Intro: Today church I want to talk to you about the importance of the cross, and how the Crucifixion is more than an Easter Message. We as the church have found ourselves forgetting about the importance of the cross and the blood that was shed on Calvary. We have limited the message of the cross to an annual message given on Easter, or during the weeks prior to Easter. But church I am here to tell you that the cross, the blood, and the man that hung on the cross is more than a message, but a testimony that we are to honor daily. For if it had not been for the cross, there would be no hope.
I. There is a need for the cross; for it is the bridge of reconciliation.
A. Ever since man fell from the Grace of God Almighty in the Garden of Eden. A plan was in motion to reconcile man back to God. For the very first prophecy was given as God was sentencing judgment on all involved in the fall plot. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. This was in relation to the virgin birth of the Messiah and the war of the Sons of God and Sons of Perdition, and the triumphant victory over Satan.
1. Since the expulsion of man from the garden his own righteousness was infected and no longer was pure, but now coincided together with sin and evil. A once perfect heart became wicked and deceptive. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?
2. Man now faces the decision to which master he is going to serve, the purity of the heart that was given at his creation pleaded for him to do good in the sight of God for he was created in God’s image, but his now deceitful heart begged him to follow in the ways of its new master.
3. Man ran into the problem of only being able to do good for so long before turning to wickedness.
4. For every law that was given could now only be upheld for so long before mans now own carnality would take control and run him into the very pits of sin and hell.
B. Through out the Word of God we are given examples of those that would follow in the path of purity and love for our Creator before they gave into there own lust. Many would be reconciled, some over and over again, but the pattern was the same.
1. The very first men that were born after the fall were Cain and Abel. Both sought the Lord but within Cain there was unrighteousness he allowed to control him, and after being rejected by God for his sacrifice, instead of repentance he turns his anger toward his brother and kills him, and tries to cover up his sin just as his parents had done in the Garden with fig leaves.
2. Aaron after being the mouth piece for Moses found himself now at the base of Mt. Sinai helping in the construction of an idol to worship.
3. The children of Israel that were first led out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God, murmured so much and had so much disbelief in God and there deliverance to the promise land they all died, all but there children lived and were heirs of the promise. When all could have obtained it.
4. The judges of Israel such as Gideon after his victories in the Lord retired and helped in the spread of idolatry. Samson gave himself over to Delilah and she delivered him to the Philistines.
5. David whom I call the chiefest of sinners was the greatest of repenters. He would do well in the sight of the Lord and then transgress and then repent.
6. The Old Testament speaks of many that failed God and this same failure would be evident in the New Testament from Peter the Apostle to all the other Apostles.
7. There are many other recorded cases throughout the Word of God just as these. Man in all his might could not uphold righteousness for his heart was held captive to sin.
8. Paul speaks of this war in Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. (15) For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. (16) If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good. (17) Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not. (19) For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. (20) Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (21) I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. (22) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: (23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
II. For that very war Jesus Christ came into the world that He may bring victory in that battle and bring man back into the fellowship of there Creator. Paul finishes that chapter by saying Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. And is followed up in chapter 8 the first few verses which read Romans 8:1 [There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
A. Jesus Christ was the only one for the job our only hope; He was a man with a mission.
1. Jesus Christ the begotten from all eternity was the only hope for man. John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
2. The plan was instituted from the first bite of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
3. The Lord God Almighty knew that in man’s heart the war to do good would always result in evil prevailing.
4. Even with the institution of the law mans frailty was evident. (I saw a comic strip that had Moses leaving Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments telling God he would return for the next ten after man had gotten the first ten down. Also another had Moses coming down the Mount with the people saying brings us these laws that we may find loop holes in them.) Man could not maintain the law and the code of holiness in his heart for long, for his heart was always turned to evil.
5. With the foreknowledge that man could never bring himself back to the Creator. The plan was in enacted for God to send his only begotten Son into the world and be that propitiation for us. 1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.
B. Jesus Christ was to leave the Holy of Holies and step into the outer court yard where sinful man dwelled. Since the institution of the Priesthood and the Temple only the Priest was allowed on the day of Atonement to enter the Holy of Holies, but now our Savior was leaving the Temple to find His place in new ones. 2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
1. Jesus Christ steps off His Kingly throne, I can see Him now turning to the Father as He leaves His throne and saying “I’ll be back to take my place, but when I return I am bringing back our people.”
2. All the while as our Savior is preparing to leave, the angel Gabriel is preparing a vessel for Christ to be received into. This vessel was a young Jewish virgin named Mary. She was to be the one in which our savior would be brought into this world a type of the Holy Place which is in the Temple which made entrance into the court yard of the World.
3. In genetics the makeup or DNA of each parent is combined to produce a child. For Mary she would provide only a body for this child a covering, while the Spirit would fill in all genetic material of our Lord, which is the power and Holiness of God. His heart would be sin free and His blood holy. Which would later be shed for our on corrupt blood line.
4. The power of our Lord shows early in the scriptures. For while Mary was still early in the developmental stages of the pregnancy; she visits her cousin Elizabeth who too is now pregnant with the forerunner of Christ who would be John the Baptist. When Mary tells Elizabeth of that holy one within her the babe within Elizabeth leaps and she is filled with the Holy Ghost.
