge men and they fall to the ground merely at the words, “I am He” The power of Christ. Matt, mark, and luke tell us that Judas then kisses Jesus on the cheek officially identifying him as the Messiah. The roman soldiers grab him but not before Peter draws his sword and cuts off the ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant. Part of me wonders if he was trying to hit the ear or if Peter being a fisherman and not a soilder was aiming for something else and missed. Peter true to character jumps into action without thinking it seems. His motives seem pure but this is not the will of the Lord. Remember a few minutes ago when Jesus found Peter sleeping? IN that moment I would argue that Peter is being passive when he should be active, and minutes later he is now active when he should be passive. are we guilty of this? Jesus responds by saying in Matthew 26:52
Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?”
I would be shaking in my boots right there if I heard that. 12 Legions is around 60,000 . Jesus can call down 60,000 angels but He isn't? In this moment, Jesus is showing us; He is in control of this situation. In the midst of what seems to be worst possible scenario Jesus is reminding us who is in control. How often do we spin out when things dont seem to be going the right way. College is full of desicions, life - altering moments, joy, heartbreak, yet He is in control. (expand?) He heals the ear of Malchus and as he is being led away all of his disciples flee. So as we come to the end of my quotations chapter 1 Jesus has just been betrayed by his disciple abandoned by the rest of his disciples and is in the custody of these Roman soldiers being led away
Chapter 2
Chapter two of this story is the trials. As Jesus is led away he has six different trials that await him over the course of that night and the next morning. He is first taken to Annas’ house who is the father in law of Caiaphas the High Priest.
John 18:13 “and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.”
They then take him to caiaphas house. Here they start to bring false testimony against him but none of it is landing and some even contradicts itself as we see in
Mark 14:56 “For many were giving false testimony against Him, but their testimony was not consistent.” (Might just read 26:63-68)
Finally Caiaphas gets tired of this so he stands up and says,
Matthew 26:63 “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.””
Jesus replies,
Mark 14:62 “I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.””
Caiaphas then tears his garments crying blasphemy! and They all condemn him to death. They then place a blindfold on him and begin to slap him across the face and spit on him while saying,
Matthew 26:68 “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?””
Jesus most likely spends the rest of that night in a cell awaiting the morning. Matthew then tells us that when morning came they took counsel again to put Jesus to death. They then take him to Pilate the governor (Who is Pilate)
John 18:28 “Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.”
The hypocrisy of this is almost laughable. Here these religious leaders are worried about becoming defiled by stepping foot into a house they are not allowed to when they have in Hand Jesus, the son of God and have just unlawfully sentenced him to death. They are so caught up in their pride, they are either blinded to or are ignoring the hypocrisy of this moment. It raises the question, “How often are we blinded by pride, too fixated on something that we miss or ignore the sin in our life? (Give example/expand?)
Luke tells us that after Pilate finds out he is Galiliean he ships Jesus over to Herod who happened to be in Jerusalem at the time. Herod then questions him and finds he has done nothing deserving death so he then sends Jesus back over to Pilate
Here comes the final and longest trial. Jesus is back in Pilates house on trial before Pilate. Pilate states the he finds no fault in Jesus and we start to see Pilate attempting to release Jesus. Its recorded in Matthew 27:19 that Pilates wife had a dream the night before and warns Pilate to have nothing to do with this man. This messsage from his wife combined with the fact that Pilate can not find anything wrong with Jesus leads him to try and release Jesus. Pilates first attempt to release Jesus fails so he tries again. He remembers the custom of releasing one prisoner every passover feast so he asks the crowd do you want me to release Jesus? He assumes maybe it is because of envy that the chief priests have delivered Jesus to me. But the chief priests go through the crowd and tell everyone “ask for Barabbas to be released not Jesus” (WHo is barabbas)
So when Pilate asks, the crowd starts to cry out “Barabbas” This cry out is translated screaming and I can just feel the wrath and anger of these people as they demand the death of an innocent man. Can you imagine being Mary in this crowd. Probably crying out her son’s name only to be drowned out by a bloodthirsty crowd yelling barabbas. So Pilate tries another route and delivers Jesus over to be flogged. Pilate does this hoping to satisfy the crowd. Jesus is handed over to a battalion of Roman soldiers (450) to be punished and flogged. First came the whipping. This was done by a tool called the Flagrum; a whip with 3-12 leather strands all with broken glass, nails, pottery or other things attached to the end of it. The soldiers would start at the top of his back and would move down the body as they continued the flogging. As they whipped him they would strike his back and then pull down once it was dug into the skin causing Jesus’ back, buttocks, and legs to be ripped open down to the bone, leaving his skin tattered and mangled by the time they were through. They then placed a purple robe on his back and a crown of thorns was shoved into his head. These thorns were up to 3 inches long and they then struck him on the head with a reed in order to drive the nails deep into his skull. After all of this, they mocked him, spit on his face and laughed at him while he remained silent. Pilate then brings Him out to the crowd bloodied and battered from the beating he has just received. He tries for a final time to have Jesus released, saying in
John 19:4 “Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.””
