The DeGRAFF FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH
State Route 235/ 100 East Miami Street
DeGraff, Ohio 43318
Phone: (937) 585-4463
James R. Roby, Pastor
"The DEATH of the CROSS"
by Pastor James Roby
"And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto
death, EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS."
Our Lord Jesus Christ was GOD wrapped in human flesh. About 2000 years ago, in the fullness of time, He left His Heavenly glory and was born of a virgin in Bethlehem of Judea. His purpose was to come and die on the cross for the sins of the whole world. Let's take a little while and examine the Death of the Cross.
1) THE PHYSICAL SUFFERINGS OF THE CROSS. Prior to going to the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ suffered great agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. As He labored in prayer, the Bible describes, "And being in an agony He prayed the more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." (Luke 22:44). This condition is called Hemohidrosis, and is sometimes seen in people who have gone through extreme stress and shock. The capillaries around the sweat pores become fragile and leak blood. Jesus knew that He was about to pay the debt of sin for every human being who would ever live. He knew the greatness of the suffering that was ahead of Him. Despite His awareness of these things, He prayed to the the Heavenly Father, "...nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done." (Luke 22:42). While in the Garden, Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested. His disciples all deserted Him (Matthew 26:56). He was bound and then brought back to the court of the High Priest to be put through the mockery of a rigged trial. It was all set up, complete with paid liars. Jesus was then led out to be scourged. "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting." (Isaiah 50:6). "As many were astonied (shocked and appalled) at Thee; His visage (appearance) was so marred more than any man, His form more than the sons of men" (Isaiah 52:14).
This horrible scourging was severe to the extreme as they pulled out His beard and beat Him until He was so mangled that He didn't even look human. This was no ordinary scourging either. The Bible says that He was marred "more than any man, His form more than the sons of men!" Many died during a normal scourging. Jesus endured FAR MORE than that! The thrashing transpired as Jesus had His outer garment removed and His hands tied to a post above His head. A soldier then stepped forward with the scourge in his hand. The scourge consisted of many leather whips with huge pieces of bone, metal and heavy lead balls attached near the end of each thong. The whips were all connected to one handle, and were brought down upon the back with full force. At first the whips would cut through the skin of the shoulders, back and legs. Then as the blows continued, they would drive deeper into the tissue, causing blood to seep from the veins of the skin, and finally a spurting of arterial bleeding from the vessels in the underlying muscles. The balls of lead connected to the whips first made large deep bruises which were soon broken open by the continued beating. Finally, the skin hung about the Lord's waist and hips like a skirt. His entire back, legs and shoulders were ripped open in an awful mutilation. The scourging could not stop until it was determined by the Centurion in charge that the Victim was near death.
Jesus was then released from the post that He was tied to and allowed to slump, in a pool of His own blood, to the ground. After the scourging, "...they stripped Him, and put on Him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head." (Matthew 27:28-30). How awful! The One Who left Heaven to die in our place was so shamefully treated! They mocked Him, put a crown of thorns on His head, spit in His mangled face, beat the crown down into His head with a reed. (The head is one of the most vascular regions of the body. As the huge thorns were driven deeper and deeper into His head, severe bleeding and swelling resulted. In fact, His head swelled to the size of a bucket in a very short time). Finally tired of their sadistic torturing of the Savior, they ripped the robe from His back...the robe that had already begun to stick to the clotting wounds on His striped body. The removal of this robe must have caused excruciating pain as it had adhered to the clotting wounds...and was ripped away in an agonizing jerk (much like the careless removal of a surgical bandage.). This would have felt as though He were being scourged all over again as the wounds were reopened and more blood poured forth.
