THE CROSS OF CHRIST
Mark 15:21-39
INTRO.- ILL.- The parents of a ten year old public school boy who was failing fifth grade math decided to enroll their son in a private Catholic school after exhausting all methods. The youngster stormed home the first day of school, walked right past them, charged straight to his room, and locked the door. Two hours later, he emerged for a quick meal, announced that he was studying, and went straight back to his studies until bedtime.
This pattern continued until the end of the first quarter. After school, the boy walked home with his report card, dropped the envelope on the family dinner table, and went straight to his room. His parents cautiously opened the letter, saw a bright red "A" under the subject, MATH, and rushed excitedly into their son’s room!
"Was it the nuns?" the father asked. The boy only shook his head and said, "No."
"Was it the one-on-one tutoring? Peer-mentoring?" asked the mother. Again, the boy shrugged, "No." "The textbooks? The teacher? The curriculum?" asked the father.
"No, no, no." the son finally spoke. "From the very first day of school, I knew that these folks were serious about math. When I walked into the lobby, and I saw a guy nailed to the PLUS sign, I knew they meant business!"
Brethren, the cross of Christ is “the” sign to the world that God meant business! And His business was that of forgiveness. Salvation. Mercy. Grace. Heaven.
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son (on the cross), that whoever believes in him (and in His death on the cross) shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world (and on the cross) to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
How important is the cross to Christians? It’s very important, because of what it represents and who it represents! The cross has a very special meaning to us who are in Christ. To us, the cross is not a shameful nor offensive symbol. IT IS SYMBOL OF GRACE, MERCY, FORGIVENESS OF SIN, AND THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE!
ILL.- Max Lucado wrote "[The cross] rests on the time line of history like a compelling diamond...History has idolized and despised it, goldplated and burned it, worn it and trashed it. History has done everything but ignore it...Never has timber been regarded so sacred.”
ILL.- Lois A. Cheney wrote a useful and thought-provoking poem:
I stand before the cross and wonder.
I stand before the cross and fear.
I kneel before the cross and weep.
I pray before the cross and rejoice.
To know the cross is to know Christ.
To feel the cross is to feel Christ.
To gaze at the cross is to gaze at Christ.
To carry the cross is to be a Christian,
And not until then.
PROP.- The cross of Christ matters to God and should matter to us. Let’s consider the following matters of importance:
1- The priority of the cross
2- The pain of the cross
3- The power of the cross
I. THE PRIORITY OF THE CROSS
ILL.- The story is told of a prosperous, young investment banker who was driving a new BMW sedan on a mountain road during a snow storm. As he veered around one sharp turn, he lost control and began sliding off the road toward a steep cliff. At the last moment he unbuckled his seat belt, flung open his door, and leaped from the car, which then plummeted to the bottom of the ravine and burst into a ball of flames. Although he had escaped with his life, the man suffered a ghastly injury.
Somehow his arm had been caught near the hinge of the door as he jumped and had been torn off at the shoulder. A passing trucker saw the accident in his rearview mirror, pulled his rig to a halt and ran back to see if he could help. When he arrived at the scene, he found the banker standing at the roadside, looking down at the BMW burning in the ravine below. Incredibly the banker was oblivious to his injury and moaned, “My BMW! My new BMW!” The trucker pointed at the banker’s shoulder and said, “You’ve got bigger problems than that car. We’ve got to find your arm. Maybe the surgeons can sew it back on!”` The banker looked where his arm had been, paused a moment, and groaned, “Oh no! My Rolex! My new Rolex!”
Brethren, that man’s priorities were all mixed up! He should have been concerned about saving his arm and his life, but instead, he was only concerned about his car and his watch.
What if God were so dumb? We’d all be in a heap of trouble! But bless His name! God knew what He was doing right from the beginning of time. And He knew exactly what He was doing when He sent Jesus into the world. And His priority was the salvation of mankind through the cross of Christ!
Is. 53:10 “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer...”
Isaiah was talking about the suffering of our Savior on the cross. He was saying, “It was God’s will (or priority) to allow Christ to suffer for us.”
II Cor. 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
God made Jesus to become sin for us on the cross. God’s priority was to allow Jesus to suffer on the cross for us so that we could be saved.
