Magnify the Cross of Jesus Christ!
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared November 28, 2022)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 20:17. In this verse of Scripture, Jesus has started His trip to Jerusalem to die on the cross for our sins. And by the beginning of the next chapter, the Lord will be on the outskirts of the city less than a week before the cross.
*Of course, the cross was on our Savior's mind, and in vs. 17-19 God's Word says:
17. Then Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them,
18. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,
19. and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.''
*There is a sad contrast in this section of Matthew. In our last study we covered the Lord's parable of the laborers in the vineyard and how those who were hired early in the day grumbled at the landowners grace, because he paid the same amount to those who were hired much later. That parable was prompted by Peter's question in Matthew 19:27. "Then Peter answered and said to Him, 'See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?'''
*In our next study we will see the disciples furious again about which of them would get to be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples were all focused on what they wanted to get. Jesus was focused on what He was about to give: His life on the cross for our sins! It was a sad contrast between selfishness and sacrifice.
*We all have a natural tendency to think more about what we can get, than what we can give. But in today's Scripture we will magnify the cross of Jesus Christ. And through the cross we will find the greatest things anyone can ever get. Please think about the cross, as again I read Matthew 20:17-19.
MESSAGE:
*Timothy Peck once said, "My wife committed her life to Jesus Christ while she was a junior in high school. Shortly after she became a Christian, she had a discussion with a friend who was a Jehovah's Witness. They talked about whether or not a Christian should wear a cross.
*Her friend reasoned that since the cross was the way Jesus was executed, it was totally inappropriate for someone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus to wear one. She said, 'If your brother was killed in a drive-by shooting, you wouldn't wear a silver assault rifle. If one of your ancestors had been lynched you wouldn't wear a gold noose.'" (1)
*It may seem odd to some people, but Christians, we glorify the cross of Jesus Christ! As Paul said in Galatians 6:14, "God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. . ."
*Here in Matthew 20, the suffering and death of our Lord were drawing near. In these moments, the Lord magnified His cross, and so should we.
1. MAGNIFY THE CROSS FIRST, BECAUSE IT WAS GOD'S PERFECT PLAN.
*Again in vs. 17-19, "Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.'''
*Jesus knew what was coming. Nothing takes Him by surprise. He didn't stumble into the cross. From the beginning, the cross was God's plan to save the lost. Psalm 33:11 in the NKJV says, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations."
*And the crucial key in God's plan was the cross of Jesus Christ. In Acts 4:24-28, the church was under the pressure of growing persecution, and they cried out to God in prayer, saying:
24. "Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,
25. who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: 'Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things?
26. the kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.'
27. For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
28. to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done."
*In 2 Timothy 1:8-10, Paul confirmed that God had planned the cross from before the beginning of time. Here the Apostle said, "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."
*Before time began, God planned to give us the grace we have in Jesus Christ, and He planned to give it through the cross. God always had a plan for Jesus to die on the cross. And Jesus is the Lamb of God who planned to sacrifice His life, so that we could be saved and protected by His blood.
2. MAGNIFY THE CROSS, BECAUSE IT WAS GOD'S PERFECT PLAN. AND MAGNIFY THE CROSS, BECAUSE IT CONFIRMS GOD'S PROPHECIES.
*The cross of Jesus Christ confirms to us that the Bible is a one-of-a-kind, miraculous book that told us things to come hundreds of years before they happened.
*Mark and Luke's Gospels shed more light on today's Scripture. Luke 18:31 says, "Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.'"
*The suffering and death of Christ on the cross were not only planned, they were prophesied. God doesn't just know the future. He has revealed it to us through His Word. What a miracle for us to see!
*Some people pretend to see into the future. James Merritt told about a fortune teller in England who stopped a preacher one day. Not knowing he was a preacher, the fortune teller said she would tell his future for $500. The preacher replied, "You mean you can tell me what I will be doing a year from now if I give you $500?"
*The fortune teller said, "I can tell you exactly what you will be doing a year from now." The pastor then said, "If you will tell me what I was doing this time yesterday, I will give you a thousand." (2)
*That ended the meeting. Some people pretend to see into the future, but God has surely revealed the future in His Word. Josh McDowell tells us that the Old Testament contains over 300 references to the Messiah that have already been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. The odds of that happening were impossible, but all of those prophecies were fulfilled. And one day, the rest of them will be fulfilled too!
*No wonder then that in John 5:39, Jesus said this to the unbelieving Jews, "Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
*Luke 24 tells us about the day Jesus rose again from the dead. That evening, Jesus appeared to the disciples. And at first they were terrified. They thought Jesus was a ghost. But He calmed them down, and invited them to touch Him. The Lord even ate with them.
