WHY IT HAD TO BE CALVARY
Luke 23:33
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. SUPPORT A FAMILY : THE PROSPECTIVE FATHER-IN-LAW ASKED, "YOUNG MAN, CAN YOU SUPPORT A FAMILY?" THE SURPRISED GROOM-TO-BE REPLIED, "WELL, NO. I WAS JUST PLANNING TO SUPPORT YOUR DAUGHTER. THE REST OF YOU WILL HAVE TO FEND FOR YOURSELVES."
2. GRANDMA'S AGE : LITTLE JOHNNY ASKED HIS GRANDMA! HOW OLD SHE WAS. GRANDMA ANSWERED, "39 & HOLDING." JOHNNY THOUGHT FOR A MOMENT, AND THEN SAID, "AND HOW OLD WOULD YOU BE IF YOU LET GO?"
B. OPENING STORY: “God’s Amazing Love”
1. The young woman was married and had two beautiful children, but one day as she was standing over the sink, washing dishes, she thought, ’There must be more to life than this.’
2. When her husband came home, he found a note she’d written and he began to weep. She would call him about once every week to check on the children, and he would always tell her of his great love for her and beg her to come home. She would always say no and hang up.
3. Finally, he hired a private investigator to find her. He went to the apartment where she was staying, nervously holding a spray of flowers in his hand as he stood at the door. He had rehearsed over and over what he would say and he finally got up the nerve to knock on the door. She opened the door and he started to speak, but she suddenly began to weep and fell into his arms. She managed to say through her tears, "Let’s go home."
4. Months after, when things were starting to heal, he finally asked her something that had been bothering him. "All those times I talked to you on the phone; I asked you to come back and you refused. Why did you come back now?"
5. "Before," she started, tears in her eyes, "you were just telling me that you loved me. When you came, you showed me."
6.The Bible tells us of God’s love, but Jesus came and showed God’s love. Jesus proved God’s love by dying for us. Let’s examine the five specifics of God’s love.
C. TEXT & THESIS
1. “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left” Luke 23:33. Why Calvary?
2. First, we find that when Jesus died…
I. IT HAD TO BE THAT SPECIFIC PLACE(There)
Jesus crucifixion didn’t happen just anywhere, it happened THERE. God’s plan was for His Son to die there.
A. THAT COUNTRY
1. We know what country this happened in: Israel.
2. Palestine is the land bridge between three continents. It was the land of promised to Abram and the fathers. But more than that, it was specially chosen; in Isaiah 62:4 God calls it “Beulah,” which means, “married.” God sees himself as being married to that land; it was special then and remains special to God today.
B. THAT CITY
1. It not only took place in Israel, but it also came about in Jerusalem, the City of Peace. Literally, Jerusalem means “The Place of Peace.” In over 2,000 years, it has known absolutely no peace. Wars have raged in, for and concerning Jerusalem, the City of Peace.
2. Jesus said, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Mt. 23:37); & Lk. 13:33 “In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
3. Jerusalem was the center of the martyrdom of the prophets simply because it is the center of the spiritual warfare waged concerning the whole world. It will be that way as long as the earth exists.
C. THAT PARTICULAR HILL
1. Finally, we see that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem at a place called “Calvary.” Luke 23:33 uses the Latin word “Calvary” which means “The Skull.” Matthew 27:33, Mark 15:22, and John 19:17 all use the Aramaic name “Golgotha” which means “The Skull.”
2. This is the same hill upon which Abraham offered Isaac. It is the same hill as Araunah’s threshing floor, upon which David offered sacrifice to stop the plague of three days over Israel. 2 Chr. 3:1.
3. It is on the same hill that Solomon built the first Temple on and sacrifices were offered for Israel’s sins for many generations. Thus it was chosen as the ultimate location where sacrifices were to be made, especially the final sacrifice of God’s only Son, Jesus.
4. We know that Jesus not only died in a specific place but He died for and by the hands of…
II. AMONG THAT SPECIFIC PEOPLE (They)
A. THE ROMANS
1. First, we find the Romans GUILTY of crucifying our savior. Pilate found no fault and yet had Him crucified.
2. the Roman empire, being 786 years old and a cross-section of almost all the people of the world, was a fitting representative of the whole human race. So when Rome condemned Christ, it spoke for the entire world and rendered them guilty also.
B. THE JEWS
1. We also know that the Jews crucified Jesus. The Jews were God’s chosen people. They too stood as a type of the godly remnant which exists in the world.
2. God had chosen them out of all the people of the world to be his unique and special people. Yet they rejected their Savior, even though they had God’s Word and prophecies to light their way in seeing who the Savior would be.
3. Their rejection of Christ indicated that even the best and most enlightened would still blunder and not except Christ as their savior.
C. YOU & ME
1. But the third party who is guilty of condemning Christ is you and me! We are GUILTY because it was our sins which sent Jesus to the cross. He who knew no sin became sin for us!
