Crucifixion Sermon #1

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

Crucifixion is an ancient form of execution by which the convict is nailed or bound to a cross, and left on the cross to die a slow death. The Lord Jesus was crucified on a cross on a Friday, and was resurrected on Sunday. Therefore Christians commemorate his crucifixion on Friday and his resurrection on Sunday.

Do you regard the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as important? If you don’t believe in him, you wouldn’t see that his death is important at all, and you may think it has nothing to do with you! But your unbelief does not diminish the importance of his crucifixion. If you don’t believe, you would simply miss the opportunity to receive the eternal blessing from his crucifixion, and you would be rejected from the Kingdom of God.

On the contrary, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, his crucifixion on the cross would change your life completely, and the blessing you receive would last for eternity.

A brief account of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus

Those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus might not know the story of his crucifixion, so I will first recount his crucifixion very briefly.

Passover is the most important festival of the Jews. Before the Passover, the Lord Jesus already knew that he will be crucified on Passover day and will be with Yahweh God his Father. He also knew that one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, will betray him to the Jewish religious leaders. He then asked his disciples to prepare the Passover meal.

During the Passover meal, Jesus told Judas to go and do what he had planned to do; so Judas left the table and went to the Jewish authorities. The other disciples thought that the Lord had asked him to give something to the poor. After Judas left, the Lord gave some important teachings to the eleven disciples, then he went up to the Mount of Olives with them. When they arrived at a place called the Garden of Gethsemane, the Lord took three of his disciples—Peter, James and John—with him and went to pray. He asked these three to keep watch. Then he prayed to Yahweh God, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but as you will.”

After the prayer, the Lord went back to the three disciples and found them sleeping. He said to them, “Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” And the Lord said, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.”

Judas, the disciple who betrayed the Lord, led the servants of the Jewish religious leaders and elders to that place. He had told them, “The one I kiss is Jesus, seize him.” At the Garden, he said to Jesus, “Rabbi!” and gave him a kiss. Immediately the servants seized Jesus. One of the Lord’s disciples drew a sword and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his ear. But the Lord said to the disciple, “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen this way?” And the Lord touched the ear of the servant to heal him.

Please notice that these statements of the Lord’s are very deep and meaningful, but today we won’t have time to look into them. In the future, if God is willing, we will study these statements.

All the disciples of the Lord fled. Then the servants of the Jewish leaders brought Jesus to the place of the High Priest. There the Lord was put on trial by the Jewish leaders, the teachers of the Law and the priests, but he did not say a word. Finally the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of God?” The Lord answered, “You have said it yourself.” Then the high priest said, “He has blasphemed!” They spat in his face and beat him with their fists; some slapped him.

The whole assembly arose and brought him to Pilate, the governor of Judea. There they falsely accused the Lord Jesus of many things, but he did not say a word. Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “It is as you say.” Pilate knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered the Lord Jesus over to him, so he asked them, “Then what shall I do with him whom you call the King of the Jews?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!”

Pilate wanted to please the Jewish religious leaders, so he ordered that Jesus be scourged, and delivered him to be crucified. The soldiers took Jesus to the palace, and incited the whole cohort to mock him. They weaved a crown of thorns and put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand, then they kneeled before him to mock him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on him, and beat his head with the reed. After mocking him, they removed his robe and put on him his own garments, and led him away for crucifixion.

The Lord Jesus was too weak to carry the cross, so when the soldiers saw a person named Simon, they forced him to carry the cross for him. When they arrived at a place called Golgotha, which is translated “Place of a Skull,” there they crucified him, and divided up his garments among themselves. They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but Jesus refused to take it.

It was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The king of the Jews.” The Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left; those who passed by also hurled abuse at him.

People who passed by also hurled insults at the Lord Jesus, saying, “He said he will destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. Now save yourself! If he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross!” The chief priests and the elders also hurled insults at the Lord, “He has saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the king of the Jews, let him come down from the cross now, then we will believe in him. He believes in God; if God loves him, God would save him, because he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

From the sixth hour to the ninth hour (from noon to 3 o’clock in the afternoon), the whole place was dark. About the ninth hour the Lord Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Someone took a sponge, soaked it with sour wine, and put it on a reed to give Jesus a drink, but he refused to take it.

Then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. Behold, the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook, and rocks were split.

The centurion who was guarding over Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that were happening; he was frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

The meaning of the Lord Jesus’ crucifixion

 After hearing the story of the Lord Jesus’ death, do you still wonder why he had to die on the cross in such a lowly way, despised by all men? He knew beforehand who would betray him. When the high priest’s servants came to arrest him, one of his disciples took a sword to cut off a servant’s ear. The Lord immediately healed him, and told his disciples that he could ask Yahweh God to immediately send at his disposal more than twelve legions of angels. But why didn’t he ask God to send the angels to rescue him? The Lord Jesus had the power to save others, so why didn’t he use the authority to save himself?

