Good Friday: The Cross, Humility, and Hope

Scripture Reading: Luke 23:32-43

Introduction

Filler

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Problem

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Transition

The cross shows the horror of pride.

If you look carefully at this story, you will see the horror of pride. There are three people or groups of people who mock the Lord Jesus. The leaders are the first group in Luke 23:35

Luke 23:35 CSB

35 The people stood watching, and even the leaders were scoffing: “He saved others; let him save himself if this is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One!”

The soldiers are the second group to mock him in Luke 23:36-37

Luke 23:36–37 CSB

36 The soldiers also mocked him. They came offering him sour wine 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”

The criminal hanging to one side of Jesus also mocked him in Luke 23:39

Luke 23:39 CSB

39 Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

Notice that all three of these groups tell Jesus to think about himself. The leaders say, “Save yourself!” The soldiers say, “Save yourself!” The criminal said to Jesus, “Save yourself!” The greatest benefit to Satan at the cross would have been for Jesus to think of himself. “Save yourself!”

What is pride? Pride is an unhealthy, elevated view of oneself. Could Jesus have saved himself at the cross? He could have! Take a look at Matthew 26:52-54. Jesus is in the garden on his way to the cross, and one of his disciples, Peter, takes out a sword to do battle. Look at what Jesus says.

Matthew 26:52–54 CSB

52 Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will provide me here and now with more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”

Jesus never elevated himself above his Father’s will, above his Father’s plan. He never succumbed to pride.

But pride is the natural state of humanity. We seek to put ourselves above God’s will constantly. The world constantly says, “Save yourself!” The world wants you to put yourself above God’s will.

What does putting yourself above God’s will look like? God is an orderly God. He has put the the world in order, and he knows how a human should live. He created humans, and knows what is best for us. Yet, the world will constantly say that it knows better than God. God created us male and female, yet the world will tell you that you can be whatever gender you choose. God joined a man and a woman together in marriage, yet the world will tell you that marriage can be whatever you choose. God gives a way to live, but the world will tell you to live how you feel.

Sin is an ugly thing, and a sensitive thing. It’s also something that humans are prone to. Whatever your sin is, we all have sin. Yet if Jesus had succumbed to Satan’s temptation at the cross, to save himself, the end result would have been that none of us would have been saved. The cross shows the horror of pride.

Second,

The cross shows our need for humility.

Jesus is on the cross between two criminals. One criminal chooses the way of the world, of pride, scoffing at Jesus. But look at the other criminal. As the one criminal scoffs at Jesus, the other criminal says in Luke 23:40-41

Luke 23:40–41 CSB

40 But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? 41 We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

The criminal exposes a humility within him to acknowledge his need to fear God. He says to the criminal, “Don’t you even fear God?” With the other criminal, pride is eating him up at his last minutes before death. Yet this criminal that is speaking, this one in his last breaths is showing humility about who he is.

What is humility? It is to have more of an accurate self-perception. It is the opposite of pride. Look at how the criminal describes the situation. “We are undergoing the same punishment as Jesus. We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we have done. But Jesus has done nothing wrong.”

Humility gives you an accurate view of yourself before God. It is to say, “God, I have messed up in life.” Humility begins when we learn to fear God. Look at Proverbs 15:33

Proverbs 15:33 CSB

33 The fear of the Lord is what wisdom teaches, and humility comes before honor.

The fear of the Lord will drive you to realize who Christ is. This criminal at the cross sees who Jesus is. He is someone who has done nothing wrong! At the cross, with arms spread wide, he is forgiving people. He is withstanding mocking, and he is humbling himself under the Father’s plan.

We are in desperate need of the fear of God. One minister said it this way:

Christian Quotations Fear

It is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of man.

The fear of God allows our minds and our hearts to humble ourselves before our Creator. Just as a baby knows it needs its mother for nutrition, a person who fears God knows they need God.

The fear of God causes a person to submit in humility to God, knowing that we are not God. There is a God who is greater than us, and whom we need to follow. The cross shows our need for humility.

Last

The cross shows the hope of a future in Christ.

State the point; Anchor the point; Validate the point; Explain the point

The criminal turns his attention to Jesus, and asks him a question. And Jesus, with all of the pain that it took to speak with a body that was tattered and pierced, took the time to answer him with a promise. Look at Luke 23:42-43

Luke 23:42–43 CSB

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The criminal knows that Jesus has done nothing wrong. And he expresses faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the King of Israel. Jesus is the promised King, and he is establishing his kingdom. He says, “Jesus, remember me.” What a beautiful expression of faith!

Jesus’ response is amazing. These are some of the last statements he makes on the cross, yet he uses some of the last energy in his dying body to make a promise to a criminal on a cross. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

This is the power of the cross. Jesus goes to the cross. He hangs on that cross for the sins of the world. He had done nothing wrong! There was no more expression of power than to go to the cross to do the will of the Father, taking on your punishment, taking on my punishment, so that we don’t have to. He took on the sins of the world on the cross.

It is because of his sacrifice that a criminal, like you and like me, someone who has broken the law of God, who has not lived in the fear of God, who has lived a proud and selfish life, who has rejected God, this criminal, can have freedom in Jesus.

Sins are chains that keep us bound up. The cross breaks those chains, and gives us freedom in Christ.

The cross shows our need for humility and the hope of a future in Christ.

The Bible says that when we put our faith in Christ, because of what he did for us on the cross, we can be set free.

As it says in this song we are about to sing,

My chains are gone I've been set free

My God my Savior has ransomed me