The Message Of The Cross

Open with a greeting and word of encouragement and then PRAY!

Have communion time

Remind everyone about the giving options

REMIND EVERYONE THAT THE BUILDING IS CLOSED AND THAT EVERYONE IS TO REMAIN WITHIN THEIR VEHICLES, WITH THEIR WINDOWS ROLLED UP AND JUST LISTEN AND READ THE WORD TOGETHER. (Also that I will be very conscientious about the time and thus NOT hold everyone for a long period!)

In last Sunday’s live stream message, I talked about the “abiding HOPE” of the believer and of how every true Christian should have and be living in this this amazing gift of God. I mentioned that in the time and the life of Jesus the Christ, last Sunday would have been what we call, the “Triumphant Entry” of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem, or “Palm Sunday”.

The reason that I made specific mention as to the exact day and time in the life of our Lord, was to point out that Jesus knew exactly where He was headed and what He was about to do for us all, in a matter of a few short days within that last week.

He road in to the city that day, being hailed by the people as a king, only to be labeled as a criminal and an insurrectionist later that week by some of the very same people and with the demand that He be crucified by the Romans.

In speaking about the last week of our Messiah and the dreaded suffering that He was about to endure, I also stressed the point that right now, in this nation and all around the world, millions of people are fearful and going through some difficult times.

Times that many regard as trying times and turbulent times of suffering.

I paralleled the last week of our Lord’s earthly ministry (one that was a time of great suffering and persecution for Him), to the week that we were heading into this past week and of how many people were having struggles and hardships and trials.

And in saying that, I stressed to everyone that going through trials and hardships and various levels of suffering, are a part of the Christian walk and that we are to draw closer to the Lord in these times and allow Him to strengthen us, so that we will be able to handle greater trials down the road!

And one of the main reasons that we are to count it as a joy, when we go through difficult times and various trials that test our faith, is because it equips us to help others do the same thing.

Listen to the words of the great Apostle Paul, to the church of Corinth, II Corinthians 1:3-7,

2 Corinthians 1:3–7 NLT

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.

God, in His great wisdom and mercy, showers us with His amazing grace during hard and trying times in our lives, so that we can then be a source of comfort to others, as they go through various trials and hardships in their own lives! AMEN?!!!!

That being said, today, Resurrection Sunday, we would be at the end of that last week in the life of the Christ.

Today, we would find the stone rolled away and the tomb of our Lord would be found empty, praise God! The empty tomb is in fact, the proof of God’s acceptance of the payment of the blood of the Christ.

If Jesus had not walked out of that tomb almost 2,000 years ago, we would be lost for all eternity and as Paul said, we should be most pitied.

I Corinthians 15:17-19 says,

1 Corinthians 15:17–19 NLT

And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

But I love the very next couple of verses in that same passage, where Paul gives affirmation and conformation to the believers in Christ, when he says in verses 20-21, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man.”

Praise be to our great God and Savior, because on that third day, the stone was rolled back and the body of Yeshua the Messiah, walked out of that tomb and would forever be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

And because Jesus walked out of that tomb victorious, the Bible says, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

And today, Christians all over the world, celebrate the glorious Resurrection of our Lord and King!!

Well this morning, I want us to look back a couple of days from this same day, 2,000 years ago and to the day on which Jesus was marched through the city of Jerusalem, after having been scourged by the Roman lictors and mocked and beaten and after having the “crown” of thorns smashed down onto His head. The day on which Jesus was lead to a place called “Golgotha”, which means, “Place of a Skull”.

The day which I am speaking of, is of course, the day of His crucifixion.

This was to be the day that Jesus would drink of the cup of the wrath of His Father.

The wrath that was reserved for the sins of every man and woman and child that was, or ever would be!

This day, was the day that was prophesied of, all the way back at fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, where the Lord God said to the devil in Genesis 3:15,

Genesis 3:15 NASB95

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

God said from the beginning that He was sending a savior, to redeem us back!

Listen to what Peter says to you and I in I Peter 1:18-20,

1 Peter 1:18–20 NLT

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.