God’s will or priority has been accomplished in regard to Jesus, BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU? What about your life? What is your top priority in life? Have you accomplished God’s priority for your life?
ILL.- Damon Thames, a senior shortstop at Rice University [in 1999], turned down an offer from the world champion New York Yankees so he could return for his final year of college.
In June [of 1998], he was drafted in the tenth round by the Yankees after a season in which he batted .426, had 115 RBIs, and was named College Player of the Year. However Thames decided to stay at Rice and finish getting his degree in economics.
"It was a tough decision, because I’ve wanted to play pro baseball all my life," he says. "But I really prayed about it, and I felt that God wanted me to stay where I was. I had seen guys jump to the big leagues after their junior year, and they struggled in the minors. I just wasn’t ready to make that jump."
Thames says there’s one verse that kept coming to his mind during that time. "Matthew 6:33 ‘Seek first the kingdom of God...’ really helped me a lot. I’ve realized that all the money and all the wealth that I’ll ever need is at the cross of Christ. Regardless of whether I ever sign a pro contract, that is enough for me."
Brethren, there was a young man who had his priorities right. The kingdom, the cross, and the Christ were most important in his life. WHAT ABOUT YOU?
ILL.- Do you realize that in the average lifespan of 70 years that most people will spend almost 33% of their lives sleeping? And 11.5% watching TV? And 6.5% in having fun? And only .7% in their religion or Christianity?
The cross of Christ should be a priority in our lives! Think about it. Think how you can make some changes in your own life to give Christ top-billing! Top-priority!
1- The priority of the cross
II. THE PAIN OF THE CROSS
ILL.- How you can tell when it’s going to be a rotten day:
- You wake up face down on the pavement.
- You call Suicide Prevention and they put you on hold.
- You see a "60 Minutes" news team waiting in your office.
- Your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles.
- Your twin sister forgot your birthday.
- Your car horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck as you follow a group of Hell’s Angels on the freeway.
- Your boss tells you not to bother to take off your coat.
- The bird singing outside your window is a buzzard.
- You call your answering service and they tell you it’s none of your business.
- Your income tax check bounces.
- You put both contact lenses in the same eye.
- Your wife says, "Good morning, Bill", and your name is George.
Brethren, all of us experience bad days in life. And all of us experience a certain amount of suffering and pain in life. PAIN IS INEVITABLE. This world is not perfect nor are we perfect.
I Pet. 4:12 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trials you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”
We do our children a disservice by not telling them that life is going to be rough and tough at times. We actually hurt them by trying to protect them from the pain of life.
No matter how great our pain is, there was greater pain at the cross.
ILL.- Someone said, “Self pity is a shortcut to insanity.” We often feel misunderstood, persecuted, and forsaken. Don’t you wonder how Jesus must have felt?
Heb. 12:3 “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
ILL.- Some years ago a revival took place in a church. One of the men of the church began to complain about his heavy schedule. Being both a deacon and a Sunday School teacher he had been assigned the job of filling a pew on two consecutive nights. The preacher seemed touched and said, “When I consider such a tremendous sacrifice as this Calvary pales into insignificance.”
We will suffer in this life. But none of us will suffer anything near what Christ suffered on the cross!
Mark 15:34 “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ - which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”
Jesus bore our sins in His body on the tree.
Jesus became sin for us.
Jesus tasted death for us.
Jesus was separated from the Father for us.
Jesus suffered the torment and pain of hell for us.
ILL.- David, a 2-year old with leukemia, was taken by his mother, Deborah, to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, to see Dr. John Truman who specializes in treating children with cancer and various blood diseases.
Dr. Truman’s prognosis was devastating: "He has a 50-50 chance." The countless clinic visits, the blood tests, the intravenous drugs, the fear and pain--the mother’s ordeal can be almost as bad as the child’s, because she must stand by, unable to bear the pain herself.
Little David never cried in the waiting room, and although his friends in the clinic had to hurt him and stick needles in him, he hustled in ahead of his mother with a smile, sure of the welcome he always got. When he was three, David had to have a spinal tap--a painful procedure at any age. It was explained to him that, because he was sick, Dr. Truman had to do something to make him better. "If it hurts, remember it’s because he loves you," Deborah said.
