INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1 Easter Clip in PowerPoint.
• It is so good to have everyone here this morning as we celebrate this Resurrection Sunday!
• This is the day that we celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified on a cross for the sins of the whole world!
• This is a fact that Christians believe to be true, but not everybody in the world believes to be true.
• There are various opinions as who Jesus was and what this day means.
• These opinions range from people who think He never existed to those who think He was a good teacher or a great religious leader; to those who would say He was a prophet to those who would say He is one of many paths to God. And we finish up with those who believe that He was the one and only Son of God, sent by God to redeem mankind from sin. That He is the ONE and ONLY path to god and salvation.
• If you have your bibles with you today, I would like for you to turn to Matthew 27:33-50.
• I would like for us to take note of something in this passage.
• SLIDE #2
• Jesus was not the only one crucified on that dreadful Friday some 2,000 years ago; there were three crosses on that day.
• Today we are going to look at the Savoir, the Skeptic, and the Believer.
• We are going to examine the Three Crosses this morning.
• Let us read Matthew 27:33-50
• In the text, we have three men, all in the midst of dying horrible deaths on a cross. We are going to focus on the man in the middle, but we will also learn something from the two men on each side of Jesus.
• Our first person we are going to focus on is:
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SERMON
I. THE SAVIOR
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Who is this Savior?
On the center cross, we have the man named Jesus. He is the focus of the story. When we think about this man Jesus, it is bound to bring up some questions. There are many, but we are going to look at three of the most important ones in this section this morning. The first question is this, is the man on the center cross:
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1. Man or Myth?
• SLIDE #6 Who is Jesus Video clip from PowerPoint
• Was there really a man named Jesus who lived between 6 B.C. and 30 A.D.? Do we have a birth certificate for this man?
• For the rest of the Easter holiday to have any validity, we need to establish with as much certainty as possible that this Jesus was a man of history, a person who really existed, a man who was not just a myth like Paul Bunyan.
• WE do not have video clips from the time, nor do we have photographs to prove the existence of Jesus. We do have the Bible which tells us that Jesus was a real person living in a real time.
• It is easy for a person who does not understand why the Bible is a reliable source of truth to discredit the Bible if they want to. If you start to understand WHY you can rely in the Bible as an accurate source, you have no trouble accepting it.
• Without going into a whole message about why we can trust the Bible, is there any other evidence that would show us that Jesus existed? Do we have any mention of Him outside of the Bible?
• Interestingly enough, even after all this time, we do have some mention of Jesus outside of the bible.
• SLIDE #7
• Cornelius Tacitus (born A.D. 52-54) was a Roman historian. In 112 A.D. was Governor of Asia, son-in-law of Julius Agricola who was Governor of Britain A.D. 80-84.
• Writing of the reign of Nero Tacitus alludes to the death of Christ and to the existence of Christians at Rome. He writes:
• But not all the relief that could come from man, not all the bounties that the prince could bestow, nor all he atonements which could be presented to the gods, availed to relieve Nero from the infamy of being believed to have ordered the conflagration, the fire of Rome.
• Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius:
• But the pernicious superstition, represented for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also. Annals XV. 44. (Evidence that Demands Verdict. Josh McDowell, p. 81-81)
• SLIDE #8
• Lucian of Samosata
• A satirist of the second century, who spoke scornfully of Christ and the Christians. He connected them to the synagogues of Palestine and alluded to Christ as “… the man who was crucified in Palestine because He introduced the new cult to the world… furthermore, their first lawgiver persuaded them that they were all brothers one of another after they has transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshipping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws. (McDowell p.82)
• SLIDE #9
• Flavius Josephus (Born A.D. 37) A Jewish historian (Speaks of Jesus)
• Suetonius (A.D. 120)- Roman Historian (Speaks of Christians and their superstitions)
• Pliny Secundus, Pliny the Younger. Governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor (A.D. 112) Speaks of how Christians would sing to Christ and how they would meet on a certain fixed day of the week.
• SLIDE #10
• There are many more references, which is amazing considering the time frame and the lack of technology we are dealing with from the time.
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2. Who did He claim to be?
• What someone claims about themselves says a lot about them. What did Jesus claim about Himself?
• WE can look at SEVERAL passages, but let us just look at a few.
• SLIDE #12
• Mark 14:61 - 64 (GWT) 61But he was silent. The chief priest asked him again, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” 62Jesus answered, “Yes, I am, and you will see the Son of Man in the highest position in heaven. He will be coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63The chief priest tore his clothes in horror and said, “Why do we need any more witnesses? 64You’ve heard him dishonor God! What’s your verdict?” All of them condemned him with the death sentence.
• The people in attendance that day knew exactly what Jesus was claiming concerning Himself.
• SLIDE #13
• John 10:30 - 33 (GWT) 30The Father and I are one.” 31The Jews had again brought some rocks to stone Jesus to death. 32Jesus replied to them, “I’ve shown you many good things that come from the Father. For which of these good things do you want to stone me to death?” 33The Jews answered Jesus, “We’re going to stone you to death, not for any good things you’ve done, but for dishonoring God. You claim to be God, although you’re only a man.”