Everyone say that last verse with me, but instead of saying, “God chose Him as “your” ransom...”, I want you to say with me, “God chose Him as “MY” ransom...” (HAVE EVERYONE SAY IT TOGETHER)

I want to specifically look at one particular area on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus. I want us to briefly look at the “Seven Statements of the Cross” and with particular focus on one of those statements!

From the gospel of John, we read of the seven “I Am” statements that Jesus made of Himself, throughout His brief earthly ministry, declaring who He was and what He was to the world.

“I am the bread of life.”

“I am the light of the world.”

“I am the door of the sheep.”

“I am the resurrection and the life.”

“I am the good shepherd.”

“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

“I am the true vine.”

And within these 7 declarations, Jesus was showing His divinity and His authority and power as the true Son of Yahweh!

Well, upon the cross of Calvary, Jesus showed us His true humanity, alongside of His divine nature and His great love for us, as seen through the 7 statements that the gospels record Him saying.

Think about your life and more specifically, about the end of your life. If you were about to die, what would be the last statements that you would like to have accredited to yourself as having said?

And I’m talking about in a normal, natural death scenario, where you are dying and you have some control over the way that you exit this life.

Who someone is and what’s inside of their heart can most definitely manifest in those last words that are breathed out by an individual as death closes in.

Let me read you a few final statements from some famous people and of how they will be remembered by their last words.

Jack Daniel - “One last drink, please.”

Karl Marx (philosopher, economist, historian, journalist, atheist and “father of socialism) - “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough!”

Vincent van Gogh - “The sadness will last forever.”

Charles Darwin - “I am not the least afraid to die.”

Steve Jobs - “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”

These statements came from people who large and in part, were about to leave this world and enter into eternity, either from sickness, or of their own volition and suicide.

But what about a situation where someone is totally innocent and is being executed for something they didn’t do and in fact, the guilty party are the very ones killing the innocent one?

How would that situation change the statements of the person who was about to die?

You have seen and heard of those who have been convicted of a crime that was punishable by execution and of how the person that was convicted continually pleaded innocence up to the day that they were killed.

A man in Texas was tried and convicted for the killing of his three young daughters, by setting their house on fire. His conviction was based upon faulty forensic technology which said that the fire was started by arson. Multiple fire science experts examined the case and said that he should not have been found at fault and that there was absolutely NO PROOF of his having set the fire! They even stated that the conviction was based upon “flawed science” There was no real evidence to convict this man, and yet that is exactly what happened. He was executed in 2004!

He claimed complete innocence up until the day of his execution and on that day, his last words were, “Please clear my name. I DID NOT kill my children!”

So, if that were you or I and we were being falsely accused of crimes which we didn’t commit and sentenced to die for those crimes, what would be our response?

What would be our last words to those who were getting ready to end our lives?

And especially if we knew that those who were guilty of what we were being accused of, were the ones who were going to be executing us!!

How would that altar or change our statements as we were about to die?

So, let’s turn our attention to the day of the crucifixion of Jesus and of the 7 Statements that He made from the cross.

In Luke 23:32-34, the Bible tells us, “Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.”

This is the first recorded statement that Jesus made once He was placed upon the cross.

Look at the enormous amount of love that is seen from this opening statement from the Son of God, as He cried out to His Father!

You have to picture the whole scene in your mind to grasp its weight and beauty!

Jesus had just been nailed to the cross most likely and the beam upon which He was nailed was lifted up and dropped into the hole that was there for the cross to rest in.

And with that movement, would have come an excruciating amount of pain and suffering as His body pulled and ripped against the spikes that were now impaling and holding Him against the rough, splintered beams of the cross!

And upon either side of Him, were insurrectionists, criminals who were also being executed that day.

Jesus’ mind is struggling to hold consciousness and not go into shock, due to the large loss of blood that He had incurred from the Roman scourging.

Not to mention the other beatings He had received hours before and also the extreme fatigue from the walk to Golgotha and carrying the heavy beam that He just already endured.

All of this which took place throughout the night and into the morning and without any rest or sleep!

And so, here is our Lord, focusing His every thought upon the task at hand and beginning the process that would take several hours, of paying the enormous price for our sins upon the man made altar, that was a Roman cross!