As soon as they see Him they start to cry out “Crucify him, Crucify Him” Pilate finally washes his hands of this and delivers Jesus over to be crucified. Before they take Jesus to be crucified they strip him of this robe. Think of all that blood starting to dry and scab over and then a robe which at this point is most likely stuck to his back getting stripped off, all of those wounds reopening. Jesus' Procession to the cross starts. The fate has been sealed. The creator of the universe who has just walked this earth for 33 sinless years is being delivered over to be crucified.
Chapter 3
Jesus begins his trek to the place where he will be crucified. He is taken on a long winding route through the city as most crucifixion victims were. The point of this was to bring shame to the victim. As Jesus starts walking he is expected to carry the cross but is unable to because he is so beaten and weak at this point. They recruit Simon of Cyrene to help carry the cross and the procession continues. This was a procession that was typically forced. With the prisoner resisting, yet Jesus goes willingly.
Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.”
The procession arrives at Golgotha or the place of the skull. On arrival Jesus is offered wine with myrrh by some women which was seen as a numbing agent, a way to dull the senses a little bit. Jesus refuses though. Not wanting to be dulled or try and avoid what is about to take place in any way. Once refusing Jesus is laid down on the cross and they begin to drive the nails through his wrists and feet. This would have been excruciation pain and more blood loss on top of all the pain and blood loss he has already experienced up to this point. The cross is then lifted up and set into place.
Psalm 22:14 “I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me.”
As the psalmist prophecies, As Jesus’ cross is set into place all of his bones come out of joint. As he hangs from this cross, in order to breathe, Jesus has to push his bloody, mangled back up against the rough wooden cross putting the weight of his entire body on the nail driven through his feet over and over again for hours.
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 cannot act. Air can be drawn into the lungs but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs, and the bloodstream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, He pushed 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 loss of tissue fluid has reached a critical level—the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues—the tortured lungsare making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain. (Doctor Thomas Davis)
(Possibly have people prepared to read these out loud?)
In the midst of all this pain Jesus makes the effort to say seven recorded things on the Cross. Jesus pushes up on the nail through his feet, scrapping his mangled back against the rough wooden cross to take a breath and says, “
Luke 23:34 - “And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
The king of the universe, the one who created all things, who has always been, who humbled himself down to this earth and served others, healed others, gave to others, is getting spat upon, beat, and mocked by the very people he created, the very people He is on this earth to save. Can you imagine the sorrow Jesus must feel looking at one of those roman soldiers in their eyes in the midst of them doing this. Yet he forgives them in the midst of their mockery. That is a level of love and mercy that is unexplainable.
Again, pushes up on the nail takes a painful breath and says,
Luke 23:43 - “And He said to him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
You see there were two men hanging on a cross on the right and left side of Jesus. Matthew and Mark refer to them as two robbers, Luke refers to them as criminals. These are men who deserve the consequence. One of them is mocking Jesus along with the crowd, but the other says no, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due rewards of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong. And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” This is when Jesus turns to him and says, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” In the midst of immense pain what does Jesus do next? He is still winning people to the kingdom. Can you think of moments you haven’t felt like talking to that person or having that conversation you feel the Lord leading you to? Or even moments when walking in a manner that shows you follow Christ was difficult and so you chose the easy road out? I know I have. I Can't say for certain what led this man to believe other than the way Jesus was staying true to his character and the testimony he was living out. Jesus didn’t make excuses so why do we feel like we can?
Jesus pushes up on the nail, takes a breath, and then,
John 19: 26-27 - “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother”
Through his book , John refers to himself as, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” So we know that Jesus has John take Mary in as his mother and care for her. Historically speaking it is assumed that Joseph has died at this point and therefore Jesus is ensuring that Mary is well taken care of before He dies. Jesus takes time to care for those under his responsibility. He makes sure his mother is going to be ok. Again showing incredible love in the midst of excruciating pain. Up to this point, his first three sayings have been with others in mind; The people doing this to Him, then the criminal on the cross, finally his family. Only once he has taken care of everyone around him and those He loves does he start addressing his own pain and needs.
He pushes on the nail lifting himself to take a breath and,
Matthew 27:46 - “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
This has to be one of if not the most excruciating moment for Jesus on the cross. His own Father who has shared perfect harmony with Him forever, is turning his back on Jesus. Jesus has taken on the sin of every person. The things that I have done that I don’t even know I will do, He takes the weight of that sin on himself in that moment. 2 Corinthians 5:21- “For our sake he (God) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” God the father made his son Jesus Christ to be sin so that we have a chance. Yet, God the father can not be in the presence of sin so He has to turn his back on His son. Imagine the weight Jesus feels in this moment as he carries the sin of all mankind on his shoulders with no one to turn to.
Jesus pushes on the nail and forces himself up knowing the end is near,
John 19:28 - “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst."
The scripture it is referencing is Psalm 69: 21, “And for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink” They give Jesus basically vinegar and it refreshes Jesus enough to proclaim his final two sayings.
