The Highest Hill In The World - Calvary, Golgotha

They need to just be honest about how they never believed what they heard there, how they never submitted themselves to Christ, and how they rebelled against their parents wishes in this matter. The Bible says to train up a child in the way they should go. Joshua said, me and my house are going to serve the Lord! If they want to go a different direction after they leave your house, that’s their decision. Some may have had some bad experiences at a church, but they shouldn’t blame God for that...they shouldn’t punish God for what somebody said or did...God didn’t do it, so don’t use them or anybody else as your excuse for not obeying God!

Calvary’s Simon...

2. Calvary’s Soldiers.

v. 35-36 When you see the soldiers you see calloused, hardened, cursing men who were apparently unmoved by what they were witnessing. They came to actually enjoy the sport of their trade, and they even gambled for his clothing at the foot of the cross. It was customary for the soldiers to share in the loot at an execution. The Son of God is dying for them and their sins they are presently committing, and they are hoping to win something in their crude game.

This was routine for them...they had seen hundreds of crucifixions. Maybe one chomped on an apple, another told a joke, or stretched out for a nap. Well, today we are a little too much like these soldiers. We have heard the story of the cross so much that we have become desensitized...it no longer stirs us. We can sing the precious words to these songs of the season and they go right over our heads. Our hearts should be stirred, and our hands should be motivated. WE should be compelled by this story.

I stand up and preach on the cross, and some in the room have trouble just staying awake! Or they are thinking about lunch, or the week ahead. We have a problem! Our eyes are dry, our faith is old, our hearts are hard, our prayers are cold. We are calloused...the frozen chosen...and God help us to light a fire, and find a passion for the Passion of Jesus!

Do we not realize that we should have been crucified? That it was our sins laid on Him there? That we are the soldiers in this scenario? That we are the ones who drove the nails?!

We need a fresh look at and a fresh love for the cross of Calvary. The cross reveals what is in the heart of a person. It was in the light of the cross that we saw Pilate’s cowardice / the chief priests hypocrisy / the disciples lack of faithfulness / the soldiers callousness. What does the cross reveal about YOUR heart. If it does not call you to a higher level of consecration then something is desperately wrong!

Calvary’s Simon, Calvary’s soldiers...

3. Calvary’s Suffering.

v. 39-43 The Gospel writers show great restraint as they write about the crucifixion. They didn’t depict for us the graphic detail of what a crucifixion is like. Perhaps because words simply aren’t adequate to convey it. In those days they said to be crucified was to die 1,000 deaths, and truly Jesus was dying a death for each and every one of us! It is agony beyond description. Isaiah said you couldn’t even recognize Him as a man. Perhaps the only word that begins to tell the story is a word we used 2 weeks ago when talking about hell: excruciating. The word comes from 2 latin words meaning ‘out of the cross’, and truly Jesus was taking our hell for us in excruciating pain.