C. From Christ’s birth in Bethlehem the shadow of the cross hung over him. For at His birth a new star appeared that shone so bright it took on the form of the cross. The shadow would spread over His entire life, a shadow that had a source that He sought. Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
1. In the Old Testament many references made to the type of death our Lord was to endure for us. Christ spoke often of His death and the method of it through out the New Testament. Jesus said in Matthew 20:18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, (19) And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify [him]: and the third day he shall rise again.
2. The cross the vilest of all deaths and one that the Romans and Greeks found offensive. Even the Jews looked upon it as a death of shame for the law spoke of this death in Deuteronomy 21:22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: (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.
3. For the Jews Christ death was defiling, but to the believers it was cleansing. It is written in 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:
4. This type of punishment was only given to those who were found guilty of treason, desertion in the face of an enemy, robbery, piracy, assassination, sedition, and many other heinous crimes.
5. The accused that would hang on the cross had a long road of agony to endure. This death was not intended to be a quick death but a slow agonizing death for sport for all that would watch. The victim would literally die a thousand deaths; all combined to ensure unexplainable pain and torment.
6. This death sentence would be intense and very painful. Severe local inflammation, coupled with an insignificant bleeding of the jagged wounds, which would produce a traumatic fever, which would be aggravated by the exposure to the heat of the sun coupled with the strained position of the body and insufferable thirst which would cause our Savior to cry “I thirst”.
7. The wounds swelled about the rough nails and the torn and lacerated tendons and nerves caused excruciating agony.
8. The arteries of the head and stomach were surcharged with blood and a terrific throbbing headache ensued.
9. Tetanus which is a spasm of the muscles or convulsions; would tear at the wounds and add to the burden of pain, causing the body to beat its self against the cross till at last the bodily forces are exhausted and the victim sank to unconsciousness and death. Most victims would die of asphyxiation, there lungs would fill with fluid and they would literally drown while suspended on the cross.
10. The length of this agony was wholly determined by the constitution of the victim, but death rarely ensued within thirty-six hours. But if death had not incurred within that time than the legs of the accused were broken. For our Lord it wasn’t these factors that caused His death it was the burden of the sins of humanity that caused Him to cry “it is finished”.
11. The weight and agony of the sins and sickness of the world bore so heavily upon Christ that pressure forced blood through the thin membrane around the heart. This blood dropped into the pericardial sac and coagulated. Medical sources suspect that this was the reason blood and water came forth from Christ’s side when the soldier pierced it with a spear (John 19:34).
12. In other words, our Lord Jesus Christ died of a broken, ruptured heart. He is a broken hearted Savior that died for a broken world.
III. 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
A. For many the cross is a joke a mere fairy tale told to give one hope or to entertain, but for the believer it is the power of God. The great gulf of sin that separated man and God was bridged by the Cross. The vertical beam pushed sin down under the feet of Christ where His precious blood ran and covered all sin. While the horizontal beam forged the gap between man and God reconciling them.
1. The lost sons and daughters now had a means in which they may now enter into the presence of God. The Holy of Holies was now opened to all in the outer court.
2. As one would go to the Cross there awaited them a deliverer who would take them to God.
3. Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (14) For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [between us]; (15) Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, [so] making peace; (16) And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: (17) And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.(18) For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. (19) Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (20) And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner [stone]; (21) In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (22) In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
4. What man sought to do was accomplished by Christ our Lord on the Cross the severed gap closed with the cross.
B. 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.
1. The sins of all mankind laid heavy on Christ’s heart a weight no man could bare for man himself could not carry his own weight in sin. But one that had no weight to carry picked up the weight of all that they may be free to follow him to the cross where salvation lied.
2. Many would never take the opportunity to follow Christ to the Cross but would rather take upon them their weight in sin. Never crossing that wonderful bridge but continuing to frolic in the court yard.
3. But for those that follow they will find reconciliation and righteousness. The Bible says in Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (30) For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.
4. From this same Cross there is the power to heal; for upon the body that was nailed to that Cross whose blood soaked every inch of those beams brought to us not only the deliverance of our sins, but also from the deliverance of sickness.
5. Many today will run to men to set them free, but it is Christ who frees us from sin and sickness. The blood stained Cross of Calvary is where we can meet the Master it is that bridge we cross as Christ is our guide to the Father that we may obtain our healing.
C. Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
1. For Christ there was a joy in the Cross.
2. For so long we have endured the sufferings of Satan our task master, but at the cross a price was paid that all may be freed.
3. 1 Corinthians 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
4. Galatians 5:1 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
5. The joy of the Cross was the homecoming Christ was preparing for all that would not be ashamed of Him but called unto Him. A Homecoming that was being prepared for since Adam and Eve left the garden.
Conclusion: For so long we walked about with yokes about our necks keeping us from freedom and VICTORY. But Church I am here to tell you that there is victory in the Cross there is power in the Cross, there is a homecoming in the cross. Satan thought by placing Christ on the Cross all his worries would be over and that he would have his vengeance on the one that saw him fall like lightening. But he was mistaken when the cross was placed on Calvary’s hill his heel was bruised or in other words when the Cross hit the earth Satan was knocked off his feet and from the throne where he ruled over us and became a foot stole for Christ. The victory was given from that day on when sinners went to the cross and called upon the name of the Lord they were given freedom and victory. At the foot of the cross all are leveled and Christ is exalted as our triumphant King and Master. No weapon formed against us will prosper; no attack against us will destroy us for with Christ there is VICTORY in the Cross!
