I. INTRODUCTION
A. Text: Mt. 27:32-56 (Mk. 15:22-41; Lu. 23:27-49; Jn.19:17-37)
B. It is not clear from the scriptures whether Christ perceived the manner of His death during his boyhood and earlier manhood, but His allusions to it during His public ministry, as well as His perfect understanding of the prophetic word of the Old Testament, would indicate to Him that His ministry would ultimately lead to the cross.
1. Indirect references prior to Peter's great confession:
a. Jn. 2:4 "Mine hour is not yet come."
b. Jn. 2:19 "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
c. Jn. 3:14,15 raised up as the serpent in the wilderness.
d. Mt. 9:15 the bridegroom will be taken away.
e. Mt. 10:38,39 taking up the cross and following Him.
f. Mt. 12:40 the sign of Jonah.
g. Jn. 6:51-56 the bread He will give is His flesh.
2. References that are more direct (after Peter's confession):
a. Jn. 7:33,34 "where I am going, you cannot come."
b. Jn. 8:28 "When you have lifted up the Son of man."
c. Jn. 10:11,17,18 "I am the Good Shepherd..."
d. Lu. 14:27 Must bear your own cross and follow Christ.
e. Lu. 17:25 "...rejected of this generation."
f. Mt. 20:18,19 (Read)
g. Mt. 26:12 "...she did it to prepare Me for My burial."
h. Mt. 26:2,18,21 (Read)
3. Instances of His clear knowledge, and consent to, the cross:
a. His water baptism foreshadowed His baptism of death.
b. Peter's confession of His Messiahship Mt. 16:21 (Read)
c. The Transfiguration He spoke of the cross with Moses and Elijah.
d. The audience with the Greeks Jn. 12: 27,28 (Read)
e. In the Garden of Gethsemane Lu. 22:39-44 (Read)
II. DISCUSSION
A. His approach to the cross had to be alone.
1. Prior to His public ministry he was popular, Lu. 2:52. In the early part of His public ministry he was surrounded by multitudes, including the leaders of the Jews. These leaders were the first to abandon Him. The further He moved into the deeper teachings of His Gospel more and more followers were left by the wayside, until finally only His disciples remained. Then even they abandoned Him, Mt. 26:56.
2. Even on the cross He was alone, despite the presence of the thieves and those gathered below. His feelings and suffering can be seen in the seven utterances He made while hanging on the tree.
a. The first three involve expressions of pity for the sinful condition of mankind, and His power towards and provisions for His believers.
(1) "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do," Lu. 23:34.
(2) "...today you will be with Me in Paradise," Lu. 23:43.
(3) "Woman behold your son!" Behold your mother!" Jn. 19:26,27
b. The last four come from the awful isolation of His experience on the cross.
(1) "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" Mk. 15:34
(2) "I thirst," Jn. 19:28.
(3) "It is finished," Jn. 19:30
(4) "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit," (Ps. 31:5) Lu. 23:46.
B. A closer examination of "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" and "I thirst." Noting especially the spiritual anguish expressed in the first phrase, then the physical agony revealed in the second. Let's look at them in reverse order.
1. "I thirst." The events that immediately preceded this cry answers its necessity. In the Garden, the approaching mob, the kiss of the traitor, the arrest, the arraignment, the hours of waiting, the appearance before the high priest and council, His audience with Pilate, taken to the house of Herod and His rough handling there, back to Pilate, the priests and the people clamor for His blood, the scourging, the journey to Calvary, the crucifixion. Yet no word of complaint or expression of pain, simply being led as a sheep to the slaughter, Isa. 53:7.
2. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" A cry concerning sin, sorrow, and silence.
a. sin rebellion against God, alienation from God by choice, and thus its ultimate penalty: abandonment by God. To bear the sins of this world, Christ had to be forsaken by God, as indeed was His purpose as stated by the Baptist in Jn. 1:29: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." See also 2 Cor. 5:21: On the cross He was made sin, He was forsaken of God, yet He was without sin. Whose sin was He made, whose sin did He bear? The world's sin, your sin and my sin! 1 Pet. 2:24
b. sorrow all sorrow is the lack of something. The deepest sorrow then is the lack of God. To be God-forsaken is something we will never experience on this earth, He is always within reach, as long as we live. Only Christ, has experienced the sorrow of being God-forsaken while still alive on this earth.
c. silence what agony of the human soul is greater than that of silence? A lost child calls for his Father no reply. The father calls for the lost child no reply. The agony of silence. And so Jesus calls out for His Father in agony at the silence.
C. His sufferings were vicarious, expiatory and atoning. Vicarious, in that He stood in our place when He suffered. While He bore the sins, we are delivered from them. Expiatory, in that He put all sins away, He made them not to be, in a instant of time. Atoning, in that they reconciled us to God. Justice can be served by Christ's death on the cross because all the world's sins are paid for, thus the sinner can be justified.