The procedure was horrendous. It took three nurses to hold David still, while he yelled and sobbed and struggled. When it was almost over, the tiny boy, soaked in sweat and tears, looked up at the doctor and gasped, "Thank you, Dr. Tooman, for my hurting."
The pain of the cross. Jesus bore our pain, our suffering in His body on the cross. Jesus could well have said, “Thank you, Father, for my hurting, my pain.” And we should rightly say, “Thank you, Jesus, for hurting for me. Thank you for taking my pain and punishment.”
1- The priority of the cross
2- The pain of the cross
III. THE POWER OF THE CROSS
ILL.- A young Bible college student was reading his Bible on an airplane flight. The man seated next to him asked, “Do you believe every word in the Bible?”
“Absolutely,” said the student.
“You mean to tell me that you believe that a whale swallowed Jonah?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Can you tell me how that could possibly happen?”
“When I get to heaven, I’ll ask Jonah,” said the student.
“Suppose Jonah isn’t in heaven?”
“Then you’ll have to ask him.”
The Bible is very clear about the promise of heaven and the people of the world are interested in going there.
ILL.- A couple of years ago Time magazine devoted its cover story to the afterlife. They found that 81% of Americans believe in the existence of heaven. 63% believe that hell exists, but only 1% believe that they will end up in heaven. How sad.
THIS IS WHAT THE CROSS OF CHRIST IS ALL ABOUT! Without the cross of Christ, without the death of Christ, there would be no doorway into heaven!
Rom. 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes...”
The power of the cross is salvation! It is through the death of Christ on the cross that people can be saved! They can have their sins forgiven and go to heaven.
Far too many people think they’re going to heaven on the merit plan. It’s the idea that I should go to heaven because of what I have done in life. BALONEY! Balderdash! Idiocy! Not!
ILL.- Occasionally, I will eat out somewhere with some thoughtful, loving person. And whenever we get ready to leave the restaurant I have had them say to me, “Oh, Steve, let me buy your meal. LET ME PAY FOR YOU.”
And I say, “Well, Okaaay!” No, I don’t say that. I say, “No, No, I can pay for my own meal.” And some will say, “No, you can’t pay. I’m paying.” AND MORE OF YOU SHOULD DO THAT FOR ME! Just kidding!
Guess what? That’s exactly what Christ did for all of us! He said, “LET ME PAY FOR YOU!” It is through His payment that we are saved! And through His payment alone. Our payment will never be enough. We will never be able to pay enough to get into heaven. And God won’t accept our payment either.
The power of the cross is that Jesus paid the bill for us! Praise His name!
Brethren, the Bible is very clear about the promise of heaven, but not everybody is going there! However, we shouldn’t act as if we’re happy about it! If our hearts have been touched by the God of heaven then we’ll be telling others about the heaven that God has prepared!
ILL.- Robert Speer said, “Any man who has a religion is bound to do one of two things with it: change it or spread it. If it isn’t true, he must give it up. IF IT IS TRUE, HE MUST GIVE IT AWAY.”
Brethren, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth! Why aren’t we giving this message away? Why aren’t we spreading the word?
This is a great time of the year for Christians to give the message away! People are thinking about Easter and the resurrection of Christ! Let’s not be selfish with Christ! The least of what we can do and should be doing is inviting people to church!
Let’s get with the program! Christ didn’t just die for you. He died for your neighbors, your family members, the people you work with, the people in mall, and Wal-Mart, etc.! LET’S SPREAD THE WORD!
CONCLUSION---------------------------------------
ILL.- On the outskirts of London there stands a white cross. One day in the heart of the city a policeman heard a little boy crying. He found the little boy and asked him, “What’s the matter? Can I help you?”
The little boy replied, “I am lost.” The officer said, “Well, don’t cry. We can fix that. Where do you live?”
The little boy said, “If you will take me to the hill where the white cross stands, I can find my way home.”
Brethren, it’s as simple as that. THE WAY OF THE CROSS LEADS HOME. It leads home to heaven. Are you lost in your sin? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him. Obey Him. Surrender to Him. He will save you and take you home.
