God on a Cross
Romans 5:8
"Christ died for us." Two thousand years ago, outside the city of Jerusalem, at a place called Calvary, a man named Jesus died on a cross. It was actually the day God died. The cross was in the heart of God from all eternity.
In Revelation 13:8 the Bible says that the Lord Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before the world was created, before time began, it was determined that the Lord Jesus would die on a cross for the sins of the whole world. When the Lord Jesus came to this earth He carried a cross in his heart as well. As a boy, the Lord Jesus said, "Did you not know I must be about my Father's business?" He's talking about the business of dying for the sins of the world on the cross.
Throughout His ministry the Lord Jesus Christ made references to the cross. On one occasion the Lord
Jesus said this, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." The night before the cross, the Lord Jesus said, "Father, the hour is come." He was talking about the hour of the cross. He was talking about His death on the cross. It was the day God died.
If you really want to understand what Christianity is all about you have to go to the cross. If someone said to me, "What is Christianity?" I have to explain the cross to them. In I Corinthians 1:18 the Bible says, "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are saved, it is the power of God."
I cannot explain to you what salvation is without taking you to the cross where Jesus died, where God died. At the cross we see humanity at its worst. With wicked hands they took Him and crucified Him. At the cross we see God at His best. This verse of Scriptures says that God commends His love toward us. This word, commend, is a beautiful picture of what happened at the cross. The word literally means to put together. God put it together at the cross. All of the facets and all of the shades of the meaning of the love of God come together at the cross. God put it together at the cross.
When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, he put on display His love. The word also means to prove. God proved His love for us when He died on the cross.
When I was a boy I used to get crushes on girls in school. I used to play a little game. Did you ever play that game with flower petals? You would say, "She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not." I when I got through it would always come out that she loved me. I rigged it to make it come out just right.
When Jesus was dying on the cross, He didn't have to rig it. Every drop of blood that fell from the Lord Jesus Christ says, "He loves me, He loves me, He loves me." God put on display, God proved His love when His Son, the Lord Jesus died on the cross.
By means of this Romans 5:8, I want us to take a little trip to Calvary this morning. Let's let this verse be a vehicle that will carry us outside the city of Jerusalem, up the hill of Calvary, there to see the
Lord Jesus Christ dying.
There to discover what I mean when I say it was the day that God died.
This verse really answers three very important questions about the cross. The first question it answers is this.
I. Who is it on the Cross?
Who is that dying there on the cross? The verse says, "Christ died for us." It was the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross. We know, of course, when the Lord Jesus Christ came, He came as a man. He was born in Bethlehem. He had a birth like a man has. He had a physical body, did the Lord Jesus. He had feet. He had hands. He had ears. He had eyes. He had a nose. He lips and a mouth. The Lord Jesus became a man. He was fully man.
Not that He ever sinned. He was tempted in all points, yet without sin. But Jesus Christ became a man. That simply means that the Lord Jesus Christ understands us. It means that the Lord Jesus knows what you and I are going through down here. Jesus knows what it is to work. He was a carpenter. He had rough, rugged hands.
Jesus knows what it is not to have enough; not to have what you need. He said one time, "I don't have anywhere to lay my head."
The Lord Jesus knows what it is to be grieved by the loss of family members and loved ones. We do believe that His legal father, Joseph, died when He was just a boy. He knows the grief of losing a family member. He knew the grief of losing a good friend named Lazarus.
The two sweetest words in the King James Bible to me are those words where it says, "Jesus wept."
Jesus knows what you are going through this morning. He knows how your heart is hurting because He was a man. Who is it dying there on the cross? It is the man Christ Jesus. It is the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
He was no ordinary man. He was a man, but He was a unique man. There was never a man like the Lord Jesus Christ before or after Him. It is the Son of man, but it is also the Son of God who is dying on that cross. If it had been an angel we would be grateful. If it had been a good person dying on that cross we would love them forever. But when Jesus died on the cross, it was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the God man. Jesus was not just a man; Jesus was MORE than a man.
Listen to what the Bible says about it in several verses.
Hebrews 1:3, the Bible says, "He is the express image of God's person."
In Colossians 1:15 the Bible says, "He is the image of the invisible God."
In John 1:1. "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God."
Look at that for a moment. "In the beginning was the word." That's eternity. "And the word was with God." That's equality. "And the word WAS God." That's divinity.
Jesus was not JUST a man. Not a mere man. The Lord Jesus Christ was THE GOD MAN. He was God in human flesh. John 1:14 says, "The word was made flesh and dwelt among us." So, Jesus was God.
