Christ’s Commitment to the Cross

I. The Center of the Christian Faith is Jesus Christ.

A. For most in our culture Christ is at most celebrated with a couple of days.

1. Christmas is a time when we think of Him. There are cards, songs, television programs. There are cantatas, plays, stories we read. We hear the cliché “Jesus is the reason for the Season”. But even then He is crowded out with Saint Nick, elves, shopping, gifts, trees, tinsel, stress, food, family, etc.

2. Easter is a time when we think of Him. Easter is one of those weird holidays. We never get an extra day off work because it’s always on Sunday. We never really know when it is. It could be anywhere between March 22- April 25. It is the first Sunday after the Paschal (Passover) full moon, which can be up to two days different than our full moon. We have weird customs on it. Eggs and rabbits, which don’t seem to go together, are a part of it. They come from the celebrations of Ishtar, the Babylonian fertility goddess. Which explains what the rabbit and the egg symbolize. But Easter is a day when many that are not regularly involved in church show interest. New clothes are purchased, church is attended and families get together to eat and fellowship. You can also catch some pretty good programs on television about Christ during that week.

3. For the true believer Christ is celebrated every day. We don’t just think about Him two days a year. Every day we rejoice in the fact that Christ has come and He has risen. Our faith is not a two day a year pilgrimage to church. Christ is our life.

B. Jesus was the center of the disciple’s lives. We see a picture of that in verse 17. Jesus tells the disciples what they are going to do and they do it. Jesus was their Master. He was their Lord.

1. They were not following because it was easy. Verse 18 marks the third time in this Gospel that Jesus has emphatically told the disciples that he was going to die. In 16:21 He told them He was going to Jerusalem to be killed and in 17:22-23 he told them the same thing. They didn’t understand why Jesus was submitting Himself to this and they didn’t understand how it was going to happen. In fact they didn’t even want it to happen. But they kept following Him because they had left everything they had in faith that He was indeed the Savior.

2. It wasn’t easy for them to listen to Jesus speak of His death. But Jesus thought it important enough to bring it up continually. We have known people that spoke of their death often. Perhaps because of fear or maybe they want pity. We all remember Fred Sanford’s feigned heart attacks to get laments sympathy. And some of us may even have a Fred Sanford in our family that talks about their death but never seems to die! Jesus did not speak of His death out of fear or for pity. He spoke of it because of its importance. It was the Father’s business!

3. Jesus was determined to die for the sins of the world. Look at verse 18. Jesus says ‘We are going”. End of discussion. There are those that think Jesus was a victim of His own ambition. He was just too zealous, tried too hard to reform Judaism and thus became a martyr. That’s not the case. Jesus was not a reformer He is a Redeemer! He is going to Jerusalem because it is about time for the Passover and the Passover is Jerusalem is where you take the Passover Lamb to be sacrificed for your sins. Mark 10:32 tells us that as Jesus and the disciples left for Jerusalem Jesus went before them. He was out front, not hiding among the crowd, not hesitantly following the boys to Jerusalem. Jesus was leading the disciples to Jerusalem. He was like the Commander of an army leading His people into battle. A battle for the souls of men and women, boys and girls.

C. Jesus zeal for Jerusalem affected the disciples. We go to Marks Gospel to see that.

1. Mark says they were amazed. The word means “astonished’. They just could not believe that Jesus was going to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the center of Judaism. It was where the religious leaders lived and exercised most of their authority. Jesus was stepping into the enemy’s lair. The disciples knew the religious leaders wanted Jesus dead. To go to Jerusalem was basically suicide. That’s why the disciples were amazed.

2. Mark tells us that the disciples were afraid as well. They were in fear of their own lives. In fact when Thomas found out they were heading that way he said “Let us also go that we may die with Him” (John 11:16). John tells us that the disciples tried to talk Jesus out of going toward Jerusalem. They said “They want to stone you there Lord!” The disciples were under the impression that Jesus would live a long life leading them. As they thought about where following Him as leading them they were filled with fear. Because, in reality, to them, His death meant their death.

3. In the disciples defense they did follow. Though they went reluctantly, at least they went. Why? Because Jesus was their life. His teachings were not the center of their new found faith. Jesus Himself was the center of their faith. They could have left Jesus and carried His teachings. But they were not committed merely to His principles for life. They were committed to the person of Jesus. That is what Christianity is. It is a commitment to the person of Jesus, which involves His teachings, but is so much more.

II. The Sufferings of Christ are an essential part of the Faith.

A. There is no Savior without a cross.

1. Peter tried to convince Jesus that there was. In 16:21 Jesus told Peter He was going to suffer and die and Peter said “This isn’t going to happen Lord” Jesus then called Peter Satan because he was trying to thwart the plan of God, unknowingly of course. The term ‘savior” carries the idea of one that rescues. Christ did not come as merely a teacher. Think of it this way. Let’s say you are drowning and on the bank you see a swim instructor. She hollers from the bank: relax, take a deep breath, float on your back, slowly kick your feet, paddle your arms. She does you no good, you don’t need a teacher, you need a Savior. You need someone to jump into the water and come and get you. It’s too late to learn how to swim! Jesus didn’t come to merely teach us how to be righteous. It’s too late for that we are already sinners. Jesus has come as our rescuer, Savior. He jumps into the waters of God’s wrath and comes to us, saving us from the very judgment of God.

2. The Bible teaches that we are sinners and that God must punish sin. God would not be just if He just overlooked sin. Romans 3:36 says that God declares His righteousness through the cross. Through the cross he was just- He punishes sin and He is merciful- he justifies the believer. The cross is the only way that God could be both just and merciful.

