B. We see Christ on the way to the Cross throughout the Word of God
1. Abraham offering Isaac (God will provide)
a) Isaac carried his own wood for the sacrifice to Mount Moriah
Genesis 22:8
b) That lamb was Jesus on His way to the Cross
2. Daniel in Lions Den
a) 800 Years
b) Later Jesus Shuts the Lions Mouths
3. Three Hebrew Children
II. The Purpose of the cross
A. Restore fellowship with man
1. Man had sinned in the Garden of Eden and broke fellowship with God and man
2. Who wanted fellowship God or man
a) God made man to fellowship with Him
3. When Adam and Eve disobeyed and took a bite a war began in Heaven.
a) God’s justice began to war with His mercy
b) God’s justice said the soul that sinneth it shall die but his mercy said I want him for fellowship
c) God’s justice said but he sinned and he has got to be punished but God’s mercy said but I love him and I want him back
d) The war waged on for centuries
e) Justice and mercy are both a part of God’s character
B. One day born in the mind of Eternal God He said I know what I will do I will send my Son my only Son down on that sin cursed earth as a ransom for man
1. While God’s mercy and justice were warring, just outside Jerusalem God’s justice and God’s mercy met on Mt Calvary on an old Rugged Cross and they kissed each other and God’s Justice said the price has been paid and God’s mercy said Hallelujah I can take him back
2. Just at the time that God could take man back man doesn’t want to come back
C. The purpose of the cross was to bridge the gap between God and man
III. The pain of the cross
A. He had been betrayed by Judas Iscariot they came and got Him in the Garden and began to spit on Him and mock Him
1. They took Him and He was ordered to be scourged
2. Many man died beneath the scourge A big Roman Soldier who was trained only to do this one thing would take that scourge with was a bunch of leather throngs that had pieces of bone, metal, glass and pottery tied along the strands and he would dip this down in sheep’s blood and tie their hands together and hang them on a ring were they were standing on their tiptoes where the muscles on their back and side would be drawn as tight as they possible could be drawn and he would take that whip dipped in sheep’s blood which acted as glue would rare back and as hard as he could wrap that whip around the body of Christ and then drag it back across His body where it would rip the flesh and he would do this 39 times where there would be no flesh on the back of the individual and literally the intestines would be exposed Many men died on at the scourging but not Jesus for He was destined to die on a Cross. He was bleeding from the top of His head to the bottom of His feet
B. They placed a robe on Him
1. That cloth would coagulate with the blood like a band aid placed on a cut His whole body was one big gigantic sore
2. It was like that but a giant bandage on Him and it mixed in with the blood
3. They spat on Him they kicked Him they hit Him
C. They hammered a crown of thorns on His head
1. Those thorns began to pierce the skin down to the skull
2. They Mocked Him more
3. They said Prophesy King
D. Then they ripped the robe off of Him
1. The blood had been allowed to clot with the material
2. Once again opening up very sore and every gash
E. They placed to cross members of the cross upon His back
1. Splinters on the rugged wood
2. Penetrating the open wound
F. They laid Him on the cross
1. Drove spikes though His hands and feet to hold Him on the cross
2. The only way anyone could breathe on the cross would be to raise themselves up with their feet
3. They lifted the cross up and moved it over to that deep hole that had been dug.
4. The cross now was allowed to fall into the hole and when it hit the bottom with a thud, could you imagine the pain
5. He would raise Himself up to get a breath to say those words on the cross
G. The Words
1. My God why hast thou forsaken me (He became our sin)
2. It is finished (His blood lowed to the timbers of that old rugged cross and whispered it is finished, the cross spoke to the ground to the grass to the trees to the clouds to the planets to a distant start to the angels to God YOUR MAJESTY WE JUST GOT THE MESSAGE FROM CALVARY
IV. THe price of the cross
A. Man had tried to reach Heaven
1. They tried to build a tower
B. Jesus came down
1. From the heights of divinity to the depths of humanity
2. From the adoration of heaven to the abomination of hearth
3. From the blessings of heaven to the bruises of earth
4. From the coronation of heaven to the condemnation of earth
5. From the glory place of heaven to the gory place of Calvary
6. From the majesty of heaven to the misery of earth
7. From the praise of heaven to the persecution of earth
8. From the rejoicing of heaven to the reviving of this earth
9. some much God that he rested in eternity in the bosom of His Father without a mother so much man that he entered into time in the bosom of His mother without an earthly father
