Nailed To The Cross

NAILED TO THE CROSS (Palm Sunday Message)

Acts 2:22-24

INTRODUCTON

This week begins what we call “Easter Week” and my message comes from a not so typical place for an Easter Message

Today is Palm Sunday, the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem with all the people shouting “HOSANNA, blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord” Matt 21:19

Hosanna means “save us”

They were expecting a worldly king to establish an earthly kingdom and to come and rescue them

When that didn’t happen, these same people are the ones that cried out “Crucify Him” and demanded the release of a thief and murder named Barabbas

It should have been Barabbas who was nailed to the cross...Jesus took his place

Pilate wanted no part of this man…so he washed his hands thinking he was innocent and clean

Yet, Pilate did not understand that he was only fulfilling what God had foreordained

That His Only Son Jesus was to be “NAILED TO THE CROSS”

This morning as we begin Easter Week, I want us to look at

1. Why Jesus was nailed to the Cross.

2. How Jesus was nailed to the Cross

3. What kept Jesus nailed to the Cross

Read Acts 2:22-24 / Pray

Trans: First, let’s look at…

1. Why Jesus was Nailed to the Cross

We must go back to the beginning of the Old Testament

Turn to Gen 1:26, 27, & 31

God said that all that He had created was good…but after man…very good

Why did God create man in the first place?

God made man for His good pleasure to live with Him forever

But, Gen 3 tells us that one day, in the Garden of Eden, SIN was born and that sin separated man from God

Man had to leave the Garden God had created for Him because God and sin could not be together

And because of that Sin, man was cursed from that day forward…but even then we see God already preparing the “Seed of Redemption” in Gen 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your

offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The bible calls the separation between God and man a great “chasm” in Luke 16

Isa 59:2 tells us that our sins have separated us from God

No longer can we be in His presence…man is now damned to eternal death to burn in the lake of fire

Jesus was nailed to the Cross because of the SINS of man

Jesus was nailed to the Cross because the only way to bridge the great chasm between God and man was through the way of the blood

Jesus was nailed to the cross because of You and Me and for You and Me

TRANS: We know now why Jesus was nailed to the cross but then…

2. How was Jesus nailed to the cross?

First, we must understand that the cross was used as a method of EXECUTION for the worst of the lawbreakers

It was considered one of the most gruesome ways to die AND it was an example for all to see

Yet, Jesus was not one of the worst lawbreakers…he was an innocent man

He had to endure the suffering of the cross and he had committed no crime

Isa 53:9-10 says “though He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth, yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer.”

What kind of suffering?

Isa 53:5 says “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed…the Lord laid on Him the iniquities of us ALL.”

Isa 50:6 says “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.”

Jesus’ face was beaten beyond recognition…He was constantly being beaten in the face

A crown of thorns was twisted and thrusted into His head and blood flowed from the puncture wounds

He was beaten across His back so much that flesh hung off in places

And yet, He was made to carry His own cross to be nailed upon

He had lost so much blood and was so weak that many times He fell under the weight of the cross

Then, once upon Calvary’s Hill, Golgatha, the place of the Skull it’s called in Matt 27:33

They drove SPIKES into His feet and hands…can you imagine the sound?

After they crucified Him, they mocked Him, and spit upon Him more

It was a horrendous event…That is how Jesus was nailed to the cross

TRANS: That is the horrible description of how he was nailed to the cross but…