At this point, they returned His garments and forced Him to carry His heavy cross as He was led through the streets of Jerusalem and outside the city to Golgotha's lonely hill. The weight of the heavy cross combined with His shock from the massive loss of blood, was too much for Him...He stumbled and fell. He could carry the cross no longer. A man of Cyrene, Simon by name, was compelled to carry the cross the rest of the way to the execution. As they arrived, Simon was ordered to lay the cross upon the ground, and Jesus was thrown firmly backwards to the ground with His shoulders pinned against the wood. The Legionaire then drove heavy, square nails through each of His hands and feet...deep into the wood of the cross. His arms were not stretched too tight so as to allow for some room for movement as the victim writhed in pain and jockeyed for a fleeting breath. The cross was then hoisted into the air and placed into a pre-dug hole, where, with a mighty THUD, the Lord Jesus was jolted painfully as He hung suspended between Heaven and Earth. His left foot was then pressed backward against the right foot, a nail was driven into the arch of each. As Jesus slowly sagged down on the cross with His weight upon the nails, profuse pain shot like electricity through the fingers and up the arms...exploding in the brain. As He pushed up with His feet to avoid this pain, He placed His full body weight upon the nail driven through His feet. Again, unbearable pain, as the nail ripped away at the nerves between the bones of His feet. As His arms fatigued, cramps of unimaginable intensity afflicted the muscles, knotting them with deep and throbbing pain. Soon He lost the ability to push upward, the pectoral muscles were paralyzed, making it impossible to exhale thus trapping the air in the lungs. Jesus fought to raise Himself by pushing up with His feet in an effort to get even one small breath. He was slowly suffocating.
2) THE SPIRITUAL SUFFERINGS OF THE CROSS. While the physical suffering of Jesus on the cross causes us to recoil in shock, what happened spiritually is far more dreadful! We need to always remember that Jesus Christ was SINLESS! "For He (God, the Father) hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21). Notice that Jesus Christ KNEW NO SIN! He was perfect in every way. And yet, He was dying on the cross because of sin. (OUR SIN!). "...but (Jesus) was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15). God so loved us that He gave His only Begotten Son to be a sacrifice for our sins on the cross. Somebody had to pay. The only way that we could pay would be by spending eternity in a burning, tormenting Hell...and that payment would have NEVER been over! God was not willing that any should perish, and so He gave His perfectly sinless Son to die there in our place. As Jesus hung on the cross, He cried out, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46). With the penalty for the sins of the whole world upon Him, Jesus suffered all of the excruciating torment that every lost sinner would suffer for all eternity in the flames of Hell. God the Father had to turn away (forsake Him) as Jesus experienced exactly what it was like to be separated from God. Imagine all of the sin ever committed by every human being who has ever (and who will ever) live. Imagine all of the suffering that all of these human being would experience in the Lake of Fire...forever!
Cram all of that suffering into a few hours of time, and lay it on Jesus Christ on the cross. That is exactly what He went through when He died in our place. As Jesus hung there in unimaginable agony, He was paying for our sins by shedding His sinless blood and by giving His very life. He was purchasing eternal life for us. He was going through what we would have had to go through had He not paid our debt! This is just too glorious to comprehend! And yet, it is true! THAT is infinite love. When a lost sinner comes to Jesus Christ, trusts in what He did for him on the cross, he is immediately saved. Every sin is forgiven, bondages are broken, eternal life is imparted! Hallelujah, what a Savior! "Therefore if any man be in Christ (by trusting in what Jesus did on the cross), he is a new creature: old things are passed away; and behold all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17). Hours of unbearable pain, twisting, joint-rending cramps, partial asphyxiation, searing misery..and then, a terrible, stabbing pain in the chest as His heart wall began to fill with fluid. The squeezing, crushing in His chest is referred to in the Bible, "I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels." (Psalm 22:14). His heart literally burst. That is why blood and water flowed from His side when it was gored open by the soldier with the spear. Jesus did not die from all of the physical abuse that was heaped upon Him at the cross, however. He VOLUNTARILY laid His life down for us. He gave His life because no man could take it from Him. (John 10:17-18). He later proved His power over death by His bodily Resurrection from the tomb. The great truth is, Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, but HE ALSO ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD AND LIVES FOREVERMORE! (1 Corinthians 15:1-3). If a sinner, even the worst of sinners, will repent of (turn from) his sins, and come to the Lord Jesus Christ; believing in/trusting in Him, he will be given eternal life. ALL BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS CHRIST DID AT THE CROSS. What a precious thing to know that the resurrected Jesus Christ lives in our hearts.
