CONCERNS From The CROSS-I
Mat. 27:33-54; Mk. 15:21-39; Lk. 23:33-49; Jn. 19:17-30
MATTERS of GREATEST SIGNIFICANCE
Significant Concerns of Jesus
As Jesus hung on the cross, He voiced particularly important concerns.
At the juncture of life & death, matters of greatest significance become our greatest concern.
At the juncture of life & death, matters of greatest significance are prioritized.
What matters are of greatest significance as evidenced from the Cross?
What are significant concerns of Jesus?
*Any matter of significant concern to Jesus is also of vital significance for us!
6 matters are of greatest significance as evidenced from the Cross.
6 Significant Concerns of Jesus from the Cross.
1— A Significant Concern of Jesus is...
One’s FORGIVENESS(Lk. 23:34)
Explanation: (Lk. 23:34)
Lk. 23:34—“Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
“Fore”—“Give”—To give before...Before the other’s response. Regardless of the outcome good or bad.
Immediately after the statement regarding Jesus’ crucifixion between the “criminals,” Luke records a declaration of Jesus directed toward His Father.
Jesus asks God, His Father, to “forgive them.” However, the identity of “them” is not clear, leaving the reader with at least 3 different possibilities...
1) It could be a general statement regarding the Jews for whom He had come to offer the kingdom of God.
*2)It could be a general statement regarding all involved in bringing about the crucifixion, including the romans.
3)It could be a specific statement regarding the soldiers directly responsible for the act of crucifixion.(probably not the case)
However the reason for Jesus’ seeking the Father’s forgiveness for others is clear.
It is sought because they were unaware of the ramifications of their own actions. In other words, Jesus did not want “them” to be ultimately condemned for their actions. Thus there is hope for them even though they have derailed their own means of God’s salvation...for the time being! While they have breath in them, they have potential to turn to God thru His Christ. This is true for all mankind.
“Forgive”—afihmi—1) To send away—1a) To bid going away or depart—1a1) of a husband divorcing his wife, 1b) To send forth, yield up, to expire, 1c) To let go, let alone, let be—1c1) To disregard, 1c2) To leave, not to discuss now, (a topic) 1c21) of teachers, writers & speakers, 1c3) To omit, neglect, 1d) To let go, give up a debt, forgive, to remit, 1e) To give up, keep no longer; 2) To permit, allow, not to hinder, to give up a thing to a person; 3) To leave, go way from one. Strong—(to send; an intens. form of eimi, to go); To send forth, in various applications (as follow):-- Cry, forgive, forsake, lay aside, leave, let (alone, be, go, have), omit, put (send) away, remit, suffer, yield up.
“Know”—eidw—1) To see—1a) To perceive with the eyes, 1b) To perceive by any of the senses, 1c) To perceive, notice, discern, discover, 1d) To see, 1d1) i.e. To turn the eyes, the mind, the attention to anything, 1d2) To pay attention, observe, 1d3) To see about something 1d31) i.e. to ascertain what must be done about it, 1d4) To inspect, examine, 1d5) To look at, behold, 1e) To experience any state or condition, 1f) To see i.e. have an interview with, to visit; 2) To know—2a) To know of anything, 2b) To know, i.e. get knowledge of, understand, perceive—2b1) Of any fact, 2b2) the force & meaning of something which has definite meaning, 2b3) To know how, to be skilled in, 2c) To have regard for one, cherish, pay attention to (1Th 5:12). To see with the mind’s eye, signifies a clear & purely mental perception.
“And they divided His garments & cast lots.”
The soldiers responsible for the crucifixion divided Jesus’ clothing. This was a perk of crucifiers that they have the last remaining possessions of the executed. Even the clothes on their backs were taken to further humiliate the doomed. They “divided” Jesus’ clothes into 4 parts so that each of them would have an equal share(Jn. 19:23-24). Thus there must have been 4 soldiers responsible for carrying out the crucifixion itself. Probably Jesus had a belt, sandals, robe(outer garment) & tunic. These 4 specifically gambled(“cast lots”) for Jesus’ tunic(worn next to the skin), as it was woven of one piece & without seam, from the top.
Argumentation:
Lev. 19:22—“‘The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he has committed. And the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.”
Mat. 6:9-15—““In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom & the power & the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Rom. 3:23-26—“for all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just & the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Rom. 4:1-8—“What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, & it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.””
