Blood and Timber We Remember

READ MARK 15:22-37.

We often hear and read this text at this time every year…

We read it to remember

We are here tonight to do the same…to REMEMBER…Remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ

What better way to remember than to get a first person account of the crucifixion…

Where do we find that?

In Psalm 22.

Written by the Holy Spirit…through King David…to give us a first person glimpse of what it felt like to bear the sins of the world on a cross…

Church…This is Jesus speaking from the cross…listen to your Lord speak as He dies for you…

READ PSALM 22.

You just got a first hand look at the crucifixion of Christ…

Taking on a death that He didn’t deserve…

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This is the death that we deserved…That Jesus took…and we recieved righteousness…

BUT WE DESERVED THIS CROSS…WE WERE THE GUILTY…

We deserved separation He felt (v1-2)

“you are so far from me!”

“you do not answer”

SIN HAS DIVIDED!!! WE DESERVED THIS!!!

Not only that HE TOOK ON OUR IDENTITY!

We deserved the sinners identity (v6-7)

“I am a worm”

“Scorned and mocked by man”

“Despised” (Like a criminal)

That should be our identity…HIS IS HOLY AND ENTHRONED ON PRAISES!!!

BUT He took on our sinful identity and He took it all the way to the cross

WHERE HE SUFFERED OUR DEATH…

We deserved the suffering (v11-18)

LOOK AT THE SUFFERING HE TOOK FOR US!!!!

“Alone”

“Bones out of joint” (stretched across the timbers)

“Pierced hands and feet” (nailed to those timbers)

“I am poured out like water” (being emptied of all strength)

“heart melted like wax” (His life is fading….No strength left)

“tongue sticks to His jaw” (thirsty)

BUT HE TOOK ALL OF IT FOR US!!!!

AND HERE IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO SEE!!!!

THIS WASN’T BY HAPPENSTANCE …NOT AN ACCIDENT!!!

REMEMBER…Jesus cries out… “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” …“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?””

Look at how the Jews standing at the cross respond…

Mark 15:35 “And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.””

Why would they say this??

BECAUSE they know these words…these men know Psalm 22 better than anyone today…

They know when these words are spoken they are to expect Elijah to come and usher in the Messiah…

Why?

Because the entire Old Testament told them!!!

Psalm 22 written almost 1000 years before the crucifixion of Jesus…

THE GREATEST DESCRIPTION OF A CRUCIFIXION (written 937 yers prior to Rome bringing crucifixion as a form of execution)

Zechariah 12:10 Written 520 years before the crucifixion

““…when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him…

Isaiah 53. (Written 700 years before the crucifixion)

“Despised and rejected by men”

“He who carried our sorrows”

“Pierced for our transgressions”

“The Lord laid upon Him the iniquity of us all”

“Although He had no violence…No deceit was in His mouth”

“His soul makes an offering for guilt”

“His chastisement brought us peace”

“By His wounds we are healed”

JESUS IS LETTING THE JEWS STANDING AT THE CROSS AND US IN THE WORLD TODAY KNOW “I AM THE MAN OF PSALM 22”

I AM THE ONE FROM ZECHARIAH 12

I AM THE MAN OF SORROWS FROM ISAIAH 53…

COME TO SAVE YOU FROM YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS

I AM THE MESSIAH!!!

I AM THE LORD!!!

“THIS IS THE PLAN”…

to die for the sins of the world…to take on our penalty for us…

For thousands of years he foretold it…

through pillars of fire and smoke…

Through Kings and prophets…

The day finally came!!!

AND…

John 19:30 “ he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Tonight…WE REMEMBER THE FINISHED WORK ON THE CROSS…

OUR SIN ATONED FOR…

OUR PENALTY TAKEN ON BY ANOTHER…

THANK YOU JESUS FOR THE CROSS…

We are going to enter into a time of Communion…

Where Jesus himself tells us to remember…

Remember His body broken…for us…

Remember His blood poured out…for us…

Tonight we are going to reflect on that…and for those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus…

We are going to reflect on exactly how His death transformed us…

Each of you has a card and a red pen that you got when you came in tonight …

I want you to take some time to reflect and remember what Jesus did for you…

Then I want you to write down the sins in your life that Jesus bore on the cross…

The sins that you have struggled with or are still maybe struggling with…

That Jesus has already paid for… (FILL THIS CARD UP!!!)

***Now …He bore all sin on the cross…so you could write down everything…

But this is a testimony of how the gospel has transformed you…

Throughout 2025 we will display these…so everyone who walks through our doors knows…

THAT JESUS CAN SAVE YOU FROM ANY AND EVERY SIN…ANYTHING YOU HAVE DONE…NOT GREATER THAN HIM!!!

(HOLD UP AND READ YOUR CARD!) (GREED, GLUTTONY, IDOLATRY, ADDICTION, PORN, ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, PILLS, HATE, ANXIETY

SO take this time to do this…when your done come lay down your cards on this table…

Take up the bread and cup and we will take communion together as a body this evening…

COMMUNION

In the Gospel of Luke (CH 22) Jesus is gathered together with the disciples on the night He was to be betrayed…Hours before He would give himself up for us…He sits down to the passover dinner (the day the passover must be killed) and says this to His disciples…

Luke 22:19 And he (Jesus) took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

TAKE AND EAT

Luke 22:20  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. (Do this in remembrance of me)

TAKE AND DRINK

PRAY

(Stand with us church…as we worship our way to Sunday…Remember what Jesus did for you on this day almost 2000 years ago…lift Him up in praise…THANK YOU JESUS FOR THE CROSS!)