We see it in His birth. When He was born, they called Him Immanuel, which means God with us. We see it when He goes through His ministry. Jesus did things that no mere man can do. Think about the miracles that Jesus performed. No mere man could do what only God can do.
Listen to the statement that the Lord Jesus Christ made.
Jesus said, "The words I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life." We can't say that about our words. Jesus said on another occasion, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Jesus said when you look at me you are looking at God.
So, Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. Who is it on that cross? It is God. Who is it on that cross? It is man. Who is it on that cross? It is the God man.
At no point in His earthly ministry did the Lord Jesus Christ cease to be God. At no point was He ever less than God. He was the God man.
As a man Jesus got tired. As God he said, "I'll give you rest." As a man Jesus got hungry. As God He took a lad's lunch and fed thousands of people. As a man He got thirsty for running water. As God He filled a woman's heart with living water. As man He rode on the ship. As God He walked on the water. As man He stood before a grave and wept. As God He raised the dead man from the grave.
God was no ordinary man. He was the God man.
See what a beautiful picture this is to us of who this is dying on the cross. He is the God man. Who is it on the cross? It is God.
This is the day God died. How can God die? I can't explain that to you. I have no human explanation for it. When I look at what the Bible says about this I am in the realm of mystery.
I Timothy 3:16 says, "Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness." God was manifest in the flesh. I don't understand it, but yet this verse of Scripture and the whole Word of God indicates to me that the One on that cross is none other than the God man.
Who is it on the cross? It is God on that cross.
II. WHAT DID HE DO?
It answers a second question for us also. Now only who is it on the cross; the God man, but what did He do on that cross?
Notice what it says, "Christ died." He died on that cross. It is not an unusual thing for a person to die. It happens every day. Every week I see the names of the families in our church where loved ones have died. I see where members have died. I pray for these families that they might have God's comfort and God's peace during this time of their bereavement.
But the ambulance comes by on a regular basis here in our church family.
The ambulance rolls up to the emergency rooms of our hospitals. The ambulance rolls up to our rest homes. The ambulance rolls up to our houses because it is not an unusual thing to die.
There was something different about the death of
Jesus. There was something unique about His death.
Christ died. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ was not an incident. It was not just some little page 6 item in the newspaper. It was not some little glib on the screen in the evening news. His death was not an incident. His death was not an accident. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ was not some colossal blunder. It was not some bundling mistake. His death was an achievement.
II Corinthians 5:19 says, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself." I don't understand that. Martin Luther was looking at the statement of Jesus on the cross when Jesus said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He meditated on that a statement for several hours and then he was heard to say, "God forsaken of God, who can understand that"?
The hymn writer put it this way, "Well might the sun in darkness hide, and shut its glories in. When Christ the Mighty Maker died for man the creatures sin."
Who is that on the cross? It's Christ the God man.
What did He do on that cross? He died. That tells us that the day Jesus died, the day God died, He sacrificed His body on that cross.
Colossians 1:29 says, "In Him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily." It was a divinely prepared body.
Hebrews 10:5 says this. "A body hast thou prepared for me." In the Old Testament they prepared the bodies of sacrificial animals. They looked at those animals very carefully because there couldn't be any blemish, no stain, no imperfection on those animal's bodies. When the Lord Jesus Christ came, He had a sinless body. When Jesus died on the cross; when that body was nailed to the cross; it was not because of His sins, He had no sins. It was because of our sins that His body was nailed on that cross.
Think about the sacrifice when He sacrificed His body. The word, died, here is a word that means a violent death. It's a word that was used to describe the slaughter of animals. When Jesus died, He didn't die in a restful, peaceful situation. He didn't die in peaceful repose.
When Jesus Christ died, He died the violent death of the cross. They tore His body to shreds on that cross. The smashed His body to pulp on that cross. They took their hands and beat Him. They took their hands and they strapped Him. Their spit shamed His face. They took the whip and they scourged His back until it looked like a road map painted in red. They thrust a spear into His side. It was a brutal death. Why did He do that?
In I Peter 2:24 the Bible says, "Who bore our sins in His own body on the tree." When Jesus died the Lord Jesus sacrificed His body. But that's not all.
When the Lord Jesus, the God man, died he also shed His blood on that cross of Calvary. There's a fascinating verse in the book of Acts, the 20th chapter.
