Lessons Learned From The Cross Series

A Journey to Calvary; His Passion our Deliverance

Lessons learned from the Cross

Am Service April 5th 2009

Luke 23:26-49

Introduction

What is the most common religious symbol in the world? In our part of the world, the most common religious symbol is the cross. You see the cross on churches. You see the cross in jewelry. What does the cross mean to you?

It wasn’t always such a popular symbol. During the days of Jesus, the cross was a symbol of shame and embarrassment, a symbol of warning and terror. The Roman Empire used the cross as a means of execution. A pole would be sunk into the ground, and if you were sentenced to crucifixion, you would be fastened to a crossbar and hung onto that pole. The cross was only reserved for slaves and robbers and assassins and rebels. As a general rule, Roman citizens wouldn’t be executed on a cross, because it was too shameful of a way to die.

To the Jews if you were crucified you were considered cursed by God. Many people get confused by the cross, they don’t understand how if Jesus is who He claimed to be, meaning God in the flesh, how could he allow the shame of the cross to take place, well that is what we will learn today, we will take a fresh look at the crucifixion of Jesus, and see what we can learn from the Cross.

One thing I want to make clear as we get into this message, is that many people wear the cross, we have a cross right here in the church, many people go too far with the cross, you see if you take the cross and worship this symbol then it has become an abomination, it is an idol, I thank God for the cross, but I praise God for the person on the cross. It is not the cross that makes Jesus special – it is Jesus that makes the cross special. If you wear a cross then that is you preference, but when we look at the cross in our church, it should serve as a reminder to us of what Jesus did for us, and again today we will learn five lessons from the cross.

Read Scriptures: Luke 23:26-49

I. The Cross teaches us that, it was a necessary Death

Vs. 34 “Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.”

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God”

Hebrews 9:22 “In fact, the law of God requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

Hebrews 9:28a “So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people…”

We get emotional when we think about the cross and the punishment that Jesus endured, and as well we should, but we must understand that without the cross we would all be destined to hell.

It was very much a necessary death, because you and I are sinners from birth, we are all unrighteous, and we need grace and mercy from almighty God because of our sin, and by Jesus’ death on the cross, because of His perfection and righteousness God in His grace has granted us the righteousness of Christ.

It doesn’t come automatic, it must be a conscious decision to follow Christ, there must be a time in your life when you realized you sinful state, and the depravity of your soul, and you knelt before Jesus as Lord and received the forgiveness of you sins, and the salvation of your soul.

It was a necessary death because I could never do enough good on my own to earn the favor of God. Romans 3:10-11 “there is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.”

The cross was necessary because it was the only way you and I could ever be right with God. We tend to think that when the crowd was yelling “Crucify Him, Crucify Him”, that we would have defended Jesus, but realizing what the cross provided for us, we should join in the crowd and yell “Crucify Him, Crucify Him”, because it was for our benefit that Jesus was crucified, it was a necessary death.

II. The Cross teaches us that, some will refuse Jesus

Vs. 35-39 “The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself." There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”