THE CROSS OF JESUS
A.D. Melville
Crucifixion is the most painful and degrading method of capital punishment that man could devise. It was reserved for the most wicked of persons, the most degraded of persons. It involved extreme suffering, it involved deep thirst and it could be extended over a period of days. It was the way the Romans treated the criminals of the day. I think there are only three persons in scripture who are recorded as having been crucified. Our Saviour, Jesus, was crucified. He hung upon a cross; man awarded Him the cross.
The passage that I have read speaks of three crosses; there was one in the middle, and there was one on either side. On them there were two malefactors, both crucified as the word tells us, “And when they came to the place which is called Skull, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, the other on the left”. This is one of the most significant things that has ever taken place on this earth. Let us just look at the cross in the middle for a moment, and consider and ponder what was involved. Jesus of Nazareth was a Man who went about doing good, healing those who were oppressed of the devil, giving sight to the blind, making the lame walk, drawing near to those who were oppressed, shedding a tear of compassion for those who were in distress and bereaved, expending His time and energy in no other way than in doing good. But they crucified Jesus, they hung Him on a cross. What was involved in this great transaction? Well, we can see man’s hatred; the heart of man was exposed at the cross. The love of God was made known at the cross and a perfect life came to an end at the cross. How significant was “the place which is called Skull”! A skull is what remains when a person has died and all the beauty and ornamentation has disappeared, and what is left is an empty skull. That was the place where Jesus was crucified, and it would remind us of the emptiness of natural man in all his greatness. That is what it comes to, a skull. So that was the very place where Jesus was taken and crucified. That life came to an end there, and we can say according to scripture, that it was foreordained by God. Man did not take away the life of Jesus; He gave up His life Himself. He had authority to do that. He said, “I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again”, John 10:18. He surrendered to death at the hands of wicked men, and He accepted what that involved.
I said earlier that this death involved thirst. They came to Jesus and they offered Him vinegar and He would not take it, He would not take anything that would nullify the suffering of what He was going through. It says, “who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Pet.2:24), and that transaction involved that He would bear all the suffering that was entailed in going this way of death. I speak reverently, but there was no lethal injection for the Saviour; it was a matter of going the ordained way. If He had been in the hands of Jews, He would have been stoned, but He was in the hands of the Roman authority and He was crucified; “crucified in weakness” (2 Cor.13:4), but then raised by the power of God.
Well, we see the wickedness of man’s heart, it is exposed at the cross. They said “Crucify, crucify him” (Luke 23:21); the Jews clamoured for His death, they handed Him over to Pilate and He was given a mockery of a trial. Pilate said “I find no guilt in this man” (Luke 23:4), but he relinquished his responsibility and handed him over to the Jews. They said “Crucify, crucify him”, and the soldiers took Him and hung Him upon a cross. The epistle to the Romans tells us what emanates from the heart of man: murders, evil thoughts, wickedness of every kind, adultery, cruelty, it all emanates from man’s heart. It was all seen there in what was done to the Saviour. He was made a spectacle, He was hung up above the earth. Again that was foretold, “and I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me”, John 12:32. He could not die on the earth, He had to die that way, the way of crucifixion. Fix your eyes upon Him, see what He has done. The great work was accomplished there, and the heart of man is exposed so thoroughly. Jeremiah tells us about the heart of man, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable”, Jer.17:9. That is your heart. The heart of man was portrayed at the cross of Jesus in all its extensive wickedness. If you do not know your own heart, then you should read the Epistle to the Romans; it will bring you that knowledge, it will bring you to the point where you say “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of this body of death?”, Rom.7:24. We might look at the surface of things in this world, or even in our daily lives, and we might think that we are doing not too badly, we are going on quite nicely, but have you ever thought of the depths of degradation in your own heart? That was what caused the Saviour to be crucified – the evil in the heart of man.
But what does the Saviour say? “And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. Here we have the heart of God made known.
‘The heart of God is love; That love extends to thee’
(Hymn 59)
Jesus said “forgive them”. This was the greatest sin that man had ever committed on this earth, the crucifixion of the righteous One, and Jesus says to His Father, “forgive them, for they know not what they do”. You may say, ‘I would not have crucified the Saviour if I had been there’. You do not know your own heart, my friend. You might say, ‘My sins were all future when Jesus died’. The wonder of the matter is that He, being God, can take account of the future as He can take account of the past. He can reckon up your sins more than the hairs of your head, and He can say to the repentant sinner, ‘They are forgiven’.
Jesus says here “for they know not what they do”. The grace of God attributes the worst sin as a sin of ignorance. They knew very well what they were doing when they said “Crucify, crucify him”. But what does the Saviour say: “they know not what they do”. How wonderful is the love and grace of our God towards sinners, towards you and me. There is no one that can escape, there is no one who has not sinned; we have all “come short of the glory of God”, Rom.3:23. What is the measure of sin? It is the glory of God. You might say, ‘I am not as bad as somebody else, I have not committed murder, I have not been involved in anything very serious’. All sin is against God and required the death of the Saviour for us.
