The Cross Of Christ
Luke 23:32-33 "And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left."
Gal 6:14 "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
To many, a cross is a mere trinket to hang around the neck; intended to make a vague assertion about one's religious pedigree. To some, the symbol has be- come the substance. Remember the story of the brazen serpent in the Numbers Chapter 21? Remember Jesus repeating the story to Nicodemus when He told him he must be born again in John Chapter 3? Do you know what happened to that brazen symbol? "He (Good King Hezekiah) removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan." (II Kings 18:4)
Some idolatrous Israelites handed the symbol down through dozens of genera- tions. They came to worship the symbol rather than the substance. Rather than the God whose healing grace and mercy the symbol represented. In essence, this symbol, just as the cross, represented Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for sin.
When you really think about it, such idolatrous representations of true Chris- tianity can be seen in some strange places and worn by some strange people today. Have you ever thought that some people who like to wear such crosses seem to personify everything else except real Christian committal? Notice, if you will, the number of drug promoting rock stars, promiscuous Hollywood personali- ties, alcohol consuming sports heroes and pretentious politicians, who seem to have a curious affinity for such sad secular symbolism.
But in spite of misuse and misrepresentation, the cross is a powerful symbol. An old hymn says it well, "In the cross of Christ I glory, towering o'er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred story, Gather 'round its head sublime..."
Out of the midst of moral devastation and the wreck, ruin and turmoil of vio- lence and destruction in today's world, the cross of Jesus Christ towers as a symbol. It is a symbol of the worst and the best. It is a symbol of hate and love, Death and life, Judgment and forgiveness. Despair and hope. Defeat and triumph.
It was the apostle Paul who was inspired to state the real eternal significance of the Cross of Christ when he said, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Gal 6:14 ) Most would agree that Paul, with the exception of Jesus, was the greatest man of God and gospel preacher who ever walked this earth and perhaps the finest Christian the world has ever known. It is significant that he would make this statement at the end of his way.
If anyone had anything to boast about in the flesh, Paul certainly did. He could have gloried in his ancestry and his pedigree. Both a Roman citizen and possibly a future High Priest of Israel, before he met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. A brilliant man of great intellect. A man of great persuasive powers. A man of literary genius. The first and greatest of all Christian missionaries.
But Paul tells us: (Phil. 3:4-8) "If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, [of] the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Phari- see: Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ."
He did not glory in the Virgin Birth, the miracles or ministry of Christ or his own marvelous miracles. Instead he turned to the one central thing, the single- most important event of human history, the cross of Christ.
Sir John Bowring, one time governor of Hong Kong looked over a terrible devastated area struck by an earthquake and saw standing high above the ruins like a lonely sentinel the tower of a church. On the top of the tower, the silhouette of a cross pierced the sky. The sight so moved him he penned the words of the grand old hymn of the faith:
In the Cross of Christ I glory, Towering o’er the wrecks of time, All the light of sacred story, Gathers round its head sublime.
Should we glory in the same cross today? Is its message to be the central mes- sage in our time? Should we make it the focus of our witness and testimony? After all, many in our post modern world would say such a message is unsophisticated and irrelevant in this 21st century.
That Old Rugged Cross with its shame and reproach was certainly not a glori- ous object when our Saviour poured out his life's blood upon it. It stood for the most shameful and humiliating demise a human being could suffer. It was a cruel and barbaric method of Roman execution; normally reserved for the worst crimi- nals. Barrabas and the two thieves bear this out. But our Saviour's death on that cross made it glorious forever. Because of His vicarious sacrifice for our sins there, that cross is the mightiest power in all the world. (Ro. 1:16) From that cross shines the very Light of the World.
Let us stand once more upon that sin cursed, judgment scarred, and blood soaked earth, at the foot of the cross and survey once more the meaning of the tremendous eternal sacrifice that took place there some 2,000 years ago.
Let us consider the words of the song:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when the nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when the laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when He rose up from the dead?
Oh, sometimes, it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
Were you there when the crucified my Lord?
I THE CROSS SHOWS US THE SEVERITY OF OUR SINS.
Can we survey the beaten and bloodied body of our Saviour as its weight sags upon those cruel Roman nails and sense the excruciating pain as they tear tissue and tendon and see our Saviour struggle to keep from suffocating, and deny it was our sins that nailed him there? Can we deny that we too have sinned and come short of the glory of God? Can we deny that the wages of our sin is eternal death? Must we not plead guilty, as did Paul, when he said, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came to save sin- ners, of whom I am the chief."? (I Timothy 1:15)
We live in a world in which the depths of man's depravity is displayed in the lounge rooms of our nation daily. Serial murders. Child molesters. Small chil- dren taken and violated and then discarded like pieces of rubbish. The recent story of the innocent Israeli family, horribly murdered as they slept in their home and the celebration or their death by terrorists, reflects the sinful cruelty of mankind.
