Sunday Sermon Starter 4-16-13

The dual natured perspective of the cross is essential to forming a proper appreciation for exactly what took place almost 2,000 years ago.  The fact that men would be so hateful, so calloused, so cruel as to execute not only an innocent man but the Son of God is an unimaginable atrocity.  However, at the same time God purposed, prophesied, and planned for this event since before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).  He allowed it to happen so that we, in spite of our sin, could be saved.

Each year the Sunday before our lecture series begins I take the opportunity to prepare our minds for the weekend by preaching the theme on which our minds are going to be focused over the next few days.  I hope that you’ll consider joining us either in person (if at all possible) or by way of the internet and be blessed by what each of our speakers has to offer.  To see a schedule of our series and to watch either the livestream or archived videos of each lesson just visit www.phillipsstreetcoc.com.

Title:  The Cross: Man’s Greatest Sin, God’s Greatest Gift

I began this study by briefly describing the standard process of crucifixion, hoping this would open the hearts of each listener to exactly what Jesus endured through this ordeal.  Such an atrocity, such agony, such absolute indifference to law, life, and the Lordship of Jesus is a blemish on the history of humanity.  It represents the greatest sin that man has ever committed.  Yet, in the midst of it all Jesus made an interesting statement in John 10:17-18.  He said that He willingly laid down His life – no one could take it from Him.  Jesus’ death was a gift given by God.  In fact, it was God’s eternal idea (Revelation 13:8).  God’s eternal plan to save man from his sin was to send His Son to endure such a death as a perfect Lamb, without spot and without blemish, whose blood would be able to cleanse the world’s sins.  And so we see both the sin and the salvation inherent in this one act, but from three perspectives:

·      The Cross – From the Perspective of Betrayal – One of the saddest accounts we read in the entire Bible is found in Matthew 26:14-16.  Judas left the presence of his Lord and coworkers to the chief priests and covenanted with them for thirty pieces of silver to deliver Jesus up to them.  From there Jesus and His disciples finished their Passover meal and Jesus went into Gethsemane to pray.  But then in Matthew 26:47-49 Judas arrived with an angry mob armed with swords and staves and betrayed his Master with a kiss.  Its interesting that even Judas recognized the gravity of his sin because shortly thereafter he brought the money back to the Jewish officials and went out and hung himself in grief.  The sin was great, but his guilt seemed even greater.  But you know, in order for Jesus to be captured by the Jews and executed by the Romans He had to be turned over by someone.  In fact, the Old Testament prophesied that this very event would happen in passages like Zechariah 11:12-13; Psalm 41:9; and Psalm 55:12-14.  Now that doesn’t mean that God made Judas do it.  But knowing that he would allowed God to weave it into His eternal plan to sacrifice His own Son and save mankind.  So Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and its contribution to the cross both represented a sin on the part of man, but a gift on the part of God.

·      The Cross – From the Perspective of Injustice– When Jesus was delivered up to Caiaphas it is interesting exactly how the events proceeded.  In Matthew 26:59-61 it says that the Jews openly sought false witnesses and finally did to accomplish their sordid purpose.  The Jews knew they had no legal reason to put Him to death.  That fact had been proven to them countless times over the last three years.  The only hope they had from to hire men who were willing to boldly lie (in this case contorting the truth) to have Him condemned.  They sinned in such, plain and simple (Proverbs 6:17).  But at the same time, for Jesus to be executed He legally had to be tried.  But with no foundation on which to build a case the people turned to dishonesty.  Again, God did not cause these men to lie as they did.  They were men of choice as much as any other person who has ever lived.  However, He did know that they would lie and so He used their actions to accomplish His purpose (Psalm 27:12; 35:11).  God allowed His Son to be both betrayed and dishonestly accused in order to bring about His purpose.  Thus the injustice of His trial was not only man’s greatest sin, but was also God’s greatest gift.

·      The Cross – From the Perspective of Death – I began the discussion of this point by reading Matthew 27:33-50 to paint the actual scene of His crucifixion.  These eighteen verses represent a very small percentage of total scripture, but it is the central account of the Bible.  Everything before it points forward to it.  Everything after it points back.  It was purpose, planned, and prophesied by God and represents man’s greatest atrocity, but it also represents God’s greatest accomplishment.  When Peter stood up and preached to the multitude assembled at Pentecost he did so knowing that some of those there had been an active part of the crucifixion and pointedly reproved them for their actions (Acts 2:22-23, 36).  The crucifixion of Jesus was murder, plain and simple.  It was the malicious killing of an innocent man.  But at the same time we must remember that God planned to offer His Son for the redeeming of man as the death of Jesus is the most prophesied event throughout the Old Testament (Exodus 12:1-11; Isaiah 53:7; Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; Psalm 31:5; Isaiah 53:12; Zechariah 13:1,6-7, etc.).  No, He didn’t make the people murder His Son, but His foreknowledge allowed Him to weave these events into His eternal plan for the saving of man.  Jesus’ sacrifice was a sin on the part of man, but was a gift freely given by God for sake of our salvation.

However, through it all the real question is “how has the reality of the cross impacted us?”  Has it compelled us to action or have we sat idly by because it seems meaningless.  When we understand the truly sacrificial nature of the cross we will become much more receptive to its call.  It was man’s greatest sin, but it was also God’s greatest gift!

-Andy Brewer