So coming up, they offered Him vinegar and said “If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself”. Could Jesus save Himself? No, He came for the very purpose of saving others. The hymn says
“Himself He could not save” (Hymn 240).
He had to go this way and He did not accept the vinegar. He bore all of the pain and agony of His death on the cross.
I want to draw your attention to one of the other crosses. It says “”Now one of the malefactors who had been hanged spoke insultingly to him, saying, Art not thou the Christ? save thyself and us”. Two of the other gospels bear witness that both of these malefactors railed against the Saviour, they spoke insultingly of Him. They were both guilty, they were both persons who spoke against the Saviour. But here in Luke’s gospel, the other “answering rebuked him, saying, Dost thou too not fear God”. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. He did not say ‘Dost thou too not fear judgment’ or fear punishment, “Dost thou too not fear God”. Our sins are against God; God is the One who has been offended, and the beginning of the way of salvation is the fear of God. God in all His righteousness has a judgment of sin and we are sinners, so where can we stand in the presence of a righteous God? “Dost thou too not fear God, thou that art under the same judgment?” Both of these persons were equal, they were both deserving the judgment of God because of their sins, but one said “we receive the just recompense of what we have done”. Have you ever acknowledged before God that you deserve to receive the just recompense of your sins, or are you thinking that God is love, and so He will just overlook your sins? Here was a guilty man on the cross, and he said “we receive the just recompense”; he accepted responsibility for his own sinful state. He acknowledged the fear of God and he said “this man has done nothing amiss”. He turned his eyes away from himself to the Saviour.
We are all sinners, we have all sinned, but God does not want us to be occupied with our sins. In this brief moment, before this man was ushered into eternity, he looked to the Saviour, he looked to the One who has done nothing amiss and he justified Him to all who were there; he says “this man has done nothing amiss”. He proclaimed to the whole world that there is One worthy, there is One righteous Man. The malefactor was not righteous; the Saviour Jesus is the only righteous One, the only One in whom we have the forgiveness of sins. Can I tell you where this man’s sins are and where yours are if you are a believer, if you are one who has looked to the Saviour? Micah says “he will tread under foot our iniquities” (Micah 7:19), cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Is that not wonderful? And Psalm 103 says “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (v.12). What a great work has been done! What cleansing power there is in the blood of the Saviour. He can wash us from our sins. He will never remember your sins again. You might, and I will because I have a memory, but God says that these sins have gone in the death of the Saviour, they are washed away by His precious blood. They will no longer appear, we will no longer be held guilty because of our sins, if we have confessed, if we have laid hold of the One who has done nothing amiss, if we acknowledge Him in His greatness, if we lay hold of Him by faith. That is what this man did; at this very moment before his life was taken, he laid hold of the Saviour. He said “but this man has done nothing amiss”.
Then he said “Remember me, Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom”. That is another step forward, he said “Lord”. There were those who were mocking and those who were deriding, but here is a man who said “Lord” to Jesus. Saul of Tarsus did that; he was brought down and he said “Lord” to Jesus. This malefactor said in principle ‘Can I be with Thee in Thy kingdom?’ The Lord says, as it were, ‘You do not need to wait until the kingdom comes’, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise”. That place of delights, the place where the departed spirits are in the presence of the Saviour forever. Not hades, not Sheol. The Lord knew what Sheol was, but He was going to paradise, a place of delight. What delight it would be to be completely free of our bodies of humiliation, our bodies of sin, to be forever in paradise with the Saviour. What a place that is!
Let us consider the other cross for a moment. As I have said, there was no difference between these two men, they were both guilty, they were both responsible for their actions. The great difference was that one was a Christ accepter, and the other was a Christ rejecter. Dear friend, what position do you stand in here tonight? Are you here as a Christ accepter, someone who would say, “this man has done nothing amiss”, who would say, ‘I receive the just recompense of my deeds’? I am guilty, He is not guilty; I am unworthy, He is fully worthy. There is a solemn divide here between these two persons. The destination of one is paradise, the destination of the other is hell, the eternal abode of Christless souls, eternal torment, torment from a memory that would be able to recall lost opportunities. This malefactor was within equal distance of the Saviour, he was on one side and the other malefactor was on the other. He was in as close proximity, but yet he refused, he rejected Jesus, and his portion would be eternal damnation.
Well, this is a sobering word, but let us consider these three crosses. Let us consider the One who died for us, who shed His precious blood that we might be secured and saved and might have eternal redemption, that we might have a place with Him forever. May it be the portion of every one here, for His name’s sake.
Preaching at Kirkcaldy
15 September 2013
Edited and Published by John A Brown
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