“THE TERROR OF THE CROSS”
TEXT: Mark 14:32-36, "And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt."
The biggest problem in the world today is sin. It is not the environment, the government, terrorists, or the economy; it is sin.
· Most of the world’s religions do not address sin. Sin is not a popular subject. Many religions see mankind as the highest being, able to ascend to higher and higher levels of existence until becoming gods. Sin is viewed as a failure to achieve one’s full potential, necessitating another attempt at perfection through reincarnation. Even “Christian” religions sometimes fail to grasp the idea of man’s sinfulness, some even teaching that all are ultimately saved through Jesus Christ regardless of the life they live here on earth.
· The Secular Humanist cannot accept that mankind is sinful. They see man as basically good. They feel through proper education and training the world can reach utopia. Hence we see the proliferation of “self-help” materials and programs that do not admit to the inherent evil, or “sinfulness” in man, but only to the idea that one has made wrong choices that may be corrected through social programs.
· Since the world does not believe in sin, it has no remedy for sin. It may try to remedy the consequences of sin, but it cannot eradicate that which it does not believe in.
· In stark contrast to these viewpoints, the Bible makes it clear that we are sinners: (Romans 3:23), "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
· Adam’s sin was passed to us, because we inherited his sinful nature. (Romans 5:12), "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
· In the OT, sin was pushed ahead annually by the atonement of the sin offering, but the sins were not remitted! There was still a debt to be paid to God. (Romans 6:23), "For the wages of sin is death." (Hebrews 9:22), "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Hebrews 10:1), "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect."
· That debt of sin could only be satisfied by the offering of a perfect, sinless sacrifice. (Hebrews 10:4), "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."
· Even man could not fulfill the requirements because of his inherently sinful nature.
· But God had a plan from the very beginning! That plan was Jesus Christ.
· Jesus was the (Revelation 13:8b), "…Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." He came to pay the debt of sin. Let’s look for a moment at the ugliness of sin:
(Galatians 5:19-21 MONTNT) “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” From this list proceeds all manner of evil, all of which is present in our world today. Murder under many different names; from abortion, to euthanasia, to gang violence, to racial violence, to terrorism, to mothers killing their children and murders by jealous spouses. All manner of sexual perversions which do not deserve mention here, but include everything that violates God’s pattern of one man and one woman in a monogamous relationship of marriage. Broken homes where sin has torn what God had joined together. We see all manner of witchcraft, although today we don’t usually call it that. It pervades the culture of our world through its music, its horoscopes, and through psychics with 900 numbers. Popular children’s books have made the idea of witchcraft palatable fare even for the “Christian” world. New age ideas, which are really pantheistic expressions of demonism made acceptable to our naïve mentality. Hatred rears its head in social orders, in families, in racial conflicts, in terrorist movements. The recent events in New York and Washington D.C. show us the effects of hatred on a global scale. We see the influence of wrath in instances of road rage, and in shooting sprees in the workplace, or even in our schools. “Drunkenness and revellings” mark the excesses of the drug culture, a multi-billion dollar problem throughout the world. We could continue, but I think the point is made. The problem with the world is SIN. It is for this very sin that Jesus gave his life to pay the debt.
It has been said that; “all politics are local.” The implication is, no matter what office you run for, the “grassroots” people that elect you are the ones you have to please. I submit to you this morning, that “all sin is personal.” We may talk about the sins of society, but ultimately it comes down to my sin and yours! We can talk about sin in a general way, make it sound generic by blaming it on the culture, but in the end, we must admit that WE were the ones responsible for sin. The recent terrorist attacks may have had global implications, but the sin belongs to those willing to murder countless thousands. Maybe we don’t fit neatly into the categories we listed earlier. It is unlikely that there are many murderers here today. However, we are all still sinners without the grace of God. Maybe the sin was lying. Perhaps it was cheating. Maybe jealousy, or envy controlled our lives. We make two mistakes when we look at sin. First, we tend to categorize sin by the consequences to ourselves and to those around us. We think of murder as bad because a life has been taken. What a terrible consequence! However, we may harbor hatred in our hearts and not think much of it, because we don’t see any consequences of that action. Jesus said; (Matthew 5:21-22a), "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment." We think it a terrible thing when a young single girl becomes pregnant, but why weren’t we decrying the sin before the consequence became evident? The child wasn’t the sin, the fornication was! Again, Jesus said; (Matthew 5:27-28), "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." The truth of the matter is, whether we see the consequences or not, SIN IS STILL SIN! God does not categorize sin the way we do.
Second, we must be careful not to take the attitude or the position of prioritizing sin. We sometimes think of sin as BIG sins and little sins. It is all sin, and wrong in the eyes of God.
Bro. Spaugh, why are you talking so much about sin? Because I want us to feel the weight of it this morning. If we are not careful we become desensitized to the awfulness of sin, and can even become comfortable with it. The more we understand the terribleness of sin, the more we can appreciate the cross. Knowing then that we have all sinned, and have inherited a sinful nature, let’s look at what Jesus did to pay the price for our sins.