The 28th verse has a statement, which defies the mind to understand. I think you'll catch it as we get to the end of the verse. "Take heed, therefore, to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of
God which He (God) has purchased with His (God's) own blood."
That verse indicates to us that when Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood, He was shedding God's blood.
We know that when Jesus was born He was born of a virgin. The Bible says before Joseph and Mary came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. We know that a baby gets its blood from the male sperm. There was no human father when Jesus Christ was born. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. That means that the blood that flowed through the veins of the Lord Jesus Christ was the rich, royal, redeeming blood of God Himself.
What did He do on that cross? He died on that cross. He shed His blood for you and for me on that cross of Calvary. Oh, mystery of the cross. Oh, miracle of the cross. Who is it on the cross? Christ. What did He do on the cross? He died.
The third question our text in Romans 5 answers is
This:
III. WHY DID HE DO IT?
Why did He die on the cross? "God commendeth His love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the us." There it is. Christ died for us. That's why He did it. He died for sinners.
Who are sinners? US. First Corinthian 15:3 makes it even plainer. It says, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." That's our problem, isn't it? Sin. This is God provision for our problem, isn't it? The cross. When Jesus Christ died on that cross, when He sacrificed His body and when He shed His blood on that cross, He was doing for you and for me what we desperately need. All of us have the same basic needs.
One of the needs we have is to be forgiven of our sins. You know we ARE Sinners, don't you? Could I have a nod from you? The Bible says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." We've all sinned.
All of us are really 4 people. We are the person the world thinks we are. We are the person we think we are. We are the person our family and friends think we are. We are the person God KNOWS we are.
God knows that we are sinners and when we are honest with ourselves, we admit that we also know that we are sinners. Someone says, "OK, preacher, big deal I sin. What's the big deal about that"? Somebody says, "Sin is not such a serious matter. It's not such an awful thing. It's just such a minor thing."
I'm here to tell you this morning that sin is no minor thing. I'm here to tell you that when we commit an act of sin, it is no small matter. Sin is the greatest tragedy in this universe. Sin is the greatest horror in human existence.
What men say and what God says about sin are two different things. Man says sin is an accident. God says it's an abomination. Man says sin is a chance.
God says it's a choice. Man says sin is a defect. God says it is a disease. Man says that sin is an error.
God says that sin is enmity. Man says sin is a trifle.
God says it's a tragedy. Man says that sin is weakness. God says it is wickedness. Oh, how awful when we sin.
That filthy thought you had last week: it crucified Jesus. That evil thought you had this past week put the Lord on the cross. Those words of gossip you said on the way over to the service this morning were a part of what laid on Jesus when He died on the cross for our sins. The horror of our sins. We need forgiveness. I need to be forgiven for the horror of my sin.
If you want to see the awfulness of sin, you can see it in the Garden of Eden as Adam and Eve are driven from the garden. Sin is to blame. You can see the horror of sin in the flood as the waters covered the earth and the dead bodies float in the water. Sin is to blame.
You can see it in the prisons with their padded cells and their gas chambers. Sin is to blame. You can see it in broken homes with crushed wives and hurting children. Sin is to blame. If you want to see the awfulness and the horror of sin, you have to go outside Jerusalem up that hill to a place called
Calvary and on a cross, where Christ died for our sins.
Our sins were the hands that slapped Him. Our sins were the fists that beat Him. Our sin was the spit that shamed Him. Our sin was the scourge that cut Him. Our sin was the nail that pierced Him. We need forgiveness for our sins. We need to be forgiven and that's why He died; that we might be forgiven of our sins. He died for our sins.
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. When Jesus Christ died on that cross, the Bible says He blotted all of the handwriting of ordinances that were against us. Jesus Christ died on that cross to blot out our sins and when He blots out your sins, He doesn't rub it in, He rubs it out.
I need pardon for my sins. I need some cleansing from that stain of my sins. Sin stains us. Sin taints us. Sin defiles us. Sin is to the soul what dirt is to the body. I need to be washed from my sins. I need to be clean and pure.
You know how dirty it makes you feel when you do something you shouldn't. When you are unkind; you know that dirty feeling you have. We need to be cleansed from our sins.
I heard about a little boy who had been out playing and had dirt all over him from playing. He came in and it was time for his evening bath. He didn't like baths so he said to his mama, "Mama, instead of bathing me, couldn't you just dust me off"?
There are some people who come to church and they want the preacher to just "dust me off a little." Friend, you don't need dusting off, what you need is for the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse you from your sins so you can walk out of this building today a brand new person, clean in your heart like the driven snow.
