Around the necks of hundreds of thousands in our society today are crosses of gold and silver. Many of them are beautifully decorated with precious stones – sapphires, rubies and diamonds. And the people, who wear them, in the majority, blissfully go on their way without even the vaguest understanding of the meaning of the true Cross.
In fact, the Cross has merely become another item of their jewelry. Yet, there were no jewels in the Cross which executed our Lord Jesus. Our culture has lost its understanding of the Cross. And let me ask the question what about you? And what does the Cross mean to you?
As we travel back into the corridors of time and the pages of history more than 2000 years ago; to a dreadful dastardly time in the history of humankind. When man was lost, baffled and tossed by every new wind that blew. It was a time called the Intertestamental Period: This was the time; when the law was about to bow subject to grace. The old dispensation was prepared to be succeeded by the new dispensation.
Those who had been looking for a great and shinning knight in armor that would lead the people of Israel to a golden age were dismayed and distraught. For the only hope they had was now hanging on a tree; with spikes in His feet and with nails in His hands. It was a time in history when Satan was trying to become our savior. It was a time when we were lost without any hope of being found. When we were looking for the Lord to speak a word but it appeared that even silence came from heaven on high.
Let’s look at this time period in history as we re-enact the most dreadful weekend that humankind as ever experienced, a time when some are screaming for the Savior and other are screaming against him saying“kill him, kill him”. And even though we gather here on Sunday mornings
some of us can’t began to understand all that transpired during that dreadful weekend.
And let me inform you it wasn’t about any Easter eggs, nor was it about an Easter hunt, or a Easter bunny.
And let me throw this in, our Sunday morning worship service doesn’t mean anything, if we don’t understand the meaning of the crucifixion. The celebration of this day will mean nothing if we have not entered into the suffering of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Look at the paradox of the weekend if you will; it was an ugly but yet at the same time it was beautiful. It was ugly because evil had seemingly had won. Satan appeared to be in charge and good appeared not to be able to stand on its own two feet. It was ugly because, as somebody said, the sun refused to shine. The earth began to quake and we are told that everything that had life had a lacking of energy on that dreadful Friday afternoon. It was ugly because it appeared that the darkness would never be disbursed by light. And it appeared that humankind would be lost forever.
But not only was it ugly, but it was beautiful at the same time. It was beautiful because the Lord was teaching us what the real celebration is all about. He wanted us to know that you can’t go up until you have first gone down. And He wanted us to know that you cannot really celebrate until you have first sorrowed. And that you cannot really understand living until you have determined what it means to die. And that the Resurrection means absolutely nothing if you don’t understand what it means to go to Calvary’s awful hill. You see on Calvary there were three crosses and I would like dissect each cross to illustrate a points and then I will be done.
The first cross was of REJECTION.
For there was an unpentative thief who absolutely said, “No” to the “Yes!” of God. He was determined that Jesus was not the God of his
salvation.
He looked about at the crowd, he looked at the Roman centurions...saw Herod and Pilate and all those with power and he made a conscious decision to say “No” to God and “yes” to the powers that be.
As a matter of fact he looked at Jesus in the center and said “Why, I would follow you it seems to me that you have no power. If you be the Christ and you have all this power why don’t you come down and save us or at least save yourself, but he didn’t know that Jesus came here for this reason so he said, that’s why it’s my choice to choose the Romans because at least they’ve got power; I choose Rome and I choose the government; they are killing me but at least I am dying with those who have the power.”
And there are many of us are still rejecting Jesus Christ today. It may not be in the same words, but it’s the same actions. In our lives and by the way we live we have said “No!” to the Lord, when the Lord has wanted us to say “Yes” to Him. Most of us will talk about how we want Him in our life, but when it gets down to how we live, we demonstrated that we, are like the thief on the cross, and have said, “No” unto the Lord.
And I know that there are some who wish that they could come back and get a second chance. There are those who wish that they could be revived and have a second chance at life. There are those who wish that they could be retrieved from their firry eternal estate, so that they could come back here and say, “Preacher, I wanna testify! If I had a chance to do it over again I’d do it differently this time. If I had a chance to say yes to the Lord I’d give Him all that I have. I’d give Him the strength of my youth. I’d give Him my values and my resources and I’d serve the Lord while I still had a chance. This thief made a tragic decision.
Then there was the Cross of Reception:
This was the thief who said to Jesus; "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom”. This is the cross which held the one to whom Jesus replied to, "Today, thou, shalt be with me in paradise." Many today those who Praise God belongs to this cross of reception.