2. Not only are we responsible for His death, we are also beneficiaries from His death. He became sin and unrighteous in our place on the cross that we might have imputed upon us His righteousness and holiness. We receive mercy and grace when we deserved none!
3. We know He died in a specific place by a specific people but it caused…
III. HE HAD TO DIE IN THAT SPECIFIC MANNER(Crucified)
The gospel writers never explained or described the crucifixion. The people in their day understood precisely what the cross was; it was an instrument of death! Jesus suffered more than death on the cross.
A. COULDN’T BE BY STONING OR BEHEADING
1. First, other forms of capital punishment would be over way too soon. There had to be time for “the sun to be darkened, the moon to not give its light.” Jesus had to have time to make his seven utterances from the cross, at least one of which (“I thirst”) was a fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture.
2. There had to be time for Jesus to be separated from the father and cry, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”
B. ATONEMENT HAD TO BE MADE FOR EACH AREA OF MAN/ WOMAN
1. Christ suffered in virtually every aspect of his body: from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, to the extremities of each arm. His face was wounded, His back was beaten, His side and heart were pierced, and even His eyes were blinded with trickles of blood. Each aspect of his suffering atoned for an aspect of man’s sin.
2. “He was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities, the chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53:4.
C. SCRIPTURE WAS FULFILLED
1. Canon Liddon has stated that Jesus fulfilled more than 332 scriptures of the Old Testament in His first coming. Many of those had to do with His atonement or manner of His death. If Jesus hadn’t been crucified, many prophecies would have been left unfulfilled.
2. So, He suffered in a specific place by a specific people through a specific pain as…
IV. IT HAD TO BE THAT SPECIFIC PERSON (Him)
A. THE LAMB OF GOD
John the Baptist cried out regarding “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus was our sacrificial or Passover lamb. He was perfect without any blemish. BECAUSE PERFECT, HE WAS NOT CHARGEABLE FOR HIS OWN SIN, BUT COULD ACCEPT OTHERS’ SINS.
B. THE SON OF GOD
We also know that Jesus was “The Son of God.” Today he sits at the right hand of the Father and will return upon the cloud of glory! There is no greater Person than the Son of God who walked upon this earth. But He came to die for all sinners so “Whosoever will, let him come.” BECAUSE HE WAS INFINITE GOD, HE COULD ABSORB, NOT JUST ONE MAN’S SINS, BUT ALL MEN’S SINS!
C. THE PROMISED MESSIAH
1. Jesus is “The Promised Messiah.” Since Genesis 3:15, we find that God promised One who would come and deliver us from our sin. Jesus is the exact fulfillment of all God’s promises.
2. But most of all, Jesus died for…
V. FOR THAT SPECIFIC PURPOSE
A. TO BE A PROPITIATION
The word “propitiation” means to “turn aside wrath.” This word is used three times in the New Testament (KJV – Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2, 4:10). Much like a shield would turn aside an arrow or a mace, Jesus stood between us and the Justice and judgment of God and took the full fury of its vengeance against sin on Himself. As a result, the blow did not fall upon us, so we did not suffer from its effects.
B. TO BE A SUBSTITUTE
1. Ned Wright lived in London during the 1800s. After getting drunk in a saloon, he was tricked into joining the military and woke up in the barracks. Of the men there, he was drafted to serve in the Boer War between England and South Africa. He did not want to go but another recruit was anxious to go and was not chosen, so they switched identities and clothing, since they looked almost identical.
2. It was not long after that that it was reported that Ned Wright had been killed. This had a profound effect upon the real Ned. He said, “Had I not exchange with him identities, I would now be dead. I would’ve received the same bullet that he received. I owe him my life for he died for me!”
3. This is exactly what Jesus did for us; He assumed our identity and died in our place on the cross. We too owe him our lives!
C. TO SAVE OTHERS
But most of all He came to Save others! Jesus stated specifically in Luke 19:10, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Romans 5:8 notes, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus wants a relationship with you today and forever!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Love When We Need It The Most
1. A man visited a home where there were five children. He was supposed to be a kind of "godfather" to them and was trying to get involved with them on their level. He asked one of the little girls about her doll collection: "Which one is your favorite?" "Promise you won’t laugh if I tell you?" she answered. "No I won’t laugh," he said.
2. She went into the next room and brought back a doll that was the most tattered, dilapidated, worn-out doll he had ever seen — a real refugee from the trash heap. All the hair was missing, and the nose was broken off and an arm was cracked. He didn’t laugh, but he couldn’t cover his surprise. He said to her, "Why do you love this one the most?" The little girl replied, "Because she needs it most. If I didn’t love her, nobody would."
3. Jesus said that God is like that. He loves us most when we need it most. He came to love us sacrificially because we are broken, tattered and worn-out! He loved us when nobody else would…or could. Glory! What a Savior!
B. ALTAR CALL
1. Prayer to receive Christ.
2. Prayers for personal needs.