Rom. 10:1-4—“Brethren, my heart’s desire & prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, & seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Rom. 11:26-27—“And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.””
Acts 13:38-39—““Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; & by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
Acts 17:30-31—““Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, “because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.””
Rev. 20:12, 15—“And I saw the dead, small & great, standing before God, & books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”.....“And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Forgiveness is a necessity to live in the Book of Life!
Rom. 8:35-39—“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Forgiveness is a necessity to minister in this way!
2Cor. 4:6-12—“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God & not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you.”
Forgiveness is a necessity to minister in this way!
Illustration:
When we lived in Florida/Basically 3 types of grass—Centipede, St. Augustine & Zoysia/Zoysia is very fine leaf blade(used on golf greens); St. Augustine very wide leaf blade & Centipede medium blade/Either is fine for certain uses/But if you have children, Centipede is the way to go/It holds up under traffic unlike St. Augustine & Zoysia/You could say it is very Forgiving/When abused it grows back with a vigor as if the abuse never occurred/FORGIVENESS
A substance/vehicle/shingles/grass/ that is very forgiving—of abuse/Knocked down but spring right back
Application:
?Your actions declare FORGIVENESS a matter of greatest significance?
?You acted on those matters of great significance to Jesus?
2— A Significant Concern of Jesus is...
One’s DESTINY/Future/Eternity(Lk. 23:43)
Explanation: (Lk. 23:43)
:32 There were also two others , criminals, led with him to be put to death.
:33 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, & the criminals, one on the right hand & the other on the left.
:39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself & us.”
:40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?
This other of the two criminals indeed at least recognized the reality of God. He rebuked his fellow crucified, recognizing that he was hypocritically insulting an innocent person as he was rightly condemned & Jesus was not. The criminal would appear before God & would, in the presence of such perfection, be directly answerable for his sins. Such knowledge should bring a person to “fear God.”
“Both of you will soon appear before God. Jesus has nothing to answer for & you have added this to your other sins.”—RWP
:41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
:42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
This criminal had undoubtedly heard, seen &/or experienced the power of Jesus prior to the crucifixion. This man evidently accepted Jesus as Messiah, making his decision while on a cross himself, being faced with the reality & certainty of death. He asked Jesus to remember him in His kingdom. He did not approach Jesus as a lunatic or liar but as Lord.
Although probably not grasping the fullness of Jesus’ Kingdom he grasped much more than the leaders & crowd which sent Him to the cross & taunted Him.
The criminal recognized that Jesus’ kingdom was not of this earth. He also recognized that Jesus was King in said Kingdom. He also understood enough to know that he needed Jesus’ Kingdom & that he needed Jesus in order to be part of it.
*Lk. 23:43—“And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.””
Jesus responds positively to the criminal’s request. Jesus assures him that he will this very day(upon his death) be with HIm in the place He refers to as “Paradise.”
This word gives us a picture of the serenity one experiences upon death—if they die Christ.
It is, at once, a picture of a planted protected garden, reminiscent of or in actuality, Eden(Gen. 2:8-10, 15-17).
Jesus, the Messiah & Son of God, would very soon be “in Paradise.” The criminal(on earth) but now repentant, would also be with Him there. What a blessing to know that regardless of poor choices made in the flesh of our past, God accepts us upon our turning to HIm thru Christ & away from flesh.
“Assuredly”—amhn—1) Firm—1a) metaph. Faithful; 2) Verily, amen, 2a) At the beginning of a discourse - Surely, truly, of a truth.
“Paradise”—paradeisov—1) Among the Persians a grand enclosure or preserve, hunting ground, park, shady & well watered, in which wild animals, were kept for the hunt; it was enclosed by walls & furnished with towers for the hunters; 2) A garden, pleasure ground—2a) Grove, park; 3) The part of Hades which was thought by the later Jews to be the abode of the souls of pious until the resurrection: but some understand this to be a heavenly paradise; 4) The upper regions of the heavens. According to the early church Fathers, the paradise in which our first parents dwelt before the fall still exists, neither on the earth or in the heavens, but above & beyond the world; 5) Heaven. Strong—of Oriental origin [compare odrp pardec; of foreign origin; a park:-- forest, orchard.]; A park, i.e. (specifically) An Eden (place of future happiness, "paradise"):-- Paradise. Used 3X.