D. The true nature of sin and the grace of God can be found at the cross. From Peter's sermon of Acts 2 (vv.22,23) we learn two important facts concerning the cross: it was preplanned by God and it was carried out by lawless men. So the grace of God meets the sin of mankind at the cross.
1. The essence, the expression, and the end of sin.
a. Its essence as always sin precedes from man's darkened intelligence, deadened emotions and degraded will. And so it was with the crucifiers of the Lord. It is no accident that Pilate's inscription, "This Is Jesus, The King of The Jews," was written in three languages, each representing a force antagonistic to Christ. Hebrew out of the religion of the nation came the inspiration of the crucifixion. Latin the power at the time (Rome) was the agent of the execution. Greek the culture of the times was scornfully indifferent to Him and His claims. Rejected by a sinful religion, murdered by a sinful government, and neglected by a sinful culture He was cast out. The crucifixion said to God: We will not repent, we will not have this man reign over us, and we will not submit ourselves to the Divine government. The essence of sin as revealed by the cross is madness, hatred, and rebellion.
b. Its expression the murder of God's anointed King.
c. Its end they rejected the King, they destroyed the Priest, and they silenced the Prophet or so they thought. They rejected His authority, refused His avenue to repentance, and shunned His light. Sin loves anarchy, irreligion, and ignorance.
2. God's grace grace did not ask man's permission, but preceded along its own course set by God the Father. Even if men reject Christ, God provides for their salvation only through Him. The cross reveals the insistence and persistence of God's love of man and unqualified hatred of sin. Without love, there would have been no cross. Only in the cross is sin ended, nowhere else. In the cross we see our sin, yet we also see God's grace. His grace is mightier than our sin, Rom. 5:20.
E. The Departure of the King the very departure discussed by Moses, Elijah and Christ at the transfiguration, Lu. 9:30,31.
1. His exodus blazed a trail for us, as His disciples, to follow. He leads us out of sin and along the pathway to eternal life. The cross stood in this pathway as an gate that only He could open.
a. God is King, Christ is God, therefore: Christ is King. His Divine right to Kingship lie in such facts as: He is Creator and Sustainer of this world. Psalms 2:1-12, points towards Jesus as the visible representative of Divine Sovereignty.
b. No person can escape the government of God, whether they choose to submit to it or not in this earth-life. Ultimately, they will answer to the King. But mankind as a whole has chosen the slavery of sin instead of the free life of righteousness.
c. Before man can be delivered from the slavery of sin, the penalty for sin must be paid. Christ redeemed us on the cross and opened the road to heaven, that all who might believe on His Holy Name might follow.
2. His exodus is in contrast to the partial exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Only two men of age who left captivity were allowed to enter the Promised Land. The rending of the veil of the Temple (Lu. 23:45), is a not only sign of the fact that Christ's exodus was more perfectly accomplished than that of Moses, but that He fulfilled the Old Law in the process. The thief on the cross was able to accompany Jesus on the exodus, Lu. 23:42,43) and stands as an example to all who would place their faith and trust in the King. By His exodus, we can pass from darkness to light, from slavery to freedom, from death to life.
F. The Witnesses The Lamb was slain in public, for His disciples, family, and all the sinful world to see. What did the cross mean to those gathered about?
1. The women at least three, perhaps four, including Mary the mother of Jesus, who "mourned and lamented Him." Lu. 23:27. Their presence represents the sorrow of the cross.
2. The Centurion, the soldiers, and the thieves It was this centurion who said, "Truly this was the Son of God and a righteous Man, Mt. 27:54, Lu. 23:47. Note: every centurion mentioned in the NT was a good man, see Lu. 7:8. They represented the worldly government: the law, the lawless, and the punishment implemented by Roman law. The two thieves represent a microcosm of mankind: one turns from his sin and follows Christ, while the second persists in his sin and does not follow.
3. the chief priests, scribes, and elders - represented religious failure. They rejoiced in His death because of the "power" it afforded them. They mocked Him in His hour of death, Mt. 27:42.
4. the multitude represented the sheep without a shepherd over which Christ had so often mourned. Imagine their confusion. Could this be the Messiah, the One who should redeem all Israel?" Lu. 24:21.
5. John the Apostle, family members and other followers representing familiarity and discipleship. While we have no scripture that teaches of the discipleship of His blood brethren during His lifetime, evidence from Acts and the epistle of James shows that they were not only converted, but leaders in the church.
III. CONCLUSION
A. Rethink the cross. Physically it was the Roman tree of death, but spiritually it represented the throne of the Almighty Judge and King.
B. As Judge, His dying condemns evil in every form.
C. His dying opens the pathway for those that trust in Him and reject all that the cross condemns. He leads His followers to the happy life that lies on the other side the other side of the cross.
(If time permits: "Crown Him With Many Crowns," Morgan p. 252)
[END OF ELEVENTH SERMON]