Lessons From The Cross - Part 2: Trust In The Lord With All Your Heart! Series

Lessons from the Cross

Part 2: Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart!

John 19:16-30

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - June 20, 2018

(Revised June 11, 2020)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 19. Here we are taking an in-depth look at the darkest day in human history: The day that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. But Christians, we know that the Lord's sacrificial death was God's perfect plan for salvation, and we rejoice in the miraculous mercy of the cross. By dying on the cross, our risen Savior fully paid the price for our sins! Thank God for the cross of Jesus Christ!

*Tonight, we will take a closer look at the events in this chapter and see some great reasons why we should trust in the Lord. Let's get started by reading John 19:16-30.

MESSAGE:

*Who do you trust? I trust my wife. And I know many good, godly Christians I would trust with my money, my children and my life. But standing over and above all, we can trust in the Lord our God! The cross of Jesus Christ proves that forever. I trusted Jesus as my Lord and Savior almost 45 years ago. And though I have failed Him many times in those years, He has never failed me once. And He has blessed me beyond measure.

*We can always trust in the Lord, and we should! Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to "trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

*You will never get better guidance than that. And as long as we are in this world, God has us in His "school of wisdom," learning to trust Him more and more, in every situation we face.

*The Lord wants us to have bold confidence in Him, total trust, tenacious trust, sticking to the Lord like Super-Glue, and not letting go for any reason. Tonight's Scripture can help us have that kind of trust in the Lord.

1. SO FIRST: TRUST IN THE LORD FOR HIS CROSS.

*We can always trust in the cross of Jesus Christ! Verses 16-18 say this about our Savior:

16. So he (Pilate) delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.

17. And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,

18. where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.

*The Bible says that Jesus was bearing His cross, but it was really our cross wasn't it? Yes, it was in a very real way. I say that because it was certainly our sin. It was certainly our death that Jesus took on the cross.

[1] JESUS DIED ON THAT CROSS FOR OUR SIN, AND THAT REMINDS US: NO CROSS; NO PARDON.

*Imagine what it would be like to go through all eternity without God's pardon, -- to forever bear your guilt and punishment. How would you like to be punished for every sin you ever committed? Even one sin would bring more punishment than we could stand. And Christians: That's where we would surely be without the cross of Jesus Christ.

[2] NO CROSS, NO PARDON. AND NO CROSS; NO PEACE.

*No peace with God, no peace in our hearts, no peace in the storms of life. But in the cross of Jesus Christ we can find total pardon and peace. That's the greatest reason for totally trusting in the Lord, so always remember the cross.

*Malinda Fillingim told about a mom and her little girl going to the zoo one day. For some reason, the little girl began to count the crosses on the churches they passed.

*She was counting out loud. Then she paused and asked, "Mom, how many times did Jesus die?"

-"One time dear," her mother answered.

-"Then why are there so many crosses?" the little girl asked.

-Her mother replied, "To help us remember how much Jesus loved us, and that He died on a cross for us."

*Her little girl thought about it for a moment and asked, "How could we ever forget something like that?" (1)

*Well, we couldn't, and we shouldn't. But when we get preoccupied with everyday issues and concerns, the most important things can get put on the back shelves of our minds. But we must never forget the cross of Christ, and never get over the cross of Christ.

*You may have heard of Garrison Keillor on NPR. He was the creator behind the weekly radio show "A Prairie Home Companion." Keillor told the story of his Thanksgiving dinners as a child. His Uncle John usually gave the prayer, and that caused everyone to squirm.