That's why He died on the cross. For your pardon. For your purity. There's another reason why Jesus died on that cross. He died on that cross that you might have the power to live the way you want to live.
All sin is addictive. You get hooked on sin. You don't want to do what you do, but you find yourself doing it again. You find that you are addicted to it. You need something or someone to give you some power to overcome your sin.
That's what someone is thinking about in this building today. You say, "I'd like to be a Christian. I'd like to walk down that aisle in just a little while and give my lie to Christ. But I'm afraid I couldn't live it."
I've talked to hundreds of people who have said to me, "Preacher, I know I need Jesus and I know I need to be saved, but when I feel like I'm able to live it, then I'm going to join the church and be saved." Dear one, if you wait until you can live it to receive Jesus as your Savior, you'll never walk down an aisle. There is no power within our human nature to enable us to overcome the power and the effect of sin.
First Corinthians 1:18 says, "To us who are saved, it is the power of God." Think about what the Apostle Paul did. Paul traveled over the Roman Empire in his day. Paul went to the filthy capitals of the ancient world. Paul waded through the cesspools of the slime pits of the ancient world. How could he do it? How could he keep himself pure in that environment?
How are you going to keep clean? How are you going to keep yourself pure? The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 6:14, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world."
Galatians 2:20 he says, "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I. But the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." There's power in the cross. Power to live the life that you ought to live.
That's why He died. He died for us. He died to give us pardon from our sins. He died to give us purity for our sins. He died to give us power over our sins.
I read about a guy down in Florida a few years ago who was arrested for breaking in to the Volusia County Correctional facility. I didn't say breaking out, I said breaking in. His girl friend was in there and he was not getting her letters properly and he decided he would just go in there and see what was going on.
They caught him for breaking into the facility. They released him on $2,500 bond. When I read that bazaar story I said, "Lord, that's just like the habits of some Christians today.
The Lord Jesus Christ has set them free from the prison. The Lord Jesus Christ has let them out of the cell. What do they do? They go right back into the old prisons of addictive behavior and enslaving actions. They put themselves in cells of bitterness and cells of shame and cells of destruction again.
I'm here to tell you this morning that the cell door is wide open. The prison has been broken into. You are out of the prison. You don't have to be a slave to sin anymore.
He said He did all this because He loved us. God put it all together. He shows His love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for our sins.
A number of years ago I used to hear a man named
Charlie Howard preach. He preached revivals here before my day. I would go to conferences and hear Dr. Howard preach. He was a professor of a Bible college in North Carolina; served country churches ll of his ministry. It was only in his latter years that Southern Baptist discovered him and had him preach in meetings all around.
He told a story I have never forgotten. It has moved me through the years. Charlie said that in one of those little country churches, there was a young man named John. Just an old farmer boy and he fell in love with a beautiful girl in that community. They came to Charlie Howard to perform the wedding ceremony. John was a simple man. Just a dirt farmer and he was not able to afford a wedding ring for his wife.
His wife said to him, "I understand, John, that you can't buy me a wedding ring. But if you are ever able to get up the money, I would really like to have a string of real pearls. I have always wanted a string of real pearls."
At the time John used tobacco. He decided to lay his tobacco aside and every time instead of buying tobacco he would put that money in the tobacco pouch. The years went on and in those years his wife became an invalid. He just took care of her like a good husband ought to do. He picked her up and carried her everywhere. Put her in the pick up when they went somewhere. Picked her up and carried her and set her in her pew at church. He just took care of her.
On their wedding anniversary, many, many years later he invited Dr. Howard to come and celebrate the wedding anniversary. After a sumptuous meal John picked up his wife and carried her into her easy chair in the living room. Set her down and told her to close her eyes. John got out his tobacco pouch and reached a string of genuine pearls from that pouch. He went behind her and put those pearls around her neck and clasped them.
Then he came around in front of her and stood and said, "Now you can open your eyes." She opened her eyes and looked down and said, "Oh, John, they are beautiful. Are they real?" He said, "You better believe they are real." Then she said, "John, oh, John, why did you do it, John"?
Dr. Howard said that big old rawboned farmer fell on his knees and buried his face in the lap of his wife and said, "Just because I love you."
When I go to the cross, I feel like falling down on my knees and burying my face and say, "Oh, God, why did you do it?" I can hear Him say, "Just because I love you."
The same God who died THAT day is alive THIS day and He wants to come into your life.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