3) THE CROSS IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER. Some seem to think that, having been saved they are now finished with the cross. They then set out to establish rules and regulations to help them "grow" spiritually. This is a terrible mistake. This was the error that the Galations were falling into early on. The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote to them, "This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galations 3:2-3). We can no more cause ourselves to grow than we can save ourselves! In fact, we grow spiritually the SAME WAY we got saved...by trusting in Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6). The cross of Jesus Christ is the only way to total victory in our lives. It is vital that we learn to "rest" in what Jesus has done on our behalf...not JUST for salvation, but for our every day walk as well. He has purchased for us EVERYTHING WE NEED. Some say that we grow by going to church regularly, praying, reading the Bible, saying 'no' to fleshly lusts, etc. These things, in and of themselves, will not help us to grow at all. Our motive for doing these things is all wrong. In an effort to produce a mature Christian life, many turn these wonderful blessings into "works." They strive to read so many Bible chapters, pray for so many minutes a day...about as a Catholic prays so many 'hail Mary's" or recites the Rosary.
The truth is, if we will trust in what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross...we will find ourselves faithful in doing God's will. But it will not be efforts of the flesh to keep some kind of "law." It will all be the outgrowth of a life surrendered to God. We will find wonderful blessings in obeying God because we love Him and want to please Him... not because we are trying to "work" some formula. Many Christians fail to understand this truth because there is so little preaching on the cross in modern-day churches. Even in fundamental churches, those who believe in salvation by grace sadly turn to works when attempting to live the Christian life. If we are not careful, we will lose sight of the very foundation for our Christian walk. Jesus is not only the AUTHOR of our FAITH, He is also the FINISHER! "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). It is only through what He did at the cross that we can have victory. It is only through the preaching of the cross that we can experience the power of God in our lives. "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18). And so, if a believer finds himself struggling with some sin...he needs to bring it to the cross just as he came to the cross for initial salvation. He will find that the same blood that saved him can provide victory. If a Christian finds himself in need, whatever that need might be...he can bring it to the cross and trust Jesus, Who will abundantly supply. If the child of God is being assaulted by the devil...once again, victory is found by coming to the cross of Christ and trusting what Jesus purchased for us there!
4) LET ME TRY TO EXPLAIN MORE CLEARLY. When we talk about the cross of Jesus Christ, we are not talking about the wooden tree that Jesus died upon. We are referring, instead, to what Jesus Christ accomplished when He died in our place. We are attempting to preach "CHRIST CRUCIFIED" as the Holy Ghost inspired Paul to write. At Calvary, the Lord Jesus established a comprehensive and total plan...not just for initial salvation, but for all of our needs for all of eternity! If this truth was truly believed and understood, all of the foolishness that men have concocted to try to deal with sin, defeat, and the problems of this life would be forsaken! Men would return to a total trust in what the Lord Jesus bought for them at Calvary. They would see that there is no need for 'Christian' psychology, purpose-driven drivel, deliverance, positive confessions, spiritual accountability partners, therapists, etc. Church people, over the years, have been the suckers for every kind of silliness in an effort to find victory in their lives. AND ALL ALONG IT WAS ALL AVAILABLE AT THE CROSS OF CHRIST! Jesus paid it all! It was at the cross that every single sin was addressed and atoned for. When the terrible debt of sin was taken away by God's Lamb, the very stranglehold that Satan had on humanity was broken! Satan's claims were obliterated and the grip of sin was totally broken! The believer must grasp and know that what Jesus did at Calvary WORKS in every day experience. Whatever you face, bring it to Jesus Christ! Jesus said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). Notice He said, "DAILY." Taking up OUR cross refers to a daily (minute by minute) trusting in what Jesus did for us at the cross. This will bring victory to the believer in every battle. The Cross shows how good God is, but it also shows how evil and wicked man is. Further, it shows how helpless every man is to correct his defeated condition. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. We need to realize our hopeless state, reject all of the "remedies" of men, and trust fully and exclusively in Jesus Christ and the full provision that he purchased for us on the cross!
There is:
Victory in Jesus!
My Savior, Forever.
He Sought me and Bought me
With His Redeeming Blood!
This is where true and total victory is found!
