I am going to talk tonight about the Jesus’ crown, Jesus’ cross, and the Jesus’ guilt. I will show you a crown you have not noticed; I will talk about a cross in a light you have never seen it before; and I will prove to you that Jesus was, in fact, guilty.
1. THE CROWN YOU DID NOT SEE
MATTHEW 27:28-29 says,
‘They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand and knelt in front of Him and mocked Him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.
We are familiar with the crown of thorns that Jesus wore as He made His way down the Via Delarosa, but for right now, let’s look at the crown Jesus wore while He lived on this earth as both man and God. It was a crown that had a very limited reign. See, Jesus came as the Son of God, but He also came to die, so therein, you have the limited reign.
The crown wasn’t one that people desired, because it brought too much negative attention to it. Yet, Jesus could not allow that to affect what He was meant to do. If he did allow it to affect Him, it would have all but rendered the sacrifice He made for us all but useless. Simply stated, Jesus did not desire the any of the attention this crown brought Him, because all He wanted was to see other people’s hearts changed.
In many ways, that crown ended up being a bull’s eye for criticism and eventually His very life. We know that Jesus had no desire to wear the crown, because He asked His father to take it away from Him. But Jesus was also dedicated, so He ended that plea by acknowledging that it was the will of the Father that be done, not the will of Jesus.
His crown was so powerful that it caused His own people to disown him, trade him for a murderer, and to eventually accuse him of religious crimes in court. That crown caused all but a chosen few to hate Him and want to see Him dead.
The crown that Christ wore fit only Him, for He was the only perfect person to walk this earth. It would not fit me, nor would it fit any of you, for we are far from being perfect in any way. From the beginning, people knew that this was no ordinary man, and that is evidenced by the fact that in a just about a three year period, this man had some affect on every single human being that would ever be born after Him.
Yes, people far and wide have hated Him and denied Him, but you know what? He is still wearing that crown, and I’m here to let you know that no matter what anybody ever does or says, He will continue to wear that crown because that crown is permanent!
REVELATION 6:2, says,
‘I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and He was given a crown, and He rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.’
He will be wearing that same crown when He splits the Easter sky and calls us to be gathered up with Him! This is the crown of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! This crown is worn only by Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, and Savior to all who might believe.
2. THE CROSS IN A NEW LIGHT
As Easter Sunday approaches each year, we always start by talking about the cross where Jesus paid our debts.
In JOHN 19:17, it tells how He had to carry His own cross as He went to die for us. In JOHN 19:19, it tells how they put a title above His head on the cross. That title read, “Jesus of Nazareth. The King of the Jews.” Little did they know how accurate they were!
How do you think Jesus felt as He was attached to that cross with spikes through His wrists and feet? How do you think you would feel if it were you lying there, being nailed to that wooden cross? On one hand, I would imagine He wanted to do anything except that, but yet we find that Jesus was somehow willing to do it.
In PHILIPPIANS 2:8, it says about Jesus,
‘And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross.’
What we see is that Jesus did what we could not. He humbled Himself to the point of giving you and me everything He had, including His very life that morning on the cross. He did not change His mind at the last minute like we would have done, and He never once regretted it or cursed us as we would have done had we been hung there.
Let me give you a few details you may not have heard before about what it was like to be on the cross. The person who was going to be hanged had to lie down on the cross and that is when they drove the spikes through the wrists and feet. Think for a moment how much that must have hurt Him.
After Jesus was attached to the cross, they would raise it and slip the bottom of the cross into a hole about two feet or so deep. This not only kept the cross upright, but the cross was very heavy, and the sudden drop into the hole would cause all the joints in the body to become snapped out of place. More intense pain! After a few minutes, the weight of the body would sink downward, and with the arms pulled out like they were, the lungs would start to suffocate. I won’t go into any more detail, but I hope you are starting to see what Jesus did for you in a brand new light. I hope that you see the magnitude of what He did.