• SLIDE #14
• John 8:58 - 59 (GWT) 58Jesus told them, “I can guarantee this truth: Before Abraham was ever born, I am.” 59Then some of the Jews picked up stones to throw at Jesus. However, Jesus was concealed, and he left the temple courtyard.
• Jesus claimed to be sent from God, He claimed to be equal with God and He made many other claims that would STRONGLY suggest He believed and knew He was God, not just some good teacher or prophet.
• This leads us to the famous C.S. Lewis question? Was Jesus Lord, Lunatic, or liar?
• SLIDE #15
3. Lord, lunatic, or liar?
• This is a great question? Many will say Jesus was a good teacher, or that He but one of many prophets sent by God.
• Jesus claimed to be much more than that, He claimed to be equal to god, He claimed to be God.
• Now think this one out.
• If He is not the Son of God, if He is NOT God, then we are left with tow options.
• One of them is lunatic. What would we do if someone claimed to be God? They would soon be sent to a mental institution because we would think they were crazy.
• If Jesus was not Lord, but only thought He was, He would be a lunatic.
• He would not be a prophet from God nor a good teacher!
• The second option is more sinister. If He was not Lord and He KNEW that He was not God, He would be a liar, once again negating the good teacher, prophet from God thing.
• Jesus would be the greatest deceiver who ever lived if He was not God and knew it.
• It is crucial that we understand who Jesus is and we must understand that He died and rose from the dead on the third day.
• SLIDE # 16-17
• 1 Corinthians 15:12 - 19 (GWT) 12If we have told you that Christ has been brought back to life, how can some of you say that coming back from the dead is impossible? 13If the dead can’t be brought back to life, then Christ hasn’t come back to life. 14If Christ hasn’t come back to life, our message has no meaning and your faith also has no meaning. 15In addition, we are obviously witnesses who lied about God because we testified that he brought Christ back to life. But if it’s true that the dead don’t come back to life, then God didn’t bring Christ back to life. 16Certainly, if the dead don’t come back to life, then Christ hasn’t come back to life either. 17If Christ hasn’t come back to life, your faith is worthless and sin still has you in its power. 18Then those who have died as believers in Christ no longer exist. 19If Christ is our hope in this life only, we deserve more pity than any other people.
• Who Jesus is and what He has done has eternal ramification!
• SLIDE #18
II. THE SKEPTIC
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Why was this thief a skeptic?
• This is a good question. WE do not know much about this thief other than he was a thief.
• SLIDE #20
• Luke 23:39 (NASB) 39One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
1. Why was this man on a cross?
• This man was on the cross because he was a thief who was according to the law deserving of death.
• This man was seeing his final hours on earth. He had earned his punishment.
2. What evidence did he see?
• He was right next to Jesus as Jesus was dying. He saw how Jesus dealt with the crowds, asking God to forgive them as the soldiers were gambling to see who would get His garments. (Luke 23:34)
• The thief saw no bitterness in Jesus. He saw Jesus tenderly see that His mother was taken care of by John.
• WE do not know if this thief had any contact with Jesus before this time, but suffice to say, He saw Jesus display His love right up to the very end!
3. Why did he reject Jesus?
• We do not know why He rejected Jesus. He seemed to be getting into the insulting Him and taunting Jesus as the crowds were doing.
• It seems kind of funny that this thief who was deserving of death would make fun of someone who was dying right next to Him.
• Maybe this thief did not want to accept Jesus because of the peer pressure from the crowd. Why would a dying man want to make the crowds mad at him?
• Why do we reject Jesus? Ultimately, this thief, who at the time was in DIRE need of salvation did not believe who Jesus was, so he rejected Him!
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III. THE BELIEVER
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Same evidence, different results.
1. Why was this man on a cross?
• This man was on the cross for the same reason as his friend, he was a thief who deserved death.
• SLIDE #23
• Matthew 27:44 (NASB) 44The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.
• Initially this thief was having fun insulting Jesus along with his friend.
2. What evidence did he see?
• This man saw the same things his friend saw. Once again, we do not know if this man had contact with Jesus previous to this life ending encounter, but he saw the same evidence his friend saw.
• Something changed
• SLIDE #24
• Luke 23:40 - 43 (GWT) 40But the other criminal scolded him: “Don’t you fear God at all? Can’t you see that you’re condemned in the same way that he is? 41Our punishment is fair. We’re getting what we deserve. But this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.” 43Jesus said to him, “I can guarantee this truth: Today you will be with me in paradise.”
3. Why did he believe?
• Somewhere along the line, this thief saw the light if you will. I do not believe he was asking for Jesus to get him off the cross, he wanted salvation. Jesus response tells us that this thief had a true desire to repent.
• This thief finally put 1+1 together to realize his need for Jesus.
• Same evidence, different results!
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CONCLUSION
• Which of the crosses are you on? Are you the skeptic or the believer? Or do you think YOU are Lord?
• This holiday is all about God sending His Son to die for your sins so that you can receive eternal life!
• If none of this in the Bible is true, then when it is all said and done, we are in trouble.
• Are you ready to give your life to Christ? We are here for you!
• If you are not, I hope today gets the wheels turning and that maybe your journey will start today.
