The Beauty of The Cross

James R. Davis

Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (NKJ)

Introduction:

1. The cross has become a Christian symbol ... a thing of beauty.

A. Buy them to wear around neck. You can buy them ... sterling silver, 14k gold, or crusted with diamonds and rubies. Jewelers can make them beautiful. But there was nothing beautiful, about the cross on which Jesus of Nazareth died. First century equivalent of an electric chair or gas chamber.

B. No death was more dreaded by criminals. None so painful or humiliating. So inhumane, Roman law did not permit a citizen of the empire to die by crucifixion.

C. The cross was an obstacle to Faith. Jesus dying by crucifixion was a great obstacle to the conversion of both the Jews and Gentiles.

1 Corinthians 1:22-25 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (NKJ)

1. Jews looked for Messiah to exert his power among men but could not be subjected to humiliation.

2. The Greeks thought it absurd for the Christians to preach Jesus as Savior; one who died so ignoble a death could not be worthy of adoration.

D. We've looked to the virgin birth, miracles of Christ, the matchless life of Christ, the great sermons he preached, but the cross is the central event ... Paul said,

Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (NKJ)

E. The day Christ was crucified has become the greatest day in history. The Cross has become the highest symbol that men have ever looked upon. The influence of the cross has become the mightiest power in all the world.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. (NKJ)

F. We must kneel at the foot of the cross and find its meaning in our hearts.

I. Ugliness of Sin Reveals Beauty of Cross.

A. We think we know something of ugliness of sin.

1. Lady found in garbage can in bottom of swimming pool.

2. Lady stabbed and raped this past week.

3. Man disgruntled with job goes to work with pistol.

4. Lately, we are reminded of the Killing Fields in Cambodia.

5. Look at a drunkards home ... wife and children deprived of necessities of life because of fathers self chose lifestyle.

6. Newborn baby left in toilet in Disney World.

B. We know nothing of the ugliness of sin until we kneel at the cross.

1. Making choices contrary to God's will is no little evil ... sin is the second greatest force in the world.

2. The love of God is the only force that is stronger.

3. It is in the cross that one sees the forces of evil and the love of God clash.

II. Suffering of Cross Reveals Its Beauty.

A. The Biblical accounts of crucifixion told simply and in few words. "There they crucified him."
Original readers of the gospels needed no elaboration, for they were familiar with the horrible details.

B. Details:

1. Scourging, beaten within an inch from death.

Mt 27:26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified. (NKJ)

2. Mental torture.

Jo 19:1-3 1 So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. 3 Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands. (NKJ)

3. The March toward Golgotha.

Jo 19:17 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, (NKJ)

Luke 23:26 Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. (NKJ)

4. Disrespect of soldiers.

John 19:23-24 23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. 24 They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be," that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: "They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots." Therefore the soldiers did these things. (NKJ)

5. Mocked by people and high priest.

Mk 15:27-32 27 With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. 28 So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with the transgressors." 29 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 "save Yourself, and come down from the cross!" 31 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. 32 "Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.

6. He hung on the cross from 9 o'clock in the morning until 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Mk 15:25 Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. (NKJ)

Mk 15:33-34 33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (NKJ)

C. In the midst of his thirst, pain and humiliation, Jesus was thinking of others rather than himself.

Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots. (NKJ)

III. The Beauty of the Cross.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (NKJ)

A. God had not walked upon earth with man since the days of Eden. Reconciliation was essential.

1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness-- by whose stripes you were healed. (NKJ)

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NKJ)

B. Jesus died both physically and spiritually on that cross. Forsaken by God and man.

Matt 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (NKJ)

Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. (NKJ)

1. Our sin was credited to his account, and our condemnation became his; now his righteousness can be credited to our count.

2. The most horrible death imaginable to the Son of God became the price for our redemption.  C. The beauty of the cross has nothing to do with silver, or gold, or precious jewels. It has everything to do with love.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (NKJ)

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NKJ)

D. We want to trust in our own goodness ... we must humble ourselves, quit trusting our own goodness ... accept the righteousness of Christ.

1. Salvation begins at the cross ... not in the merits of our own religious experiences.

He 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NKJ)

He 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (NKJ)

2. It has to do with trusting in the death of Jesus Christ.

Arthur T. Pierson, commenting on Luke 9:23, points out, "The word 'cross' in the Scripture never occurs in the plural! There is but one cross. It is that of self-denial. To Christ it meant His sacrificial death to save others. The believer who takes up his cross and follows the Master must manifest a similar spirit of self-abnegation. Multitudes go to church and call themselves Christians; yet their lives are essentially worldly. They freely spend a thousand times more on self-indulgent activities than they grudgingly give to God."

3. Not as simple as performing some religious ritual ... baptism.

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (NKJ)

Conclusion:

Faith is the biblical term which embraces the total response one makes to the grace of God.

1. One must accept Christ death on his behalf.

John 8:24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." (NKJ)

2. Must claim redemption through his blood.

Romans 6:3-4 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Ga 3:26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (NIV)

3. Must live for Christ.

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (NKJ)

The beauty of the cross in not in wearing it around our necks, using it as a bookmark, or chiseling it on our tombstones. Its beauty lies in the fact that the death of Jesus Christ on a Roman cross nearly twenty centuries ago has opened the path to eternal life for all who believe in him.

Will you put your hope for salvation there?