[advance to: Scenes From The Cross]
     Good morning and welcome to the Berean Break.  My name is George Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined us for this lesson.  As always I hope that you have your Bible handy – you need to open it up and check out what is taught so you will obey the truth.  On this program and in my life the only creed I have is the Bible, the only catechism that is taught is the Bible, and if following the will of God appeals to you then I invite you to come and assemble with us at 1600 East First Ave. here in Mitchell.  What you will find is a group of people who strive to be the type of people that God wants us to be in this world.  As we begin our study this morning, let’s go to God in prayer,

Great and Loving God in heaven.  We thank You for this day in our lives.  We thank You for Your word that we can study and know Your will.  We thank You for the gift of Your Son Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins.  Help us now to open our hearts and our minds to your will.  And not just that we know Your will but that we obey Your will.  In Jesus’ name we pray,  AMEN!!

     To some it was only a rough-cut piece of wood.  To others it was simply a means of punishing deserving criminals.  To still others it was something to be despised.  And to some it was something to be loved.  I’m talking of course about the cross on which Christ was crucified.  Although the cross holds little significance for those in the world, to Christians, the cross is something to be cherished.  Not the cross itself of course, but that which is represented by the cross.  Paul expressed this thought in Galatians 6:14

   14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

     We sometimes sing the song, “The Old Rugged Cross.”  Let’s consider the words to this song as they direct our minds to the cross of Christ.  The first verse reminds us of the emblem of the cross.

   “On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame;  And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.”

     Friends, the cross serves as an emblem of Christ’s suffering and shame.
     In John 19:1, we read the words,

   1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him.

It is easy to read those words, yet fail to grasp all they involve.  “ Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him.”  The Romans used scourging as a means of severe physical punishment.  Often, the soldiers would strip a victim of his clothing and tie his hands to an upright post.  Sometimes above their head and at other times they would bend them over the top of the post and tie their hands down close to the knees – this would stretch the back.  The soldiers then scourged their victim, using a whip consisting of leather straps fastened to a wooden handle.  Pieces of metal or fragments of bone were often attached to these strips of leather, making each blow more effective, allowing it to cut into the victim’s flesh.  As the scourging continued, the whip would cut into the underlying skeletal muscles, producing ribbons of bleeding flesh.  The resulting pain as well as the loss of blood often resulted in shock.  After the soldiers scourged Jesus, they mocked Him, placed a robe on His shoulders, a crown of thorns upon His head, and a makeshift staff in His hand.  Next, they spat upon Jesus and struck Him in the head with the staff.  No doubt when the soldiers tore the robe from Jesus’ back, they reopened the wounds from His scourging.
     Although the Romans did not invent crucifixion, they perfected it as a form of torture designed to result in a slow death with the greatest pain possible.  In fact, when we think of extreme pain we sometimes speak of excruciating pain.  The word excruciating has its origin in a Latin word meaning “out of the cross.”
     After a person was scourged, he was thrown to the ground, again opening the wounds on his back and filling them with dirt.  It was then that his hands were nailed to the horizontal member of the cross.
     Then the horizontal beam was hoisted atop the vertical beam with the victim hanging from it.  Once up there, his feet would be nailed to the cross.  The weight of the body, pulling down on the outstretched arms and shoulders, fixed the muscles in a state of inhalation and made exhaling difficult.  The victim could not exhale without lifting his body by pushing up with his feet, resulting in severe pain.  Lifting of the body also caused the person’s back to be scraped against the rough, wooden cross, resulting in further agony.
     This is what Jesus was going through as He hung on the cross.  Now consider what it says in Hebrews 12:2

   2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

What could possibly have been meant by “the joy that was set before him”?  Friends, Jesus was not ignorant as to the purpose of His death.  Jesus knew that His death on the cross would make man’s salvation possible.  Perhaps there is another reason the writer of Hebrews mentioned the joy that was set before Him.  Jesus knew that His work on earth would soon be finished, allowing Him to return to heaven and be with God.
     How can we possibly speak of the cross and not think of Jesus suffering for us?  How can we possibly look at the cross and not feel sorrow for our sins?  After all, it was our sins that put Jesus on the cross.

     The second verse of the song “The Old Rugged Cross” reminds us of the attraction of the cross.

   “O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, Has a wondrous attraction for me;  For the dear lamb of God left his glory above, To bear it upon dark Calvary.”

     Friends, many in the world despise the cross and have become its enemies.  Consider the words of Paul in Philippians 3:18-19

   18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,
   19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

     But Jesus said that through the cross all men would be drawn unto him. Consider what John wrote in John 12:32

   32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”

     While Jesus draws “all men,” not all will be saved.  In order to be saved a person must obey the will of God.  Check out what it says in Hebrews 5:8-9

   8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
   9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

     Men ought to be drawn to Christ because of what He has to offer.  Jesus was the only one who loved men enough to die for them.  He was the only one who ever lived a sinless life.

     The third verse of the song, “The Old Rugged Cross” reminds us of the beauty of the cross.

   “In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, A wondrous beauty I see;  For twas on that old cross, Jesus suffered and died, To pardon and sanctify me.”

     Beautiful?  The cross?  A rough piece of wood stained with blood?  Beautiful?  Friends, people who are not Christians are unable to see the beauty of the cross.  But to a Christian, the cross is very beautiful.  When a Christian looks at the cross, he sees peace.  When man sins, the peace between man and God is disrupted.  Peace between God and man can be established only because of the cross.  Again it is Paul that points this out in Colossians 1:19-20

   19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him,
   20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross;  through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

     When a Christian looks at the cross, he sees love.  He sees God’s love for man.  As John wrote, in John 3:16

   16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

     When a Christian looks at the cross, he sees Christ’s love for man.  Jesus said, in John 15:13-14

   13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
   14 “You are My friends, if you do what I command you.”

     The fourth verse of the song, “The Old Rugged Cross,” reminds us of the demands of the cross.

   “To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true, Its shame and reproach gladly bear;  Then He’ll call me someday to my home far way, Where His glory forever I’ll share.”

     The cross of Christ demands that we take up our cross daily.  Listen to Jesus in Luke 9:23-24

   23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
   24 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”

     The cross was a means of putting someone to death.  Thus, in order to take up our cross daily, we must die daily.  We must die to self and die to sin.
     The cross of Christ demands that we love Him above all else.  Hear the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:37-38

   37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me;  and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
   38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”

     The cross of Christ demands that we become dead to the world, as Paul speaks of in Galatians 6:14

   14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

     When we become dead to the world, we set our affections on things above, not on things of the earth.

     Friends, why should we glory in the cross?  Because of the emblem of the cross.  Because of the attraction of the cross.  Because of the beauty of the cross.  And because of the demands of the cross.
[review: Scenes From The Cross]