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit (1Pet. 3:18, NRSV)

Here this passage clearly says that Jesus Christ suffered for our sins in order to bring us unrighteous people to God. He died on the cross willingly, with the purpose of bringing sinners to God. Even though his flesh had died, his spirit was made alive.

We human beings have all sinned, no one is righteous before God. The consequence of sin is death; it is not simply the death of our bodies, but also the death of our spirits. Our bodies sooner or later would definitely die, but the death of this body is not the end of everything, for there will be judgment in the future. The spirits of all people who have lived on earth will stand before the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ, and will be judged according to the deeds they have done in this life on earth.

Human beings have all sinned. By nature we are unwilling to obey Yahweh God, we are selfish, we hold grudges, we are covetous, we have no compassion for people, etc. The consequence of sin is death. On the final Judgment day, the unrepentant sinners will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is the perishing of the soul.

We all deserve to perish, but Yahweh God has compassion on us. He created us, and doesn’t want us to perish, so He sent His only Son the Lord Jesus Christ to save us.

The Lord Jesus has never sinned, yet all our sins were poured on him; he became sin on our behalf and was crucified on the cross.

If we believe in Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and repent of our sins, commit our lives totally to Yahweh God, and get baptized, Yahweh God will let us die to sin; then the blood of the Lord Jesus shed on the cross will wash us clean of all sins. We will be granted a new life and become righteous people.

While we were still living in sin, our sins hindered us from coming near to the holy and righteous God. But when the blood of the Lord Jesus washes us clean from all sins, we can come to Yahweh God and become children of God.

Do you see the importance of the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross?

Now do you see the link between his death and your life? If you don’t believe in Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to ask you this question: Do you see your own sins?

If you don’t, then certainly you won’t see that you need salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ, or see the importance of his death; his death will mean nothing to you.

On the other hand some people do see that they have sinned, and realize that in the future there will be punishment for sins, yet they think they don’t need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but can find some other solution.

My fellow people, there is no salvation apart from the Lord Jesus Christ; salvation is only found in him. In this universe we cannot be saved by any other name besides that of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Most religions in the world teach people to do good deeds, but those good deeds cannot wash away our sins. Buddha is a great philosopher, but he himself says that he is not God and that he cannot save you; he teaches people to do good deeds to save themselves.

But we cannot have our sins washed away simply by doing good deeds. (Please refer to my message, Why We Cannot Have Eternal Life Simply by Doing Good Deeds? at http://www.gospelandsalvation.com.) Only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can wash our sins clean, there is no other solution.

When we commit our lives to Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ, not only will our past sins be washed clean, but Yahweh God will grant us the power to live a new life of righteousness. The consequence of sin is death, but the reward of righteousness is eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

Christians must die to sin and live to God in Christ Jesus

If you believe in Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to ask you this question: Do you still regard the death of the Lord Jesus as very important to you? Or do you feel that his death is simply a historical incident that doesn’t really matter to your life now?

Romans 6:10-11 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 6:10-11, NASB)

Here this passage says that :

• The Lord Jesus died to sin once for all; correspondingly, those who believe in him must also die to sin.
• The Lord Jesus lives his life to Yahweh God; correspondingly, those who believe in him must live to God in Christ Jesus.

What does it mean to die to sin?

But what does it mean to die to sin? We can compare death to sin with the death of our body. When our body dies, we have no more links with this world. Similarly when we die to sin, we have no more links with sin.

Romans 6:2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (Rom. 6:2, RSV)

Here this passage says that if we have died to sin, we won’t live in sin anymore, for how can we who died to sin still live in it? That would be nonsense!

Have you been freed from sin? Or are you still living in sin? If you are, then you haven’t died to sin. The Lord Jesus died on the cross to set free us from sin, but if you are still living in sin, the death of the Lord wouldn’t mean anything to you!

If you have believed in the Lord Jesus and have repented of your sins, yet unfortunately return to sin, you are now enslaved by the power of sin once more, and the death of the Lord Jesus doesn’t mean anything to you! You have forsaken your love for Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to repent and come back to Yahweh God and the Lord Jesus

2 Corinthians 4:10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. (2Cor. 4:10, ESV)

This passage says that we have to carry in our body the death of Jesus. It means that we continue to die to sin, and cut off every link to sin, and no longer live in sin, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in us.

Conclusion

The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus is an event in human history of utmost importance. He defeated death for people, therefore the life of mankind has been changed completely through his death. When we believe in the Lord Jesus now, we will die to sin just as the Lord died to sin; we will not perish but will be granted eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

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