And in this initial moment upon the cross, as His physical pain and suffering, which were only increasing, were now being paired up with His spiritual torment as He was undergoing the process of redemption and taking our sins upon His own body, we find Jesus crying out to His Father and asking that God FORGIVE the people, because they didn’t understand what they were doing!

This plea to the Father was not a decree that the people were innocent or ignorant of their wrong doings to Him.

All parties involved in the crucifixion of Jesus, were guilty of their sins and they were fully aware of the innocence of the life that they were taking.

In fact, the Romans were cruel and actually enjoyed torturing their victims, in such a manner. They could have cared less as to His plight or level of innocence or guilt. He was placed into their hands and they enjoyed the task that they had been given!

This can be seen as the Roman soldiers made a game of the whole thing and stooped at the foot of the cross and gambled for the garments that belonged to Jesus!

So they were not innocent as to what they were doing. They were murderers who had been legal freedom to torture and kill.

Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, had already stated that he found NO GUILT in Jesus, and he, being a Roman leader, most likely hated the Jews and could have cared less about this man. Yet, even Pilate knew that Jesus was completely innocent of the charges that brought against Jesus by the Jewish leaders!

And as to the Jewish leaders, they had to hold an illegal trial in the middle of the night and bring in false accusers against Jesus, because they had NO REAL WITNESSES of any wrong doings on His part. All of this, just to justify their hatred of our Lord and so they could have something that they could use to provoke Pilate to sentence Jesus to death.

The Jewish leader, Herod Antipas, who himself, wanted Jesus dead, found no fault in Jesus when he examined Him.

In fact Herod ho no trouble killing people, innocent or not, as he had already had John the Baptist beheaded, to appease his evil wife.

Herod, after questioning Jesus, found no fault in Him and sent Him back to Pilate.

You see, Jesus, becoming the Passover Lamb of God, had to be found spotless by the priests, in order to be offered as a sacrificial lamb upon the altar.

And that is exactly what happened. The priests examined the Lamb and could find no fault in Him, so they had to lie and have false accusers come against Jesus and then bring Him before the Roman leader for execution!

And so, Jesus, being found with NO FAULT, from all parties involved, was sentenced to die the death of the most horrific fashion known to mankind!

In fact, death by crucifixion was usually reserved for punishing slaves and for those found guilty of sedition and rebellion against Rome.

Even one Roman politician said this of “crucifixion”, he said it was the “most cruel and hideous of tortures.”

And that is where we find Jesus, in Luke 23:34. He is hanging between two guilty criminals and dying the most horrible form of death and humiliation known to mankind and all the while, Jesus was COMPLETELY INNOCENT!

Isaiah 53 is what is called the prophecy of the suffering servant, and in verse 12, it says this about the crucifixion of Jesus, almost 700 years before Jesus was even born, “Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

That is exactly what we see Jesus doing upon the cross as He was hanging between two criminals, even before the full weight of our sins was upon Him and the complete payment for our sins was made on the cross, He was interceding for the transgressors and pleading for their forgiveness!

Jesus wasn’t asking His Father to ignore the sins of the people, nor was He saying that the people were innocent of their actions, or that they were completely ignorant of their actions.

The Jewish leaders knew Jesus was innocent and lied about His guilt, the Romans knew that He was innocent and still killed Him, to keep political peace.

And even the crowds that cheered for Him to die, were simply weak minded, dumb sheep, who followed the lead of others.

Many of these same people had cheered just days before and hailed Jesus as the coming king and savior of the people as He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey!

And possibly some of these same people had been healed, or even delivered at the hands of Jesus in the months and years that preceded this event!

Jesus was crying out for His Father to FORGIVE them!

Even though they were murdering God’s own son and mocking Jesus and thus ultimately mocking God in their ignorance and disbelief, He was doing the very thing that He Himself taught in Luke 6:27-28, where He said,

Luke 6:27–28 NLT

“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.

Even one of the two thieves that hung beside Jesus decreed the innocence of Jesus. In Luke 23:39-41, we read, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

They say that there is honor and honesty among thieves, well here it is being shown in this passage. When you’re standing at death’s door and staring it in the face, what better time to be honest and come clean.

But this man doesn’t cry out of his innocence, or his friend’s innocence. NO.........rather, he decrees that Jesus was innocent!