*Then in Luke 24:44-47 Jesus said,
44. . . "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.''
45. And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
46. Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
47. and that repentance and remission (or forgiveness) of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
*Jesus had already told them "that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning" Him. But that night, Jesus "opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures." That must have taken a while, because we could spend many weeks studying about Jesus in the Old Testament.
*Here are just a few of the ways Jesus is seen in the Old Testament:
*In Psalm 22, a thousand years before Jesus was born, God gave us a preview of His death on the cross. In vs. 1 we hear Jesus on the cross as He cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" And in Psalm 22:16-18 we hear the Lord say, "The assembly of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet. I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots."
*This is such a miraculous prophecy of the cross of Jesus Christ! It was given 500 years before the practice of crucifixion was ever reported anywhere in the world! In Psalm 22, God even prophesied how the Roman soldiers would divide Jesus' garments, and cast lots for His coat! And we can see the report of this fulfilled prophecy in Matthew 27:35. (3)
*Then in Psalm 34:20 King David said this about our Heavenly Father watching over His Son as He would die on the cross: "He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken."
*This was also a sure prophecy. It was a sure prophecy that Jesus' bones would not be broken on the cross. It was a promise that came out of the first Passover in Egypt, 400 years before David was born. It was a promise kept 1,000 years after David died. It was a promise to prove that God is in control, that He always keeps His Word, and that we can always count on Him.
*We read the fulfillment of this prophecy starting in John 19:30-31:
30. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!'' And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
31. Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
*Bible scholars tell us that crucified men could live as long as 3 days. But the only way they could continue to breathe was to push up against the nail in their feet. And if the soldiers wanted to speed up the death, they would break the condemned men's legs, so they couldn't push up anymore.
*And John 19:32-36 says:
32. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.
33. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.
34. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
35. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.
36. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, "Not one of His bones shall be broken.''
*Hundreds of prophecies about Jesus Christ have already been fulfilled, and all the rest will be too. Our crucified and risen Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ can be found all over the Old Testament. No wonder Jon Allen said, "The biography of Christ was written centuries before He was born." (4)
3. MAGNIFY THE CROSS, BECAUSE IT CONFIRMS GOD'S PROPHECIES, AND BECAUSE IT IS THE GREATEST PROOF OF GOD'S LOVE.
*The cross of Jesus Christ is the greatest proof of God's love! Again in vs. 18-19, Jesus said, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify." In Mark 10:34, Jesus also said, "They will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. . ."
*And about 700 years before the Lord was born, Isaiah 53:2-8 gave this prophecy about how Jesus would suffer and die for our sins:
2. . . He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by 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 has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not his mouth.
8. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
*Think about the Lord's suffering. The way Jesus was beaten before He was crucified was enough to kill most people. Then, when Jesus was crucified, spikes 5 to 7 inches long were driven through His hands and feet. Death on the cross was so painful a new word was created to describe it. That word is "excruciating," which is Latin for "out of the cross." (5)
*Jesus went through all of this insult and injury for us, but worst of all was the immeasurable guilt He took for the sins of the whole world. The Lord's suffering and death on the cross is the greatest proof of God's love for us.
*Stop and think about what Jesus really did for us on the cross. Over the years I have counseled many couples before they got married. One of my favorite memories comes from a meeting with an older couple. We were just talking about odds and ends, when out of the blue I asked him, "Do you love her?" Without missing a beat, he answered, "I love her so much that I would take a bullet for her." And I know that's an unusual way to put it, but what a great expression of love!
*If someone shot at you and I jumped in the way, and took a bullet for you, that would be a wonderful thing. But Jesus Christ did so much more for us! He didn't just take our physical death. We faced everlasting torment and destruction in hell! It was coming straight for us, and there was nothing we could do to get out of the way.
*But Jesus stepped in front. He took all of the suffering that belonged to us, so that we wouldn't have to. Jesus took our death, so that we could have God's gift of eternal life, by placing our trust in Him. That's why Paul said these wonderful words to believers in Romans 5:6-10.
6. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
4. MAGNIFY THE CROSS TODAY, BECAUSE IT IS THE GREATEST PROOF OF GOD'S LOVE, AND BECAUSE IT IS THE SOURCE OF OUR GREATEST PEACE.
*Here in Matthew 20:18-19 Jesus said, "The Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.''
*Mark 10:32 tells us that as the disciples followed Jesus up that road to Jerusalem, they were amazed and afraid." Why? Because at that point, they simply could not understand the purpose of the cross and the power of the Lord's resurrection. But all of that began to change after the first Easter.