Jesus lived a perfect life. It was a life without sin. His birth was miraculous, caused by the overshadowing of Mary by the Holy Ghost. It was prophesied by men and proclaimed by angels. Jesus was born of the “seed of a women”, that is, he did not inherit Adam’s sinful nature. All of mankind comes from the sinful seed of the first man Adam. (Genesis 5:1,3), "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth." God told the serpent in Genesis 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.” This was the first prophecy concerning Jesus, and it shows that Jesus would not be from the seed of the man. David might say (Psalms 51:5), "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me;” -but Jesus did not have to make that claim.
Jesus was sinless by nature and by his life. As a child he Luke 2:52, "…increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." Contrary to the opinion of some modern day skeptics, Jesus did not commit sin. At Jesus’ baptism John cried; John 1:29, "…Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John understood that the sacrificial lamb must be without blemish, and he ascribes that perfection to Jesus. This was confirmed as Jesus was baptized (Matthew 3:17), "And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." From the beginning of His ministry Jesus was “full of the Holy Ghost” , and after his temptation he (Luke 4:14), "…returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.” We sometimes read of the temptations of Jesus, and feel removed from those temptations. They seem so far from the things we experience in our every day life. However, the writer of Hebrews declares; (Hebrews 4:15), "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Oh the purity of that life! We get to experience having our sins forgiven and remitted when we repent and are baptized. What a wonderful feeling it is when those sins are washed away! How much greater a life Jesus lived to never have had that burden of sin in the first place! What a wonderful Savior is He-That spotless, pure, Holy Lamb of God.
It is hard for us to conceive what it must have been like to never know the weight of sin. It is difficult to understand the depth of Jesus’ communion with the Father; a fellowship so close and relationship so pure that Jesus could declare; (John 10:30), "I and my Father are one." Jesus sp perfectly followed the will of his Father that he could declare; (John 5:30), "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." Is it any wonder that Calvary loomed so dark on the horizon of Jesus’ life?
There are many things about the cross that cause our flesh to recoil. The thought of being beaten until our back is in shreds would cause most to turn away. The crown of thorns, the spit running down his face, the nails in his hands and feet, his garments stripped off, and then gambled away in a cruel game at Jesus’ feet. The mockery, the betrayal, Peter’s denial, and the rest of the disciples fleeing all had to weigh heavy on Jesus’ mind. The gall and the vinegar he was given to drink, the roughness of the cross on his torn back must have been in his thoughts as he approached that dreadful day. But as bad as all this was, I don’t believe that was the worst thing that was on Jesus’ mind.
We read that as Jesus came to Gethsemane, he (Mark 14:33-34), "…he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch." The words sore amazed literally mean; “to throw into terror or amazement, to alarm thoroughly, to terrify.” As Jesus thought about what was about to take place, he was terrified. This terror was not a terror of the physical abuse he would endure-although I am sure he was concerned about it. He had told his disciples; (Matthew 10:28), "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." No, the real terror was the cup he was about to drink. No wonder he cried; Mark 14:36, "…Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt." The perfect Lamb of God who had never tasted the dregs of sin was going to drink the cup of the sins of the whole world. That’s what terrified Jesus! Not the nails, just the sin!
And as he hung silently on the cross, refusing the cup of gall and vinegar that man had to offer, he picked up the cup of sin and drank every last drop. Your sin. My sin. The sins of thousands of years of past failure, and the sins of 2000 years of future mistakes. As that sin passed his lips contaminating that once pure body, the Holy Spirit departed from him. (Matthew 27:46), "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He who from birth had known nothing but the presence of God, now knew what it felt to have sin separate him from that Holy presence. That was the terror of the cross-the forsaking by God, and the horribleness of sin. (Isaiah 53:6b), "… the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity [perversity, depravity,] of us all." The words may be rendered, "he made to meet upon him the iniquity of us all"; the sins of man, are represented as coming from all quarters, east, west, north, and south; and as meeting in Christ. Another rendering says; "he made to rush, or fall upon him the iniquity of us all"; our sins, like a large and mighty army, beset him around, and fell upon him in a hostile manner. It is difficult for you and me to understand or to appreciate the terror Jesus faced. We are born in sin, and as such, we no nothing but its oppression from the moment we are born. In contrast, Jesus had no concept of sin, only the knowledge that it would separate him from the Father. Yet sins of us all-of you and of me-were laid upon him. Every lie I’ve told, every lustful thought, every time I have hated, every disobedient act was laid upon Jesus Christ. Paul takes the thought one step further when he writes; (2 Corinthians 5:21), "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." The one that knew no sin actually became sin-all so that we could be made righteous!
What a debt we owe this morning. Jesus paid the ultimate debt, the price for our sins. We owe him our lives in gratitude for what He has done. Although he became sin, God raised him up victorious over death, hell and the grave. There is victory in Jesus for you today. Don’t let that sacrifice be wasted. Come to the foot of the cross.