“The word occurs in two other passages in the N.T. (2Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7), in both of which the reference is plainly to heaven. Some Jews did use the word for the abode of the pious dead till the resurrection, interpreting "Abraham’s bosom" (Lk. 16:22f) in this sense also. But the evidence for such an intermediate state is too weak to warrant belief in it.”—RWP
Argumentation:
We are called upon, thru our own salvation, to open our hearts & God’s truth, to others.
Ps. 33:10-11—“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.”
Jer. 29:11-13[NASB]—“‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare & not for calamity to give you a future & a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me & come & pray to Me, & I will listen to you. ‘And you will seek Me & find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Rev. 3:4-6 ““You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; & they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, & I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father & before His angels. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’”
Will your name remain in the Lamb’s Book of Life?...or is it Destined to be “blotted out”?
Will your name be confessed before God Almighty & His holy angels as one belonging to Him?
Many people with whom I speak have neither clue nor clarity about their Destiny. They just assume they’re okay! They take no consideration for their spiritual Destiny/Future. Yet they expend tremendous effort conducting their physical Destiny/Future—Education, Career, Spouse, Home, Children, Retirement & even great care for their Funeral—at which they won’t even be present!
Mat. 23:23—““Woe to you, scribes & Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint & anise & cumin, & have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice & mercy & faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
Illustration:
Recycling plastics/Either tossed on the road or in the dump—either way destiny is unfilfilled/Recycle it, it can be used multiple times in innumerable ways—as containers for: water, soft drinks, laundry detergent,— One’s DESTINY/FUTURE is at stake
Application:
?Your actions declare DESTINY a matter of greatest significance?
?You acted on those matters of greatest significance to Jesus?
3— A Significant Concern of Jesus is...
One’s CARE(Jn. 19:26-27)
Explanation:(Jn. 19:26-27) Family/Care/Relationships
Jn 19:26—“When Jesus therefore saw His mother, & the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!”
Jesus, knowing He will soon die on the cross, unable to further care for His mother’s needs, surrenders her care to John(“the disciple whom He loved”).
:27—“Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”
We must start with those closest to us. Who have brought us safely thus far.
Argumentation:
1Tim. 5:3-4, 8, 16—“Honor widows who are really widows. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home & to repay their parents; for this is good & acceptable before God.”.....“But if anyone does not provide for his own, & especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith & is worse than an unbeliever.”.....“If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, & do not let the church be burdened, that it may relieve those who are really widows.”
Mat. 15:3-6—“He answered & said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? “For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father & your mother’; &, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”-- ‘then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.”
Mk. 7:10-13—““For Moses said, ‘Honor your father & your mother’; &, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ “But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”--’ (that is, a gift to God), “then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, “making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.””
Ruth 1:7-10, 14-17; 4:13-15—“Therefore she went out from the place where she was, & her two daughters-in-law with her; & they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead & with me. “The LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, & they lifted up their voices & wept. And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.””.....“Then they lifted up their voices & wept again; & Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people & to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, & more also, If anything but death parts you & me.””.....“So Boaz took Ruth & she became his wife; & when he went in to her, the LORD gave her conception, & she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a close relative; & may his name be famous in Israel! “And may he be to you a restorer of life & a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.””
Ex. 20:12—““Honor your father & your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.”
Eph. 6:1-4—“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father & mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you & you may live long on the earth.” And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training & admonition of the Lord.”
Illustration:
Aging family members—Parents-Siblings-Aunts-Uncles-Cousins, etc.—Cannot live on their own without some help or a great deal of help/Do we just comfort ourselves by denying their plight?/Or do we rather put our hands to the task & truly help them?/CARE
Application:
?Your actions declare CARE a matter of greatest significance?
?You acted on those matters of great significance to Jesus?
CONCLUSION:
Action:
Matters of greatest significance to Jesus are...
3 Significant Concerns of Jesus are...
1. One’s FORGIVENESS(Lk. 23:34)
2. One’s DESTINY/FUTURE(Lk. 23:43)
3. One’s CARE(Jn. 19:26-27)
Presented 04/17/2011am to:
Needmore Baptist Church
1620 Mt. Vernon Rd.
Woodleaf, NC 27054