John 19:30 - “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is Finished”
It is finished, The word in greek is tetelestai used in that time as marking when a man’s debt was paid. This is a victory cry from the son of God, It is Finished! The first two gospels tell us that he cries this out with a loud voice! It Is Finished!, the debt has been paid, the sin has been covered, a victory cry from our savior.
Luke 23:46 - “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, Father into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed His last.”
A callback to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prays “not my will but yours Lord” Jesus is humbly submitting to the Father’s will. He breathes his last, he gives up his life, and our savior has died.
Mark records for us that Jesus is placed on the cross at the third hour, which would be 9 AM our time. the next recorded time is the sixth hour or 12 pm. In Matthew it tells us that at the sixth hour darkness covers the whole land. Clearly a supernatural event for darkness to cover the land in the middle of the day. The darkness shows the judgement of God in that moment. Jesus then dies at the ninth hour which would be 3:00 our time. When he dies the curtain of the temple is torn in two. This curtain was 60 feet tall and is recorded as being around 4 inches thick. The curtain being torn represents the fact that mankind no longer has to offer sacrifices, mankind no longer has to have priests go intercede to God for them. Jesus has paid the price and is available to anyone who accepts the truth.
So the question that has to be asked now is why? Why would someone put themselves through that pain, torture, anguish, and sorrow. Why? In order to understand that we first have to realize that you and I have a sin problem that started the moment we were born.
Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—”
This is a severe problem that we each face! You and I are riddled with sin and as we learned just a bit ago, God the Father can not be in the presence of sin. It is contrary to His nature. So where does that leave us? To be frank, it leaves us hopeless and empty. destined to be apart from our creator. And let me be honest with you, you are not good enough for heaven on you own. There is no amount of good deeds or church attendance that you can do to earn your way to the Father so how? In the old testament they solved this problem by offering sacrafices. In fact, on the passover every year there was a process that each family went through in order to pay the price of their sins.
Exodus 12:3 ““Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.”
The process was that families would go out and pick a lamb without blemish or spot four days before the passover. Then on passover day they would sacrafice the lamb between 3:00-6:00 celebrating the fact that the lamb was taking the sin that they had comitted. An inncent spotless lamb getting killed for somthing it did not deserve. So this particular year, four days before the passover, On a day that many people were running around anxiously trying to find their spotless lamb, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. Here is your lamb Jerusalem! He is without spot or blemish! The ultimate perfect sacrifice. Then four days later as families around jeruselum sacrafice their spotless lamb, the Son of God is slain on the cross. So why? For you and me. For the sin that we have comitted that we can not pay for. For a way to be made that lets us recieve acess to the Father. To solve the sin problem that you and i so desperately need help solving. Praise be to God that the story doesnt end on the cross in that moment of death. Three days later our savior rises triumphantly from the grave conquering the sin and death that he took on in that moment on the cross.
John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
All it takes is accepting that free gift that Jesus offers us through his sacrafice on the cross. No matter what yiou have done he died for you. There may be someone out there right now thinking, “Oh but jackson, you don’t know what I have done. I have done some terrible things” To which I say, You have not and will not find a way to out sin the grace of God. His love and sacrafice extends to all!
In 1829 there was a man named George Wilson. He was arrested for robbing the U.S. mail service which was a severe crime back then. He was found guilty and was sentanced to be hung because of the severity of the crime. Some of his friends intervened on his behalf and so Andrew Jackson, the president at the time, wrote a pardon for George Wilson. When Geroge was informed of this amazing news though he rejected it. The sheriff did not want to hang a pardoned man and so the matter got taken all the way to the supreme court. They finially ruled that the pardon’s value depends on the person accepting it. In other words it was just a worthless piece of paper unless George accepted it. So George Wilson still refusing to accept this pardon was hung while his life-giving pardon sat on the desk of the sheriff. You have been offered a pardon. Someone has intervened on your behalf to save you from the concequence you deserve. What will you do with it?
Three different responses come to mind with this story of the cross. The first is this might be the first time you have ever heard this story. This might be the first time that you have ever heard of Jesus and the fact that he died on a Cross for you. As I was praparing for this I came across one final story I want to share with yall.
the second is that you have accepted this gift in the past but have since forgotten about it. I know I have been in this place before in my life I have there was a time when I walked away from what the Lord and forgot what he had done for me. I thought it was all about me and I could do whatever I wanted. But then in a moment similar to this unexpectedly and not deservingly the Lord reached down and touched my heart and reminded me of the Cross and reminded me of what God had done for me and I had no other choice but to accept that again and come back to the Lord
the third is that you may be hearing this you live your life by this. your life is built on the foundation of the Cross and praise God for that! May this story be an encouragement to you and a challenge for you to go out and share this among others God did not send his son down to this earth to keep this story hush hush this story is meant to be proclaimed from the rooftops of the goodness of our God to sacrifice his own son
1 John 1:5–10“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Pray
We will have prayer team surrounding the room in the back, if you need prayer if you want to talk through anything please go to them they want to come along side you in this moment. I will be in the back and would love to pray with you. God brought you here tonight for a purpose and for a reason, How is He calling you to respond tonight?
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