For Christians the crucifixion of Jesus is the defining moment of history and the key to everyone's eternal destiny. The Cross of Christ is the greatest key for help, hope and healing for the world. The Bible teaches that, in contrast to human wisdom, you can discover great power in your life through the cross of Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:18). The suffering and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was necessary for us to know God’s great love and power in our lives through the cross.
Three crosses stood side by side outside Jerusalem 2000 years ago. On two crosses were very bad men who knew all about the dark side of life; on one of them was a very good man who brought light to the world. Yet all of them were brought together to experience the most terrible of Roman punishments. In Luke 23:32-43 we read the conversations between these three men in the closing moments of their lives which exposed who they really were as people and what was going on in their hearts. Each cross has a big message for us.
1. On one cross was a man who turned his back on God
a. He had no fear of God
b. He was cynical about God
c. He cursed God (Luke 23:39; 2 Timothy 3:1-4)
2. On another cross was a man who called out for mercy from God
a. He had respect for God (Luke 23:40)
b. He confessed his sin and wrongdoing (Luke 23:41)
c. He recognised there was something different about Jesus (Luke 23:41)
d. He believed it was not too late for Jesus to help him (Luke 23:42)
e. He received the forgiveness and hope he asked for (Luke 23:43)
3. On the central cross was a man who was God
a. He came to reveal God to us (Matthew 1:23; John 14:6)
b. He came to show us how to love and to forgive (Luke 6:35-36; Luke 23:34)
c. He came as a substitute & sacrifice for our sins (Isaiah 53:5; Romans 5:7-8)
d. He came to bear our shame and pain (Isaiah 53:4)
e. He came to succeed in His mission of overcoming evil, death and hell (John 19:30; Colossians 2:15)
Apply
Is your heart hardening to the point that one day you would face eternity hostile to God? If you died today would it be with a heart that is proud and resistant to God? On one cross was a man who turned his back on God. He had no fear of God, he was cynical about God, and he cursed God (Luke 23:39). This man was full of hate and anger. In these moments all the bitterness of his heart came out. He was hostile to God. He is like so many people who refuse to acknowledge God and do not want to humble themselves before Him (2 Timothy 3:1-4). Today many people have no time for God. They make up their own rules of morality and don’t believe in sin. They are ruled by a love of money and pleasure and are filled with pride and their own sense of self-importance. They have rebellion and defiance in their hearts against God. They are like the Egyptian ruler, Pharaoh, who would not let the Israelites go when he kept on seeing the miracles of God yet continually hardened his heart against God. The first story of the three crosses is a very serious story of a man who turned his back on God.
Do you need to be forgiven and know that through Jesus you can be sure of going to heaven? On the second cross was a man who called out for mercy from God. He had respect for God (v.40) and confessed his sin and wrongdoing (v.41). He recognised there was something different about Jesus (v.41). He believed it was not too late for Jesus to help him (v.42) and he received the forgiveness and hope he asked for (v.43). What a very different heart and attitude the robber on this cross had to the man on the other side of Jesus. Here was a man who had done a lot of wrong but in Jesus he saw a hope of having his sins cancelled. He believed that even at the end of his life he could be forgiven. He got right with God while he still had the chance, and this is your hope also. As long as you are alive, it is never too late to turn to God for Jesus came ‘to seek and save those who are lost.’ Jesus is willing to forgive you. You too can become a child of God even if most of your life has been spent far from God. You can still have a new beginning if you call out to him for mercy.
When faced with the Cross of Jesus - the man who was God - will you turn from Jesus and die in your sins or will you turn to him in humility and call out for forgiveness and the assurance of heaven? Although they meant it as a joke, the sign written above Jesus' head was correct: He was indeed King of the Jews. And he was and is the Saviour of the world. He came to reveal God to us: He was God in human form (Matthew 1:23; John 14:6). He came to show us how to live and love (Luke 6:35-36) even in times of extreme stress, and how to forgive those who have hurt you the most (Luke 23:34). He came as a substitute and sacrifice for our sins (Isaiah 53:5; Romans 5:7-8). Everyone has sinned and broken God’s moral and spiritual laws - which means we became separated from a Holy God and all the blessings He has for us. But the good news is that at the Cross Jesus paid the price of your sin so that you can be set free to live a new life of friendship with God. He did this because of His great love for you. He came to bear our shame and pain. He was stripped naked so that we could be covered and He lost his dignity so that we could recover our dignity. He took up ‘our infirmities and carried our sorrows’ (Isaiah 53:4) so that we can know healing and help in time of our deepest grief. He came to succeed in his mission of overcoming evil, death and hell (John 19:30; Colossians 2:15). On the cross, Jesus revealed who He was and showed us how to live and how to die. He paid the price of our sin, bearing our sin and shame and conquering for all time every evil force that stands against us, including the final enemy death. When he died, the man on the middle cross became the centre point for all of human history. Today whether you are on the left or the right politically, whether you are a man or woman, young or old, you have to decide how you will react to Jesus.
