Magnify The Cross Of Jesus Christ! Series

Magnify the Cross of Jesus Christ!

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared November 28, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 20:17. In this verse of Scripture, Jesus has started His trip to Jerusalem to die on the cross for our sins. And by the beginning of the next chapter, the Lord will be on the outskirts of the city less than a week before the cross.

*Of course, the cross was on our Savior's mind, and in vs. 17-19 God's Word says:

17. Then Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them,

18. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,

19. and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.''

*There is a sad contrast in this section of Matthew. In our last study we covered the Lord's parable of the laborers in the vineyard and how those who were hired early in the day grumbled at the landowners grace, because he paid the same amount to those who were hired much later. That parable was prompted by Peter's question in Matthew 19:27. "Then Peter answered and said to Him, 'See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?'''

*In our next study we will see the disciples furious again about which of them would get to be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples were all focused on what they wanted to get. Jesus was focused on what He was about to give: His life on the cross for our sins! It was a sad contrast between selfishness and sacrifice.

*We all have a natural tendency to think more about what we can get, than what we can give. But in today's Scripture we will magnify the cross of Jesus Christ. And through the cross we will find the greatest things anyone can ever get. Please think about the cross, as again I read Matthew 20:17-19.

MESSAGE:

*Timothy Peck once said, "My wife committed her life to Jesus Christ while she was a junior in high school. Shortly after she became a Christian, she had a discussion with a friend who was a Jehovah's Witness. They talked about whether or not a Christian should wear a cross.

*Her friend reasoned that since the cross was the way Jesus was executed, it was totally inappropriate for someone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus to wear one. She said, 'If your brother was killed in a drive-by shooting, you wouldn't wear a silver assault rifle. If one of your ancestors had been lynched you wouldn't wear a gold noose.'" (1)

*It may seem odd to some people, but Christians, we glorify the cross of Jesus Christ! As Paul said in Galatians 6:14, "God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. . ."

*Here in Matthew 20, the suffering and death of our Lord were drawing near. In these moments, the Lord magnified His cross, and so should we.

1. MAGNIFY THE CROSS FIRST, BECAUSE IT WAS GOD'S PERFECT PLAN.

*Again in vs. 17-19, "Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.'''

*Jesus knew what was coming. Nothing takes Him by surprise. He didn't stumble into the cross. From the beginning, the cross was God's plan to save the lost. Psalm 33:11 in the NKJV says, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations."

*And the crucial key in God's plan was the cross of Jesus Christ. In Acts 4:24-28, the church was under the pressure of growing persecution, and they cried out to God in prayer, saying:

24. "Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,

25. who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: 'Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things?

26. the kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.'

27. For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together