Three Men on a Mountaintop
Luke 23:26-43
Golgotha, (Aramaic: “Skull”,) also called Calvary, (from Latin calva: “bald head,” or “skull”), skull-shaped hill in Jerusalem, the site of Jesus' crucifixion. It is referred to in all four Gospels. While the Gospels merely identify Calvary as a "place" (t?p??), Christian tradition since at least the 6th century has described the location as a "mountain" or "hill". Let’s read our text in Luke’s gospel to get some of the details of what took place “Up Calvary’s mountain,” as the hymn writer called it…
26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. 27 And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. 28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. 29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. 30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. 31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? 32 And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. 33 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. 34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. 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. 36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, 37 And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. 38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 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.
1. The Man of Redemption
David Smith writes about crucifixion. They would take the upright beam and place it in a hole in the ground and fix it steadfast. And then they would take the victim and lay his hands on the cross beam, driving spikes into his quivering flesh and with a rope would hook it onto the cross beam and then tow it up. When the cross beam was in place, they would nail it to the upright. And then placing the victim’s feet together, they would nail his feet into the upright and there he would die. He writes, “Only a depraved human mind could ever have imagined such a mode of death. It is the most painful death a man could die for he died by suffocating as his body hung. His weight would pull him down. There his feet would rest against the nails. He would rise up to catch his breath. He could only rise so long because the pain of the nails would make his body drop. Up and down, up and down he would rise trying to catch breaths and then back down submitting to his pain of the crucifixion. Keep in mind, Jesus had already been whipped with 195 lashes. There he is, his back already broken as he rises up and down, up and down as the beam tore at his flesh” as he slowly suffocated to death.”
Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 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.
6 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.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; 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.
a. He is the smitten one v.4
b. He is the suffering one v. 5
c. He is the sin bearing one v. 6
d. He is the submissive one v. 10
e. He is the satisfying one v. 11
f. He is the saving one v. 12
2. The Man of Rejection
a. He rejected the voice of Jesus, the offer of forgiveness – Rev. 3:20 “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
b. He rejected the virtue of Jesus – sinless, spotless lamb of God. Judas, Pilate’s wife, Pilate (seven times in the two trials), centurion,
c. He rejected the value of Jesus – He is not just an example.
A SAVIOR, NOT AN EXAMPLE
D.M. Stearns was preaching in Philadelphia. At the close of the service a stranger came up to him and said, "I don’t like the way you spoke about the cross. I think that instead of emphasizing the death of Christ, it would be far better to preach Jesus, the teacher and example."
Stearns replied, "If I presented Christ in that way, would you be willing to follow Him?"
"I certainly would," said the stranger without hesitation.
"All right then," said the preacher, "let’s take the first step. He did no sin. Can you claim that for yourself?"
The man looked confused and somewhat surprised. "Why, no," he said. "I acknowledge that I do sin."
Stearns replied, "Then your greatest need is to have a Savior, not an example!"
(From a sermon by Rick Boyne, The Righteous for the Unrighteous, 4/13/2011)
3. The Man of Reception
How many of you believe in “death bed professions of faith?” What we have here is essentially the same thing. This man will be dead in a few hours. He was a murderer more than likely. Two questions come to mind. First, should God save someone who waits till the last minute before they die to become a Christian? Secondly, this man was a great sinner. He was a murderer more than likely. Should God save someone like him?
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.”
a. His recognition
He recognized his guilt as a sinner
Kent Kessler writes: One Pastor performed a baptism service in sort of a special way. He told the people before they came up to the platform to be baptized to take a piece of paper, write down a few of the sins they’ve committed, and fold the paper. When they came up to the platform, there was a large wooden cross on the stage. They were to take that piece of paper along with a pin, and pin it to the cross, because the Bible says our sins are nailed to the cross with Jesus Christ, and fully paid for by his death. Then they were to turn and come to the pastor to be baptized. I want to read you a letter a woman wrote who was baptized in one of that service. She said:
I remember my fear. In fact, it was the most fear I remember in my life. I wrote as tiny as I could on that piece of paper the word abortion. I was so scared someone would open the paper and read it and find out it was me. I wanted to get up and walk out of the auditorium during the service, the guilt and fear were that strong.
When my turn came, I walked toward the cross, and I pinned the paper there. I was directed to a pastor to be baptized. He looked me straight in the eyes, and I thought for sure that he was going to read this terrible secret I kept from everybody for so long. But instead, I felt like God was telling me, I love you. It’s okay. You’ve been forgiven. I felt so much love for me, a terrible sinner. It’s the first time I ever really felt forgiveness and unconditional love. It was unbelievable, indescribable.
He recognized the innocence of the Savior
He recognized the Lordship of Jesus
He recognized the Sovereignty of Jesus – Jesus is the King of Kings. “kingdom”
b. His request – “remember me” His plea and prayer was very simple but effectual
c. He reassurance – “today thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
R. C. Ryle – “One thief was saved that no sinner might despair, but only one, that no sinner might presume.”
Robin Norwood in her book, “Why Me? Why This? Why Now?” writes, “A very wise old friend of mine who has just celebrated his 100th birthday said to me about a recent news broadcast he recently heard about 73 people losing their lives in a plan crash: “Don’t they know we can’t lose our lives? We can only lose our bodies. They should say 73 people lost their bodies today.” The body dies but the soul lives on. It’s just a matter of where. Ninety-nine percent of Jews don't believe in eternal life. The Pharisees did and that’s it. It’s a belief that the Jewish people still do not accept today. But Jesus on the cross and God in the days after showed that he loved us enough, not only to sacrifice his son for our sins but to also defeat death that we might spend eternity with him. You and I were created to spend our lifetime in relationship with God the Father. And now that Jesus defeats death, we are given the gift to spend all eternity with him. Let me ask you a question, “Are you living your life as if you are going to die or are you living as if you are going to spend eternity with Jesus?”