So, just how are we supposed to look at the cross? What would be the very best way we could view what Jesus did for us? Perhaps a way in which we could receive the full benefit of knowledge about what it all means.
I think HEBREWS 12:2 says it best.
‘Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’
Imagine yourself being there that day. You are standing in the crowd and you look upwards to see this bleeding, torn, and hurting man slowly dying. It must have been an ominous sight to behold. No, not ominous. I think evil would be a better description of that scene.
As you would stand there looking at this scene, you would see the cross as something that represented the end to life, wouldn’t you? But this particular cross, on this particular day, represented much more than the end of life.
It meant the loss of a son to Mary. To some, it meant an end of an era, and to others it merely represented the end of their headaches and problems. Even though it represented all of these things, it represented even more. Let me explain.
It showed that Jesus had, indeed, finished what He started, because the last thing He said was, “It is finished!” The death on that cross ushered in the second step of the redemption process because sin would now be covered and cleansed by the blood of Jesus for those who would receive it. And it also represented the end to Satan.
The cross: Described as grotesque by those who could not understand. Grotesque in that man would murder their own.
The cross: Described as beautiful to those who really knew. Beautiful in that instead of representing an end to life, it actually represented the beginning of new life eternal. Beautiful in that it could not have happened without the love of God for each of us.
Someone once said we should not see the cross as a cross, but as a plus sign, for it carried so many positives. We have seen the crown. And we have just seen the cross in a new light. Now, let’s see the guilt of Jesus.
3. JESUS CHRIST WAS GUILTY
Most Christians would not believe this, and most would even go so far as to say I am blaspheming Jesus, but Jesus was guilty. He was not guilty of the crimes He was charged with, but He was guilty, and He never denied it and often even alluded to it.
Jesus, the One who bore my sorrows and cleansed my sins was put to death in a way that was set aside for criminals; thieves, murderers, and the like. Of course if we say that He was guilty, we need to know of what offense He is guilty of, right?
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords was guilty of loving this world like it had never been loved before. He loves us so much He was willing to be nailed to a cross and then have all of his joints distended all so that He could keep us from having it happen to us. He was willing to let His blood spill so that our sins would be covered and we could appear without blemish in the eyes of our God.
Don McDuffey liked the song, “Jehovah Jirah.” Jesus was Jehovah Jirah ‘Our Provider.’ He provided each one of us with a pathway to the river Jordan and a bridge to cross over into Glory Land.
My plea to each of you today is for you to be guilty of the same offense. Be guilty of the same passion that Jesus had – for others that they would know Him. Fall in love with Jesus and devote your entire life to working and doing for Him.
Will the Victory Singers please come back on stage?
You have now the seen the crown that you never looked at before.
2 TIMOTHY 4:8 –
‘Now, there is in store for me, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - - and not only to me, but also t all who have longed for His appearing.’
You have, hopefully, focused more on the cross than you have before.
MATTHEW 16:24 –
‘Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’
Jesus is saying that we must deny ourselves those things of this world that keep us in sin or that keeps us from focusing on Him. But what about those people who want to be Christians, but cannot leave those things in the world they love so much?
In MATTHEW 10:38 Jesus says –
‘ … and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.’
Pretty harsh words, aren’t they? We are either with Him or we are not with Him. There is no little bit. There is no sort of. You can’t be a little bit with Jesus any more than you can be a little bit pregnant or just shoot a shotgun a little bit. You do or you don’t. Let me ask you a very serious question. Are you fully with Jesus or not? Have you picked up your cross and denied yourself of this world just to follow Him? If not, why not? If not now, when?
You now are aware of what Jesus is guilty of; loving you.
Now, all you have to do is determine whether or not you are guilty of loving Him. What a shame it would be for somebody to not love Him – especially on this day that we celebrate what all He sacrificed for us.
He loved you death.
But He arose, and now He is waiting and wanting you to reach out to Him. Will you?
INVITATION
* This sermon relies upon several sermons that I found on Sermon Central.