Rome had the arena. Gladiators. Christians torn apart by wild beasts. I shudder to think what might become common fare in the media in the not too dis- tant future if the Lord does not come back soon. Why? Because as the prophet of old said, "The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9)
Imagine. The punishment for all of man's sin fell upon the shoulders of our precious Saviour as he paid the ultimate price on that cruel cross. (Excerpts from Isa. 53) "But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. .......... He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righ- teous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. ..... because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
And as Peter said in his letter: "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." (I Peter 2:24)
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:" (I Peter 3:18)
II. THE CROSS OF CHRIST SPEAKS OF THE CERTAINTY OF DEATH AND JUDGMENT.
The Hebrew writer speaks of this certainty:
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Heb. 2:9)
The same writer tells us of the appointment all must keep:
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" (Heb. 9:27)
In giving the genealogy of the antediluvian patriarchs, the phrase "and he died," is repeated nine times. It matters not how long man shall live it will be always be said of him, "and he died." It is an appointment all must keep. As sure as we live, we die. Whether we like it or not, that sure visitor knocks at the door of the humble or the haughty, the beggar or the billionaire, the hovel or the highest house on the hill of wealth.
The Psalmist tells us that death is like flood waters. It is really strange that when a terrible flood comes it seems to surprise everyone. Even those who have built their homes on the flood plain. But the flood is no respecter of persons. It sweeps everyone and everything in its path. Young people, old people, beautiful people, ugly people, famous people, infamous people, rich people and poor people, as well as the saint and sinner.
Death may be a close as a stray bullet or the bumper guard of a speeding car. It may be lying in the luggage compartment of an airplane. It is as close as a malignant cell, one heartbeat, one piece of foreign matter in the blood stream or one sub-microscopic deadly virus or bacteria.
Death tends to catch us unaware. Raphael died with his last picture half fin- ished. It was carried in his funeral procession as a mute testimony of the uncer- tainty of life. Sir Walter Scott's last words in his journal were, "Tomorrow I shall..." Franz Shulbert left his unfinished symphony. Dickens laid down his pen in the middle of a last novel.
In light of the sobering fact that death is sure, all of us could well pray the prayer of the psalmist, "Teach us to number our days that we might apply our hearts to wisdom."
YES, THE CROSS SURELY SPEAKS OF DEATH AND THE JUDGMENT TO FOLLOW.
III. THE CROSS OF CHRIST SHOWS US THE SCOPE OF GOD'S GREAT LOVE.
As we survey the cross we can see the height of God's love contrasted with the depth of man's sin.
John 3:16 - the golden text of all the Bible - says it all. He whose eternal city is paved with gold and decorated with precious jewels, gave not all the precious metals and jewels of the earth or the unimaginable riches from ten billion times ten billion galaxies or the cattle on a thousand hills. BUT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BE- GOTTEN SON AS THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS.
Eph. 3:17-19 "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."
Remember the old verses?
Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made, And every blade of grass a quill And every man a scribe by trade:
To write the love of God to man, Would drain the ocean dry,
Nor would the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky."
Real love is always measured best by selfless sacrifice.
(Romans 5:6-8) "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
IV. THE CROSS OF CHRIST SATISFIES MAN’S GREATEST NEEDS.
Man has an innate need to know His Creator God. To be accepted by Him. It is said there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man.
Only at the cross can we really meet God and learn of His great attributes of LOVE JUSTICE AND MERCY. Man's need for a clean and clear conscience before God can only be met at the foot of the cross.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow, No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Isa. 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Through the ages the consistent testimony of saved sinners has been that only through the forgiveness received at the foot of the cross can we experience the peace that passeth all understanding and the joy unspeakable. (Ro. 5:1, 8:1)
Only at the cross can our need for real righteousness be met.
(Isa 64:6) "But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." See II Cor. 5:21.
Only at the cross can we lay down our burden of sin and pick up the perfect robe of Christ's righteousness.
Man has the great need for reconciliation with God. He is naturally at war with God. His friendship with world makes him an enemy of God. "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [between us];" (Eph. 2:14)
This same cross is the message of reconciliation we are called as His ambassadors to announce to the world around us.
II Cor. 5:18-20) "And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech [you] by us: we pray [you] in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."
THE CROSS OF CHRIST IS GOD'S ONLY WAY OF SALVATION
Surely if there had been another way, God the Father would have chosen it. He gave His only begotten Son.
As someone has said, "If we could work our way to heaven by good deeds, reli- gious rituals, ordinances or action of any kind, why, or why did Jesus suffer and die on the cross for our sins?"
Some seem to think that Jesus only made a down payment on their salvation, a rather small one at that, and that they must keep on keeping on if they are to make it to heaven! What an insult to God, His Son and the cross.
But the Word of God tells us again and again that what Jesus did on the cross was an all sufficient sacrifice for our sins and the only basis of eternal salva- tion. John 3:16-18, Eph, 2:8-10, John 14:6
Acts 4:12 "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
Acts 10:43 "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
I will never forget the haunting cry of the pilot of a medical evacuation plane, loaded with wounded soldiers from Korea and their accompanying medical per- sonnel: while working as a communications specialist during the Korean War. Far out over the Pacific his desperate voice came through loud and clear as he cried, “SOS, SOS, (Save Oh Save) an engine on fire! We are going down!. Then a great silence -all were lost.
Thanks be unto God. He eagerly awaits the sinner’s cry today. As Peter said, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
It’s just as simple as crying out as the thief did on the cross, “Lord, remember me..” Or as the Publican in Luke 18, “Lord save me, I am a sinner....”
