The Cross
In his book Written in Blood, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked. Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister." Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room--Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube.
With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence. "Doctor, when do I die?'
Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had trembled when he'd agreed to donate his blood. He'd thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he'd made his great decision. Johnny, fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister. Each of us, however, has a condition more serious than Mary's, and it required Jesus to give not just His blood but His life.
Our only hope is a spiritual blood transfusion from God. See Jesus conquered the terrible disease of sin on the cross!
Luke 9: 23-25 (NKJV)
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
THE TWO S’s
First, I want you to notice the last two letters in cross. The two S’s represent the two sides we can take based on the cross: one side being salvation, the other sin. One side is we can embrace the cross and the power of salvation that comes with it. We can live a victorious life through Jesus Christ because of the price he paid on the cross. See the “old” law required sacrifices, but this law was not sufficient. A supreme sacrifice was needed to cleanse us of our sins. Jesus willingly became that sacrifice on a cross at Calvary. We can accept salvation through the price paid on the cross and daily carry our cross. We can deny ourselves and take up our cross daily. Still, there’s a second and eternally fatal side which is to deny the cross. There is an array of reasons one might do this, but in the end any denial is acceptance of eternal doom! The greatest example of the two sides can be seen in the story of the two thieves at Calvary.
Luke 23: 39-43 (NKJV): The two thieves – the two sides
39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”
40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 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.” 43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
On one side of Jesus was doubt and unbelief. On the other side was faith. On one side was arrogance. On the other side was humility. Profanity spoke out on one side, but reverence spoke out on the other. On one side the voice of the kingdom of this world spoke out. On the other side the voice of the kingdom of God spoke. One side remained lost while the other side was found. On one side eternal damnation was met, but on the other side an eternal savior was met.
Let’s look a little closer at the words and how they reflected the hearts of the thieves. See one thief chose to deny Christ as so many were doing that day and continue to do today. In fact, he blasphemed the Lord saying “If You are Christ, save Yourself and us.” First, the choice of the word “If is significant.” This choice of words clearly showed his denial of Christ. He was asking for yet another sign that Jesus was the Savior. Second, the thief was looking to be “saved” physically, not spiritually. Third, it was not a matter of Jesus being able to save himself or both thieves. He was willingly laying down His life that day to save all who would accept Him. It was a matter of the thief making a spiritual decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. If his heart had been right he would have been saved spiritually for eternity! Instead his eternity was one of doom.
Let’s look at the second thief. He rebuked the other thief. (But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”) This thief recognized Jesus as his savior. (Then he said to Jesus, “Lord) What does it mean to call one Lord? Well it means a relationship exists. Something has been seen in the person that can be believed in. You are willing to serve that person. Then he turned to Jesus and asked Him to remember him. (“Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”) This thief exercised faith that day. He received salvation not because of something he did, but because of in whom he believed. (And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”)
PIECES OF THE CROSS ( Horizontal and Vertical)
Listen to these words of "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross." The whole meaning of life is contained in these lines.
When I survey the wondrous Cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so Divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
The horizontal piece of the cross represents the distance God will remove our sins from us. In Psalms 103:12 the Bible says “As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” The distance from East to West is an immeasurable distance. It’s a continuous never ending circle. The two will never meet. Our sins and God’s remembrance of them will never meet. Our sins are never to be remembered. The distance from east to west is a natural phenomenon that man cannot explain. Instead, we just accept it! God’s plan of salvation is hard, if not impossible to understand. Why would God give his Son for us? He knew that many would reject Him as Savior. Even those that accept Jesus as their savior are flawed creatures. We can’t understand the commitment, the love that God has for each of us! You can’t earn it! You can’t work for it! You nor I will ever deserve it! We just have to accept it!
A mistake so many of us make is stopping or going back to our past sins. If you agree that the distance from the East to the West is a never ending circle then how would our sins that God has placed this distance from us ever catch us? They cannot if we are going forward! Our sins would never catch us and we would never catch our past if we go forward! However, so many of us are guilty of going back to our past. We are guilty at times of returning to our sinful nature. I want to encourage you today to go forward! Press toward that high calling!
In Romans 7: 14-20, Paul says “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
So what does the vertical piece represent? It represents our life. Because of the cross we can rise. Rise above our carnal nature. Rise above the sins that once bound us. Our walk with the Lord should represent a climb. We do not have to stay down in the miry clay. We should not stay down! We are conquerors through Christ!
Let me use one more illustration. If you use the mathematical term of slope for the two pieces of a cross then even more meaning of the cross can be seen. See the slope of a horizontal line is zero. The horizontal line would represent all of mankind. We in and of ourselves bring nothing to Christ. We have zero power over sin. If any of us died on a cross nothing would be brought or offered to all mankind. I don’t mean to belittle all of us, but we are not as significant as we often like to think. I want you to understand what we bring to the table when we come to Lord is zero. However, the slope of a vertical line is undefined. This represents what Jesus brought to the cross. Undefined love. Undefined mercy. Undefined grace. Undefined power over death, Hell, and the grave.
Cross
• To Romans and the people of the new testament era it was a symbol of shame
• Jews - stumbling block
• Gentiles - foolishness
• However, to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, we receive Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God through the cross
For many the cross is the symbol of our faith
• Churches
• Clothing
• Signs
• Tags
• Jewelry
My cross
• Valuable
• Cherished it
• Stolen/would not last forever
• Sadness
• As valuable as it was, my cross had No power – just a symbol
Calvary’s Cross
• Valuable
• Foundation of salvation
• Christ paid the price – ultimate sacrifice
• Can’t be stolen
• Satan has tried, but unsuccessful
• It’s power is eternal
CLOSING:
A farmer in North Carolina once drove with two high-mettled horses into town. Stopping in front of one of the stores, he was about to enter when the horses took fright. He sprang in front of them and heroically seized the reins.
Maddened by strange noises, the horses dashed down the street, the man still clinging to the bridles. On they rushed, until the horses, wild with frenzy, rose on their haunches, and leap¬ing upon the man all came with a crash to the earth.
When the people came and rescued the bleeding body of the man, and found him in death's last agony, a friend bending tenderly over him, asked: "Why did you sacrifice your life for horses and wagon?"
He gasped with his breath as his spirit departed, "Go and look in the wagon."
They turned, and there, asleep on the straw, lay his little boy.
As they laid the mangled form of the hero in his grave, no one said, "The sacrifice was too great."
"He died for you! He died for me,
His blood bath atoned for our race;
O wonderful love! He came from above
To suffer and die in our place."—L. G. Broughton
• Today you have two choices, accept or deny the cross. You can deny Christ as one of the thieves did, or accept Him as Lord. You can allow your sins to be cast as far as the east is from the west and rise to your potential God has planned for you. Remember we bring zero to the table, but Christ’s love is the vertical piece of the cross…His love is undefined!
