"The Scandal of the Cross"
Luke 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord; remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee; today, shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Introduction: You may be wondering about the title of this message so I want to say just a few words to preface what I'm going to share in the message. What comes to mind when you hear the word scandal? By definition it means a situation or event that causes public outrage or censure or malicious talk especially about other people's private lives or an outburst of public outrage or censure as a consequence of an event. The cross is a perfect example of this definition. People have been talking about the crucifixion of Jesus for two thousand years.
Let's look at: Of the three men, we find one dying for sin, one dying in sin, and one dying to sin!
I. The Curse of the Cross
Deuteronomy 21:23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: this is quote from:
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
The scandal of the Cross can be seen in:
a. The punitive aspect
We need to remember that the Cross was used to punish criminals. This invention from Persia was perfected by the Romans and used by them for the worst of the worst. The Bible tells us that Jesus was crucified between two "malefactors" and most scholars believe that these men were both murderers. They were there because Roman justice had decreed that they were worthy of this kind of punishment. Part of the scandal of the Cross was that Jesus was innocent of all crimes. This was Pilates verdict and the only reason Jesus was there was because of a desire on the part of the cruel dictator to please the Jewish people.
b. The public aspect
A second thing to consider is that crucifixion was intended to humiliate the victim. The victim was stripped naked for the entire world to see. Most depictions of our Lord crucifixion show Him with some type of wrap about His waist but that is most likely not accurate. The Romans wanted to expose the victim to the greatest humiliation possible to serve as a warning to all those who would break the law or dare to challenge Roman power and authority.
c. The personal aspect
Many pictures of the Cross show the victims elevated several feet off of the ground when in fact this was not the case. There was only 2-3 feet of elevation and the victim was forced to endure all kinds of personal and verbal abuse. In our text there are three groups or individuals who abused our Lord. Look in verse 35:
Luke 23:35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. 36And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,
Luke 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
II. The Contradiction of the Cross
The scandal of the Cross is seen in its many contradictions.
a. Power vs weakness
Luke 23:35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.
Luke 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
Matthew 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
The hymn writer, Ray Overholt penned these lines:
1 They bound the hands of Jesus
in the garden where He prayed;
They led Him thro' the streets in shame.
They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin;
They said, "Crucify Him; He's to blame."
2 Upon His precious head
they placed a crown of thorns;
They laughed and said, "Behold the King."
They struck Him and they cursed Him
and mocked His holy name.
All alone He suffered everything.
3 When they nailed Him to the cross,
His mother stood near by;
He said, "Woman, behold thy son!"
He cried, "I thirst for water,"
but they gave Him none to drink.
Then the sinful work of man was done.
4 To the howling mob He yielded;
He did not for mercy cry.
The cross of shame He took alone.
And when He cried, "It's finished,"
He gave Himself to die;
Salvation's wondrous plan was done.
Chorus:
He could have called ten thousand angels
To destroy the world and set Him free.
He could have called ten thousand angels,
But He died alone, (alone), for you and me.
b. Pardon his tormenters
Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
Lloyd Prator writes, "Take Adolph Hitler or better Joseph Stalin because he killed more people. What if, at the last minute, as Stalin lay dying, he turned his heart to Jesus and confessed his sins? Suppose he repented at the last minute, repented of the 14 million Russians Stalin killed... Would he have a place in the kingdom of God? Perhaps he might. The scandal of Christianity is precisely this: no matter what we have done, how much we have stolen, how many deaths we have been responsible for, no matter if we come to the moment of our death and now it is too late to remedy any of the suffering we have caused, no matter how great our sin, we can be forgiven if we truly acknowledge what we have done."
III. The Comfort from the Cross
This brings us to the true scandal of the Cross. The dying thief is promised a place in paradise with Jesus, that very day. The world would say that this thief got exactly what he deserved. The religious leaders of the day would also agree with this verdict as well. Many in the church in our day would give their assent to this
a. His recognition
Luke 23:40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
b. His request
Luke 23:42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
When we look for answers gilded with our own understanding, we can never hope that we will find them. The world, even Jesus' own disciples, looked upon Him as He hung upon that cross through eyes that sought to understand in terms of their own reason and logic. Some could not understand why if He could heal the sick, even raise the dead, why He could not come down from the cross. Some wondered why the one "who would redeem Israel" could come to such a wretched end. His death had become their impossible problem, their terribly perplexing and seemingly unsolvable issue. The harder they sought to discover the answer, the more their own prejudicial understanding sought to conceal it from them. Only one man got it. The thief on Jesus' right hand, perplexed by what appeared to be the death of a "righteous" man, looked into the eyes of innocence and, refusing to put himself into the equation, was pulled right down into Jesus' heart wherein he found the answer. Jesus was a king and the kingdom He promised was one he wanted to be in. He simply pled, "Remember me!" Oh that we could face every day of our lives with that simple plea; to put away our understanding, look up into those innocent eyes and plead, "Remember me, Jesus . . . remember me!"
c. His reward
Luke 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Three men died that day. They were crucified side by side. Two of them were criminals. One of them was innocent. With a criminal on His left - and a criminal on His right - Jesus hangs in the middle.
Where were these criminals from? We do not know. What were their names? We do not know. What crimes had they committed? We do not know. We would not know them at all except for this - they were crucified along with Christ - one on His left - one on His right.
It may appear that these two men were exactly alike. They were both criminals. They both were sentenced to die for their crimes. They would die on the same day and in the same place.
But in reality, no two men could be more different. They differed on one major point - how they viewed the man in the middle. One hurled insults at Jesus - the other asked to be remembered. One man wanted freedom from his pain - the other wanted freedom from his sin. Tom Shephard
Conclusion: What comes to mind when I say "pick 6?" For me and a lot of other Alabama fans it is a play that probably cost the Tide at another National Championship. Against Auburn Coach Saban argued for 1 second to be put back on the clock for a chance at a game winning 57 yards field goal. It was short and the ball was returned by an Auburn player 106 yards out of the end zone for the win. I think that one play more than any other in football teaches us that "it's not over till it's over."
THE FINAL PLAY OF THE GAME
It's never too late to trust Jesus. Oops, I need to qualify that. There IS a time when it's too late to trust Jesus. If you die without putting your faith in Jesus, then it's too late. Someone observed about the thief on the cross that there is one deathbed conversion in the Bible so nobody should despair, but there is only one, so nobody should presume.
Jeff Stratton is a pastor in Evansville, Indiana. A few years ago he was called to visit a 93 year-old man who had terminal cancer. His name was Adolph Allen and he had been a hard-living, hard-drinking, union ironworker for most of his life. Two minutes into their first conversation, Adolph looked at Jeff and asked, "Is it fair for someone to live their whole life one way and then at the end of their life to ask God to take them to heaven?"
After thinking for a minute, Jeff said, "No, Adolph it's not fair. But luckily for you and me, God is not fair."
Jeff shared the plan of salvation with him and this 93-year-old man bowed his head and asked Jesus to come into his heart. Four weeks later Jeff preached Adolph's funeral and he talked about how some football games come down to a final play. The team that's behind might have been outplayed the whole game, but on this last play the quarterback fades back and heaves a Hail-Mary pass into the end zone as time expires. The ball might be batted around but if an offensive receiver catches it, the game is over, and they win. Jeff said, "That's what happened with Adolph. The devil was in the lead for most of his life, but the final score was Jesus 1 and the devil 0!"
(From a sermon by David Dykes, That's not FAIR! No, that's GRACE! 8/19/2012)