And it’s in this dialogue between the thieves, that we first see the work of the cross happen.

Jesus cried out to the Father to “forgive them”, but His energy and His now precious breath could have been spared and He could have just whispered or mumbled the petition.

He cried out aloud so that everyone could hear and that for all time after, everyone would know the reason and the work of the cross of Calvary................FORGIVENESS!

And in the thief beside Jesus, we find out exactly how the process of the FORGIVENESS of God MUST work.

The thief, who was earlier mocking Jesus, as Matthew tells us that the two robbers were insulting and mocking Him along with the religious leaders, he suddenly changed!

WHY? HOW? In one moment, upon hearing the words of Jesus and of seeing and witnessing His great love and mercy for those who were mocking Him and killing Him, the thief realized who and what Jesus was!

And as soon as the thief realized who and what Jesus was, then he realized who Jesus was calling out to when He asked for the Father to FORGIVE the actions of the people.

And in that moment, this thief, this sinner, became aware of a reality that we all must come to, before we can gain the FORGIVENESS of God..........he was a sinner!

This man’s eyes were opened and he saw that Jesus was the Lord and right after he rebuked his companion he turned to Jesus and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

That was it! He didn’t go into a long list of all of his faults and sins and struggles as a man. He only had to realize and believe in who and what Jesus was and is and then call out to Him to save Him!

And in that moment, Jesus said to the thief, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

That was it! The process was complete! The work of the cross had started and it had claimed its first victory!

A repentant sinner had cried out to his Savior and the fresh flowing blood of the cross was applied to his life and to his sin and it was INSTANTLY washed away and he was found forgiven.

Not only forgiven, but also given an instant welcome into the kingdom of God, by the Son of God, Himself!

And that is amazing beauty of the cross, its offering of FORGIVENESS!

Jesus cried out from the cross and asked for forgiveness to be given and it started the process, right then and there, as the thief yielded and repented and became the first recipient of the FORGIVENESS of the cross, through the shed blood of Jesus! In fact, upon the death of Jesus, when He breathed His last breath and announced His work was finished, a centurion who was standing guard at the cross, watching Jesus was changed in that moment, as he announced, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

That word, FORGIVENESS, is the message of the cross of Calvary!

And since Jesus walked out of that tomb, 2,000 years ago today, that message has been declared to every nation and in every tongue!

You see the message of the cross going to work, just 50 days after the resurrection, on the day of Pentecost, where Peter tells all of the people who could hear him that they had crucified the Son of God.

And instantly, upon realizing who and what Jesus was, the people cried out, “What shall we do?”

Peter announced the message of the cross to them and said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the FORGIVENESS of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

And that very day, 3,000 people repented and found FORGIVENESS for their sins!

You see friends, Jesus became forsaken on the cross for you and I, so that in Him, we might find FORGIVENESS for our sin and enter into the kingdom of His Father!

That is why Jesus fulfilled the prophetic statement from the cross, as He felt the full weight of our sins upon Him and as His Father had to turn away and allow the payment to be made, when Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus became forsaken for our sins, so that we wouldn’t have to be forsaken and could find forgiveness!

In fact, in II Corinthians 4:8-9, Paul reminds us that because Jesus finished the work of the cross, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but NOT FORSAKEN; struck down, but not destroyed.”

The two greatest “three word” sentences in all of creation, can be found in the same section of the Bible and they are why we are here celebrating together today. Those two sentences are: “IT IS FINISHED” and “HE HAS RISEN”!

And because of those two sentences being declared, we have FORGIVENESS from the Father and we also have the amazing good news of the Gospel message to share with everyone around us!

I will close with these passages, that I posted last night after midnight, that we should all take to heart today:

I Corinthians 1:18,

1 Corinthians 1:18 NKJV

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Romans 1:16,

Romans 1:16 NKJV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

The message of the cross is the power of God for salvation to all who believe and I am not ashamed of that message, because through that message, I have found the mercy and the grace and love and the FORGIVENESS of almighty God!!

SINCE YOU’RE IN YOUR CARS, I WON’T SAY “YELL” IF YOU LOVE THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS OF CALVARY. SO, INSTEAD I WILL SAY, “HONK IF YOU LOVE THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS OF CALVARY!”