SundayApril 2, 2017 Phone: 570.829.5216
Pastor David Miklas e-mail:
Message: Easter 2017 Text: Luke 23:32-33
The Climate of the Cross
INTRODUCTION:It’s hard to believe that we are once again in the Easter time of the year where our focus is on the “Death, Burial and Resurrection of Christ.”
In Luke 23:23 we read, “And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.”
It was at Calvary that Heaven touched Earth; where God so loved the world and turned His back on His only begotten Son
It was at Calvary; God in crimson garment dressed, courted and wooed us in His LOVE and MERCY.
It was at Calvary where Christ’scry"It Is Finished" once and for all eternity completed the payment for the penalty for sin by His shed blood.
Earth has no darker Sin than Calvary;
History knows no blacker page than Calvary;
Humanity has no fouler spot than the Savior’s crucifixion!
Fanny Crosby wrote:
Jesus, keep me near the CROSS, There a precious fountain
Free to all a healing stream, Flows from Calvary’s mountain.
Near the cross, O Lamb of God; Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day, with its shadow over me.
Another wrote
King of my life, I crown Thee now, Thine shalt the Glory be
Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow, lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsemane, Lest I forget Thine agony,
Lest I forget Thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary.
It was because of Calvary the Apostle Paul could write Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
The most beautiful and only sinless life ever lived upon this earth; Jesus lived blameless in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. But Jesus didn’t come to this earth primarily to live a beautiful life.
Nor did He come to this earth primarily to be a great teacher, though He was the greatest this world has ever had, can have, or will ever have.
Nor did he come to this earth primarily to work miracles, though He did and was Himself a Miracle greater than all His miracles.
The lovely life of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, the miracles of Jesus were the means to bring Him to that horrible, terrible Roman CROSS at the place called CALVARY.
On this, Palm Sunday morning, I want you think with me carefully and worshipfully as we focus on three thoughts about Calvary.
FIRST: Calvary furnishes the climate to show God’s hatred for sin.Calvary is the only full measure we'll ever have of God's hatred of sin. God abhors that which is evil.
No matter how it's dressed or undressed, God despises sin.
But despite all these false conceptions of sin abroad in our world today, the one dark, stark reality of this universe is that dark, stark reality of sin.
In Eden's Garden, sin undermined the constitutional order of man's nature, dismantled his nobility, and stole the keys of his soul's citadel that God had placed in his keeping.
In Romans 5:12 we read, "Wherefore by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
In Romans 8:3 we read "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:”
Someone wrote
You can write all that is wrong with the universe today in one word - SIN.
You can write the marital infidelity today, where homes are going on the rocks, in one word - SIN.
You can write all the foolishness of young people, who throw away in “Carnal Pleasure-Mart” the gold of youth which God gave them, in one little word - SIN.
You can write all the cynicism and bitterness of old people in one little word - SIN.
You can write all the modernism and liberalism that goes nowhere so fast that many arrive out of breath, talking more and more of less and less, in one little word - SIN.
This is a crazy world in which we live today. So many make light of and false conceptions of sin
Freedom of speech is being turned into a serpent’s hiss.
God is being turned into marble.
The Bible is being turned into error, as“Thus saith the mind of man”is being substituted for “Thus saith the LORD God.”
Now listen to me! As we sit under the shadow of the cross, we need to, as Romans 7:13 tells us, “make sin exceedingly sinful.” That is, make it exceedingly sinful in your life, in your home, and in the life of your children.
James 4:17 tells us, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
Romans 14:23 tells us, “…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
Proverbs 14:9 tells us, “Fools make a mock at sin:”and
Romans 6:23 tells us“the wages of sin is death.”
Listen to these comments:
Remember thepleasures of sin are for a moment, but the wages of sin are for eternity. We are living in a day when sin and wrong-doing is no longer wrong or sin. You can call garlic perfume all you want, but it stills stinks. You can perfume sin all you want, but it is still sin and it still carries the wrath of God – death.
When you think of SIN don’t think of David in the arms of Bathsheba with the thrill of unholy passion. Think about David as he bows his head at the grave of that little boy and the grave of Absalom as he cries “Absalom O Absalom my son.”
When you think of SIN don’t think of Lot as a respected politician at the gate of Sodom. Think of Lot after his two daughters sinfully got him drunk and committed incest with him. Lot’s testimony was gone, his wife was gone, and the city was destroyed all because righteous Lot did not make sin “exceedingly sinful” in the life of his family.
When you think of SIN don’t think of the prodigal son living it up in the night spots of his day. Think of him wallowing in a hog-pen where sin always takes you.
We live in a time when
Man says sin is an accident. God says it is an abomination.
Man says sin is a chance. God says it is a choice.
Man says sin is a quirk in man’s nature. God says it is a quarrel with the holy nature.
Man says sin is a relapse. God says it is a rebellion.
Man says sin is a weakness. God says it is wickedness.
Before you leave this sanctuary, I challenge you to have a new hatred of sin. Realize how exceedingly sinful sin is and God’s judgment on it.
With every pang of pain Jesus suffered on the cross, by every beat of His heart which caused a throb of agony, and by every drop of blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins at Calvary, God says He hates sin!
