Sermon Central
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Crowned, Crossed & Condemned
Contributed by Bruce Ball on Apr 14, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: Jesus wore the crown of diety and because of that, He was put on the cross. But what most have never realized is that He was also guilty. Let’s see what He was guilty of .....
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.
