Scripture: Matthew 27:38-43; Luke 23:39-43
Introduction
- The stone’s been rolled away!! He is risen!! He is alive!!!
- The cross brought death, but death could not hold Him
- They placed His body in a sealed tomb but, the tomb could not hold Him.
- He took all of our sins on Himself and nailed them to the cross where they died; never to be seen or heard of again.
- It all comes down to a choice: believe in Jesus; or don’t.
- If you believe that Jesus is really the Son of God and you believe that He took YOUR sins to the cross, then God the Father will forget about them – like they never happened.
- If you don’t believe that Jesus is really the Son of God, then you are taking YOUR OWN sins to the Father’s judgement seat.
- If we have to answer for our own sins, we are doomed. We don’t want to face God’s judgment.
- I don’t like to spend too much time on the cross scene in my Easter messages.
- Easter is all about the good news of a risen Lord and Savior.
- But all four Gospels make sure they point out that Jesus was NOT crucified by Himself.
- And why is this significant? This crucifixion wasn’t an isolated event.
- The countryside was dotted with crosses from thousands of crucifixions.
- The cross was one of the Romans favorite ways to torture and kill because it sent a message that the Romans were not to be disobeyed.
- Even Pilate wasn’t willing to condemn this fate to a man he thought was innocent.
- So why was it so important to ALL the Gospel writers to make an issue of the other men?
- Could it be that Jesus wanted to demonstrate that He was dying with/and for the worst?
- Or could it be that God wanted this scene to play out as a demonstration of what He was doing on the cross?
- You can’t have the Good News of Easter morning without the cross.
- But what EXACTLY did happen on the cross?
- I think the key to understanding is to realize it is about three men on three crosses:
- The man on the right
- The man on the left
- The man in the middle
1. The man on the right
- There were three men on crosses that day: Jesus was in the center and their were men on the left and the right of Jesus
- The man on the right was a criminal; a sinner with no ties to God.
- The man on the right represents the world and most of the people in it.
- The sinful, cruel, selfish, fallen nature of mankind can be summed up in this man.
- His life is over. He was guilty. He is being punished and he deserves it
- This man could be any one of us.
- We get one life and we need to grab everything we can while we are alive and take it all.
- We are programmed to survive at all costs and preserve ourselves.
- We are trained that we are entitled to everything that this life offers.
- There is an enemy who works tirelessly to train us to consume, and take, and desire more.
- We are never satisfied and if we have to take it from someone else, we are entitled.
- This man on the cross was a thief. We don’t know why he became a thief – he just was.
- Sadly, we get a sense that this man is oblivious to the fact that there is more life for him
- As Jesus demonstrates for us on the glorious Easter morning, there is life after death.
- That is the lesson of this morning: physical death is not the end, there is more after death.
- And sadly, the man on the right, represents most people on this planet throughout history
- That man, will stand naked before God the Almighty Father and answer for his crimes ALONE.
- Without the hope of Jesus Christ, and His glorious resurrection, that we celebrate this morning, we would ALL be the man on the cross on the right.
2. The man on the left
- There was another man on the left of Jesus.
- Initially, both the man on the left and the man on the right hurled insults at Jesus along with everyone else.
- Everyone was asking the same question that no doubt Satan himself was asking:
He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
- Good question: Why do you think He didn’t save HIMSELF? He wanted to save us.
- Satan had no idea how completely he had played into God’s plan.
- You see Satan never guessed that by leading Judas to betray Jesus and by blinding the Jewish leaders to the truth about Jesus they were leading Him like a lamb to the slaughter
- And that is precisely what God wanted because His system of repentance demanded that an animal be sacrificed and blood shed for the forgiveness of sin.
- In this case, the sacrifice would be His own Son and HIS blood.
- In this way, the sacrifice would be for all mankind: past, present, and future.
- So back to the question: “why don’t you save yourself?”
- The answer is in the man on the left cross.
- As they all three hung on their crosses, the man on the right hurled insults at Jesus: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
- But the other criminal, the man on the LEFT rebuked him.
- “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
- We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
- Why the change of heart? Why did the man on the left suddenly recognize Jesus?
- After being nailed to the cross, Jesus prayed out loud to the Father
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
- It is at this pivotal moment that Jesus intervenes and asks for our forgiveness.
- It is precisely at this moment that Jesus claims His authority to intervene on our behalf.
- Then the man on the left said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
- It is precisely at this moment that the man on the left recognized the authority of Jesus.
- Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
- Jesus has the power and authority to forgive our sins and take us to heaven with Him.
- And there is the answer to why He didn’t save Himself – YET
- The man on the left is any of us who recognize Christ as the Son of God
- Just like the man on the left, when we accept Christ in faith, “we will be with Him in paradise.”
- We can all be that man on the left if we just have faith,
3. The man in the middle
- The man in the middle is the creator of the universe, Jesus Christ.
- The Father is the Great Architect of the earth who made the plans, but Jesus is the builder, the general contractor, the carpenter who built everything in this universe.
- The truth about the man in the middle is that He DID save himself.
- He did destroy the temple, which is Him, and He DID rebuild it in three days.
- Today is that third day and the temple is now ALIVE in Him.
- He got up out of His tomb and rolled the stone away and walked out in His own body.
- And He has demonstrated how it will be for each of us: we will rise up in our own bodies.
- He has now taken His place at the right hand of God the Father.
- And He is still building because He is busy building a place for each of us to go.
- And we now have the hope of salvation because we won’t be facing judgement for our sins alone.
- Jesus died for the sins of all believers, even the worst of the worse hanging beside Him on the cross.
- It doesn’t matter when you accept Jesus as long as you accept Him.
- It could even be in the final moments of your life like the man on the left.
- Today is so important because it completes God’s plan for salvation.
- The cross fulfilled the sin of all mankind that began at the Garden of Eden and continues until now.
- Hebrews 9:22 says: “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
- God sacrificed His Son as the perfect lamb that was without sin to be the payment for all our sins.
- The man on the left is the simplest expression of how we can claim this forgiveness.
- What really happened here? It couldn’t be any simpler.
- The man on the right rejected the man in the middle and the man on the left recognized the man in the middle – it just couldn’t be any simpler.
- We need to open people’s eyes to who the man in the middle really is.
- And He will bring the resurrection of today to whoever knows Him.