*So, Maxie Dunnam said, "The proof of the resurrection is not (just) the empty tomb. It is the incredible transformation in the lives of the disciples. They remained ordinary men after the resurrection, but they began to live extraordinary lives. Something had happened to them. . ." Now they were living on the resurrection side of the cross! (6)
*Mark Trotter explained, "There was a line right down the middle of their lives: Before and after. Before the Resurrection they despaired about this life. They were sure that death and not life was in control of things. But after the Resurrection, no matter what happened to them, they were convinced that love is the strongest power in this world. They were convinced that death is not the victor." (7)
*Church: The answer to our confusion and fear is to magnify the cross of Christ. Both His crucifixion and resurrection can give us the peace we need through every storm in life. Without Jesus Christ, we are all at war with God. We are His enemies, and it is never His fault. It's always our fault because we are the ones who rebelled and disobeyed God. But Jesus came to give us peace.
[1] HE CAME TO GIVE US ETERNAL PEACE.
*This is the most crucial peace of all: Peace with God. As Paul said in Colossians 1:19-20: "It pleased the Father that in Him (that is, in Jesus) all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made PEACE through the blood of His cross."
*Jesus Christ died on the cross to take all of the righteous punishment for our sins, but He rose again from the dead. And now we can have all of the peace we will ever need in life. How? -- By receiving Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of our lives.
*That's why Romans 5:1 tells Christians that "having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And Romans 10:15 proclaims, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!"' Jesus came to give His eternal peace to all who will trust in Him as Lord and Savior.
[2] BUT CHURCH: HE ALSO CAME TO GIVE US INTERNAL PEACE.
*We desperately need this internal peace, so Galatians 5:22 tells us that the fruit of God's Holy Spirit in our hearts includes love, joy and PEACE. In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul tells Christians to "be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and THE PEACE OF GOD, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
*When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, yes, we get peace with God. But on top of that, God's peace is planted in our hearts, and it begins to grow. As Jesus told His followers in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
*Marjorie Holmes told about a time when she was struggling with past failures in her life. Then God helped Marjorie through a letter from one of her friends. This friend told about a recent visit with her young granddaughter. They got to see a sky-writing plane writing messages in the sky with smoke.
*The little girl loved watching the words being drawn, but she was mystified when the smoky letters started to disappear. That little granddaughter thought about it for a few moments. Then she blurted out, "Maybe Jesus has an eraser!" (8)
*You know: In a very real sense He does, -- because He is able to erase all of our failures through the blood of His cross! Revelation 1:5 tells Christians that Jesus Christ "loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood."
*Without Jesus, there can be no real peace. But we are justified by God's grace through faith when we believe in His cross and receive the risen Christ as our Lord and Savior. That gives us miraculous peace with God, plus miraculous peace in our hearts. But all of it comes through the cross of Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION:
*So magnify the cross of Christ, because it was God's perfect plan for our salvation, it confirms God's prophecies, it's the best proof of God's love, and it is the source of our greatest peace.
*As we go back to God in prayer, Christians, magnify the cross with me! And if you have never received Jesus Christ as you Lord and Savior, call on the Lord to save you right now.
(1) SermonCentral sermon "What Christians Think about the Cross" by Timothy Peck - 2 Corinthians 5:17
(2) Sermons.com sermon "The Lion King" by James Merritt - Revelation 5:1-14
(3) Sources:
-SermonCentral illustration contributed by: David Parks - Source: "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell
-Britannica reports that the first historical record of Crucifixion was about 519 BC when "Darius I, king of Persia, crucified 3,000 political opponents in Babylon" - Encyclopaedia Britannica, crucifixion - Some further detail is given in "The Eerdman's Bible Dictionary", Rev. Ed., 1975: CROSS ... Crucifixion is first attested among the Persians (cf. Herodotus, Hist. i.128.2; iii.132.2, 159.1) - Source: "The Interactive Bible" - bible.ca
-https://www.bible.ca/d-history-archeology-crucifixion-cross.htm
(4) "Illustration Digest" edited by Jon Allen - Number 2 - 1996, p. 11
(5) SermonCentral sermon "Jesus is Alive - True or False?" by Lee Strobel - Matthew 28:1-20
(6) Sermons.com sermon "This Is Eternal Life (Easter Message)" by Maxie Dunnam - John 17:1-5 - 2006
(7) Mark Trotter, "In the Beginning" - Source: Sermons.com sermon "This Is Eternal Life (Easter Message)" by Maxie Dunnam - John 17:1-5 - 2006
(8) Source: In Other Words - Summer 2000, p. 5 - Topic: Forgiveness - Produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry - www.iows.net