And as we look back on Calvary this morning and I want you to understand that there was a third cross and this cross had our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on it. The third cross is the center cross. That’s the one that was in the middle, the one between these two thieves. The only one that had a 100% human life, and who had no sin, also he was the only one that was 100% God. He didn’t have any sin but He was holding in proxy, in alternate or the substitute of our sins on His shoulders.
Yes there were three crosses, and there were three men that was were on the crosses. But there was a difference in the three.
You see there one cross on the left and one on the right.
There was the cross of rejection.
There was the cross of reception.
And then there was the cross of redemption.
On one cross he died in sin.
On the other cross he died from sin.
But Jesus died for sin.
One died sad.
One died satisfied.
But Jesus died saving.
One died lying.
One died learning.
But Jesus died living.
One died perpetrating.
One died preparing.
But Jesus died with a purpose.
One died pretending.
One die professing.
But Jesus died being praise
Whatever it is that you did, or have done, or getting ready to do, or thinking about doing the Lord suffer for it on that day. And because you were not there He was there to do it for us. (pause)
And I’m glad that He was a king. He wasn’t Pilate’s king. He wasn’t Herod’s king. But I’m not ashamed to tell the world this morning, He’s my king.
He didn’t live a palace. For I’ve heard Him say, “Birds have their nest and the foxes have their hole, but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head, but He’s still my king. He didn’t have a band of soldiers or an army. He didn’t have men in uniforms with weapons in their hands. All He had for a weapon was His word, but that word is like a two-edged sword; it cut going and coming. And His Word is a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path.
Yes, He is a king all by Himself. He lived like a king. He was born like a king and He died like a king. Oh, He didn’t have much. Everything he had somebody loan it to him:
He had to borrow a lad’s lunch to feed 5,000 on a hillside.
He had to borrow somebody’s donkey to get into Jerusalem on.
He had to borrow a room and stayed with friends.
And after He died they had to borrow Joseph’s tomb in order to lay Him in. He didn’t have much, but the one thing He did have He had that cross and that cross belonged to Him and Him alone.
And the reason that I say that the cross belong to him alone is because He was the only one good enough to get up on it. You see it was reserved for the only begotten Son of God, the one that came to taketh away the sins of the world.
I know that he was the one because God spoke out heavens window one day and said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” It was His cross. Because He provided his blood for our salvation, and the blood of Jesus has given right to the tree of life. And that redemption allows us to know that there is a final dimension and that is the dimension of reconciliation. I’m through
So let me close this thang, if you remember how they did our God, if you remember how they marched him from unjust courtroom to courtroom, then they beat him all night long, and then they marched him up to Calvary’s hill and they killed my savior and your Lord.
They took him down and buried him in Joseph’s tomb, but after a while somebody said that I better get down to that grave and see if he’s still there. But when he got down to the grave he was not there. Where is Jesus
And as I think about it, I heard that went they even went to the grave where they buried him and they looked for the Savior who had been crucified on Friday.
They began to reminisce about the prior 72 hours when everything was wrong to them. Just the other day they were there when He said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” But now He’s not here in the garden. Just the other day sweat was dropping from his bro like drops of blood but now he’s not here.
Just the other day they said
We know now is that the sun refused to shine.
We know that moon hemorrhage in blood.
We know that he said Eli, Eli lama Sabetha.
All we know is that the Lord dropped His head into His chest and said, “Father, Father, into thine hands I commend my spirit.”
All we know is that he died on Friday
They took Him down from the cross,
Put Him into a borrowed tomb. But he’s not here.
But what they didn’t know is God knew that his baby boy was going the vicissitudes of life and I can hear God saying, I let you all borrow him for a little while and all you have done was abuse him, all you have done was accuse him but now you have done it, now that you’ve gone far enough I’m going to get my Son.” And He looked around and said I need two angels to accompany me.
My boy has just been crucified. I’m going down to a hill called Calvary and I’m going to invade the privacy of that borrowed tomb. They walked past the guards, touched Him and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And I came to tell you this morning that I heard that somebody said the other day, “Lift up your heads old ye gates, be lifted up the everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in.” Who is the King of Glory?
The Lord strong and mighty.
The Lord mighty in battle.
Who He is? His name is Jesus.
Jesus. My rock in a weary land.
Jesus. My elder brother.
Jesus. My way out of no way.
And He has risen.
As He said he would.
And because He is risen I can face tomorrow.