Oh,but the cross of Christ does make the difference. It is the difference between Heaven and Hell. At the cross, God played out His great anthem of love.
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.
In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so devine,
A wondrous beauty I see;
For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
'Til my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.
How we need to see sin through God's eyes - through the crimson lense of Calvary's cross. If we could ever get people to see sin like that, we wouldn't have such a difficult time winning people away from sin.
SECOND: Calvary furnishes the climate to show God’s love for sinners.The only full measure we'll ever have of God's love for sinners is at a place called Calvary. Nothing in this world can fully express the love of God for sinners.
Education can’t express it.
Philosophy can’t express it.
Psychology can’t express it.
Sociology can’t express it.
But God expressed it in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”We call this verse the national anthem of heaven
But Paul expressed it when he wrote in Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
But John the beloved disciple expressed it as he wrote in I John 4:9-10, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (10) Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
But the author of the hymn expressed it when he wrote;
“Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Tho' stretched from sky to sky.
“For God so loved the world…” not God loved one race to the exclusion of some races. God loved all the races of the world.
“For God so loved the world…” not God loved the rich to the exclusion of the poor; not God loved the poor to the exclusion of the rich. He loved the rich, the poor, and the middle class too.
“For God so loved the world…” not God loved the educated to the exclusion of the uneducated or loved the uneducated to the exclusion of the educated. God loved them all!
Oh, how wonderful it is to know the LOVE of God. Nothing, no nothing, can compare to it. “For God so loved the world…”that He gave His very best.
Here is how the Apostle Paul expressed God’s love in Ephesians 3:14-19a, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (15) Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, (16) That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; (17) That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, (18) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; (19) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge…”
Here is how God’s love is expressed in Romans 8:31-35; 38-39, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (32) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (33) Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. (34) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?... (38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
That place called Calvary is the only full measure that Hell will ever hate, Heaven will ever love, and we can ever know about God’s love to sinners.
THIRD: Calvary furnishes the climate in which we should live. This is where you and I should live. This is where the Apostle Paul lived as evidenced by:
Galatians 2:20 where he said, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Then in Galatians 6:14 Paul also said, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
Listen carefully to the 3rd stanza of the Hymn “Beneath the Cross.”
I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by,
To know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the cross!
I ask you this Palm Sunday morning, “Are you living practically in the climate of the cross? Are you living wholly in the climate of the cross? Be serious with God and answer my questions down deep in your hearts. Are you truly living in the climate of the cross?
If you have evil gossip and slander in your soul, you’re not living in the climate of the cross.
If you have hypocrisy and lust of impurity in your soul, you’re not living in the climate of the cross.
If you don't have concern for the lost, you're not living in the climate of the cross.
If you're prayer-less, you're not living in the climate of the cross.
If you're selfish, jealous or envious you're not living in the climate of the cross.
If you have worldliness in dress, places you go,or people with whom you hang out, you’re not living in the climate of the cross.
If you have a vile, wicked tongue, you’re not living in the climate of the cross.
Are you sacrificial in your living?
Are you loving, in your living?
Are you faithful to Jesus in your service?
Do you love this Book? If you don't, you can't claim rightly that you're living in the climate of the cross.
What a wonderful thing if we would leave this auditorium this afternoon saying to Jesus, "It shall be none of self, and all of Thee in my life."
You can't reach Heaven by detouring around Calvary. The author of this old hymn wasn't writing foolishness when he penned:
I must needs go home by the way of the cross,
There's no other way but this;
I shall ne'er get sight of the Gates of Light,
If the way of the cross I miss.
I must needs go on in the blood sprinkled way,
The path that the Saviour trod,
If I ever climb to the heights sublime,
Where the soul is at home with God.
You can't dodge the cross and reach Heaven. You can't reach Heaven, if you take Calvary off your roadmap.
Jesus said, "I am the way." Not a way, but the way, the road, and the only road from despair to hope, from darkness to light, from selfishness to unselfishness, from death to life, from earth to Heaven. He's the only road.
Perhaps you are here this Lord's day, and you have heard the Gospel story over and over again. You have read your Bible, and gone to church somewhat regularly.You are 95% good, but my friends without Christ you are 100% lost and on your way to a Christ-less eternity in Hell.
You may reject the saviour today, but one day "You will look on Him whom they pierced." Reject Jesus today, but one day "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow ... and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."
Reject the Saviour today and tomorrow it may be too late. We beg you in Jesus’ name.Cry unto God today, "Be merciful to me a sinner and save me forJesus sake."
You must either love Him or hate Him.
You must either be for Him or against Him.
You must either accept Him or reject Him.
You must either crown Him or crucify Him.
You must either confess Him or deny Him.
Survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died. See again the shame and the suffering of the "Old Rugged Cross," and say with the Apostle Paul,
"For I determined not to know anything among you
except Jesus Christ and Him Crucified."
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If God has spoken to your heart after reading the sermon ““The Climate of the Cross”” right now talk to God about what He has spoken to you.
Do you have the assurance that one day you will go to heaven? If you have no assurance that you know Jesus Christ, then I trust you will decide to accept Him as your personal Savior. The Bible tells us in
Acts 16:31,“...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...”
Romans 10:13,“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”