3. The cross was judgment day. 1 Cor. 5:21 says “For he hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him”. Jesus never sinned but the Father treated Him as if He were a sinner on the cross. Why? So we could be made righteous. In the cross our sin is transferred to Jesus and His righteousness is transferred to us. That is the only way we could be saved. Righteousness did not have to be taught first, it had to received first. Sin could not be overlooked simply because we were sorry, it had to be punished. No Savior without a cross.

B. Christ gives us details about His sufferings.

1. There was the suffering of abandonment. Jesus said He would be betrayed. We know that Judas was involved. But Jesus was betrayed by others: He was betrayed by the Jewish nation as they cried out to Pilate ‘‘Crucify Him”, He was betrayed by the religious leaders. He was forsaken by the disciples and on the cross all he had left was the Father and in some indescribable way he was forsaken by the Father. Loneliness can be a terrible weight and no one felt loneliness more than Christ did on the Christ: Abandoned by heaven and earth!

2. There was the suffering at the hands of the Gentiles. Spit upon, slapped, punched, crown of thorns Hit with rod, beat with a whip Prophesy who hit you, Robed and bowed to “Hail king of Jews” “He saved others let him save Himself” If you’re Christ come down from cross.

3. There was the suffering of the cross. Nailed with spike in hands and feet Suffered 6 hours, death by asphyxiation. If you were there you would have probably looked at what was happening to Jesus and said “This is unnecessary”. Well, you would have been wrong. It was necessary.

C. It was the Father that bruised Christ.

1. Where was God in the cross? Was he a Spectator? One could say He was on it and be right. But understand that it was the Father that was punishing the Son for the sin of the world on the cross. The Father was engaged at the cross punishing Jesus for the sin of the world. Who punishes sin? God does. In Is. 53 the prophet describes the suffering of Jesus saying “He was bruised for our iniquities…” He goes on to say “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him…”

2. On the cross the suffering of Christ passed from the hands of men to the hand of God. At about 12:00 noon the land became dark…it was as if God was covering the eyes of the people so that they would not see what he was about to do to Christ. The earth began to quake, perhaps from the strength of God’s wrath being poured upon Jesus, the veil to the Temple tore into from top to bottom by the mighty hand of God. It was during this time that Jesus cried out “My God, My God…” I believe with all my heart that for those three hours from 12-3 God the Father punished Jesus for the sins of the world. A pain so enormous that you and I could not even begin to imagine it.

3. The Father punishing the Son is consistent with the character of God. I mean are we to think that the Father merely handed Jesus over to men or even to Satan. What would that accomplish? They would simply have their way with Him. Jesus owed man nor Satan anything at all. In fact mankind doesn’t owe Satan anything. We owe God and God is the One that Jesus satisfied. That’s what happened on the cross, Jesus allowed the father to punish him for the sins of the world.

III. The Resurrection of Christ Justifies His Claim to be the Son of God.

A. The Christian faith stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That is saying a lot. The Christian faith says “Prove one thing and we will deny our own faith. Prove that Jesus is dead and we will admit that our faith is merely a fairy tale.” No other religion makes a claim even close to that. Consider what Paul the Apostle said concerning Christ’s resurrection in 1 Cor. 15:

1. If Christ is not raised our faith is in vain. He also said our preaching is in vain. In other words, it’s useless. There are other ways to be moral, spiritual. Don’t need the Christian faith is Jesus is deed. There are plenty of other false religions to follow, just choose one of them.

2. If Christ is not raised Christians are liars. So not only is our faith in vain, but sharing it would actually make us immoral because we would be liars.

3. If Christ is not raised we are still in our sins. It doesn’t mean there is not a God it just means there is not a Savior! The promise of the angel was that Jesus would save His people from their sins. A dead Savior shows that god did not accept the sacrifice that Jesus offered for our sins. If the High Priest walked into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and didn’t come back out, because He was dead it proved that Israel’s sins had not been atoned for!

4. If Christ is not raised we have no hope. Death gets the last laugh. It makes for a pretty meaningless existence.

B. The opponents of Christ knew that His claims were contingent upon His resurrection.

1. The religious leaders did all they could do to keep Christ in the tomb. After Jesus was buried they went to Pilate and said “This guy said He would rise in three days. We think His followers are going to come steal the body. Give us some guards to guard His tomb.” They are scared of Jesus even after He is dead. Pilate tells them to use the Temple police that are already assigned to them. So they post guards and seal the tomb with an official wax seal. Anyone bothering that tomb would be in serious trouble.

2. They paid off the guards after the resurrection. Matthew 28:11 says that once Christ rose from the dead the religious leaders paid a large sum of money to the guards to lie and say that the disciples came and stole the body away. They promised the soldiers that they would talk to Pilate and make sure the soldiers didn’t get in any trouble for allowing the body to be stolen.

3. When someone wants to deny the resurrection they will find a reason to. The religious leaders were not interested in truth, they were interested in being right. They were so proud that they completely disregarded what really mattered. My friend we should all take into consideration the resurrection of Jesus and if it is true He is worth our lives!

C. Believing in His resurrection can completely transform your life. It did the disciples.

1. John. He went into the tomb of Jesus and saw the grave clothes. Three diff. types of burial in that area. Egypt embalmed, Rome/Greece cremated. Jews wrapped body in anointed linen bands stopping at the shoulders. Leaving shoulders, neck head uncovered. They then wrapped the head like a turban. When John came into the tomb he saw the grave clothes lying just like that, with a separation between the turban and the linens. Clearly Jesus had merely stepped out of the grave clothes. He was not resuscitated, He was resurrected.

2. Thomas. Did not believe at all. But he saw the wounds in the resurrected body of Jesus.

3. Peter. To him it meant forgiveness for even the most terrible of sin.

4. The charge of the resurrected Christ. “Go and tell” that is what they have done.