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Muskegon SDA Church

Crisis at the Close

Jason Sliger

Crisis at the Close: The Trials - Part 1

Crisis at the Close: The Trials - Part 2

Crisis at the Close: The Trials - Part 3

Crisis at the Close: The Cross

Crisis at the Close: The Triumph

Father in heaven as we tread on sacred ground together this morning We pray that you would be our guide We ask that you would send your Holy Spirit to impress our hearts with just the special message that you want us to take home today.

Father, may we see Jesus more clearly, and may we fall more deeply in love with you this morning we ask.

In Luke, the 23rd chapter, the 33rd verse, Luke pens, and when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him.

4 words that are pregnant with meaning, There they crucified him.

4 words that are worthy of the most intense contemplation, 4 words that are worthy of you thinking heavily on throughout this next week.

In Revelation 14 and verse 4, our theme Bible passage in this series, we are told about those who follow Christ in the last days, and it says, these are they which follow the Lamb.

Whithersoever he goeth, there they crucified him.

Are we willing to follow the Lamb wherever he goes?

Are we willing to follow him to the cross?

Are we willing to follow him even if it means for us to be hung on that cross?

They follow the lamb, withersoever he goeth.

Jesus told his disciples, and he speaks to you and me this morning in Matthew the 16th chapter in the 24th verse Then Jesus saying unto his disciples if any man will come after me Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

What does Jesus say those that follow him carry?

It shouldn't surprise us that we have crosses to bear.

Jesus says that those who choose to follow him, that those who follow the lamb wherever he goes, that they will be cross bearers.

I don't know what the cross is going to be that the Lord is going to choose for you to carry.

But it ought not to surprise you when it comes.

Jesus says that those who follow him will carry a cross.

You and I are going to Calvary in just a little while.

We will travel over a similar road that Jesus traveled down.

The scenes of the cross, we've been told, will be resurrected, will be revived.

We will have a very similar experience that Jesus had in the last 48 hours of his life.

Those who choose to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, those who choose to be cross-bearers will not be people who look for the easy way.

Neither will they be people who are prone to complaining, asking for suffering to be relieved, asking for something to be changed so that they might be more comfortable.

No, they will follow right behind the Lamb because He is their sole goal in their life to be with Him.

You know, when you are asked to do something that you've never done before, you will oftentimes seek out a person who has done that already.

And you seek that person out because you want to get advice from their experience.

You want to, in a sense, you want to Follow their example because they've gone through it before you.

And Jesus has treaded this road, he has carried the cross, he has gone through what we are about to go through.

And he is there to give us advice, He is there to give us counsel.

He's there to be an example, and he is there to see that we succeed.

I will be honest with you this morning, as I came to this presentation, I almost didn't want to preach it for fear that I would botch it up.

The cross is such a broad theme, It is so deep and touching to my heart that words fail me sometimes when I try to express what the Lord has done for me as I've studied this particular scene in scripture.

But I will do my best, although as I wrote it, I felt like I could preach 3 parts on just the cross.

We'll focus on 1 thing this morning, and I pray that throughout this next week, that you would take the time to focus on the 4 scenes in the Gospels on this particular story that you would get out your desire of ages and read those 2 chapters on Calvary and it is finished and let it nourish your soul again as you look at what Jesus has done for you.

We go from Jesus being tried to Jesus being crucified.

He has gone through the 6 trials that were a farce of a trial, 3 religious trials that the verdict was guilty, the 3 civil trials, the verdict was innocent, yet they still crucified him.

I didn't talk much about the scourging that Jesus received, the second scourging after Pilate gave him over to be crucified, but now Jesus is being led to the place of execution.

His back lacerated from being scourged, his body bruised and bleeding, he has gone for a whole night without sleep.

He has not eaten, he has not drunk anything, he has been physically abused and emotionally traumatized, and now he stands, the visage of his face has changed.

It is almost difficult to recognize that it is even a human being.

They take the cross of Calvary and according to Roman accounts, the cross that these criminals bore was just the top section of what we traditionally think of a cross.

And it was bound to the arms of the criminal and he would carry it to the place of execution.

Some estimate that the cross section that the criminal bore weighed somewhere around a hundred pounds or so.

Jesus in a good time was a very physically fit individual.

Now weakened by what had taken place, Scripture tells us that he buckles beneath that 100 pounds that was placed upon his shoulders.

And with his arms being bound to that stick on his back, can you imagine what it was like to fall having your arms bound to a stick behind you?

You just fall straight on the ground and hope that your face is preserved.

He struggles to get back up again and he falls for the second time and his executors realize that there is no way under this condition that Jesus is gonna be able to carry the cross to Calvary.

And so they looked this way and they looked that way.

Who is it that's going to take the cross?

Of course, the Jews didn't want to carry the cross.

They knew that if they touched it, that they would be unclean and wouldn't be able to participate in the Passover.

So they weren't gonna do it in their high and holy estate.

The Romans didn't wanna have anything to do with it.

And just as this awkward situation was playing out and Jesus was laying there face down on the ground, groaning in pain, there was a man who came around the corner, Simon of Cyrene we know him as.

And as he heard the throb of the angry mob crying out for the death of the Son of God, as he came around the corner and he's seen this human being that had been so physically abused, There was a pain of sympathy that rose up in Simon's heart and that pain of sympathy expressed itself in his face.

And when the Roman guards saw that sympathy in the face of Simon, Simon was not a disciple.

His sons were followers of Jesus, but he hadn't quite accepted him yet.

There his Redeemer lays on the ground, bound to a stick.

Roman guards grab Simon, They take the load off of Jesus' back and they place it on his.

And they make him carry that cross all the way to Calvary.

As Simon looked back on that experience, what appeared to be a humiliating experience for an individual, As Simon looked back on that experience, what appeared to be a humiliating experience for an individual, as Simon looked back on that time when he carried the cross of his Savior, it was a time of rejoicing in his life.

He was thankful that he was able to carry the cross of his savior.

He was thankful and grateful for that burden that he could carry for Jesus.

I think when the Lord decides to place a cross on your shoulder, we ought to follow the example of Simon.

Thankful that we can bear a cross for Jesus.

What intended to be a humiliating experience was actually an experience of great strength for Simon.

As they get to the place of execution, Jesus lays down upon the cross without a struggle.

This was uncommon, many times the criminals would struggle.

1 last attempt to try to keep themselves from being crucified, that wasn't the case with Jesus.

He laid down very calmly, the lamb led to the slaughter.

And as the Roman guards took the spikes in their hand and the hammer in the other and drove those nails through the wrist of Jesus, anatomically the wrist is considered part of the hand.

I'm sure Jesus groaned in pain as that metal object went through his wrists and through his feet.

And then he was lifted, hung between heaven and earth, rejected by man and seemingly rejected by God.

And now as he is out of the physical reach of the religious leaders to physically harm him, hanging on a tree, the verbal abuse begins to pour out.

They say, if thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.

Roman soldiers, the Bible tells us, they mocked him.

The rulers also, the Bible says, derided him.

Let him save himself if he be Christ the chosen 1.

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Series

Crisis at the Close

Crisis at the Close: The Cross

Transcript

Parent Series

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Recorded

Building God’s Church- Part 1: The How To’s

36m

His Heart Was Different

26m

The Doctrine of Personal Ministries

Part 3 - The Church of Acts

1h 18m

Unlocking Prophecy

12- The Certain, Unavoidable Identity of the Antichrist

1h 8m

Building God’s Church- Part 2: Challenges

35m

The Everlasting Gospel

7. Looking Unto Jesus

55m

The Sanctuary

9. The Longest & The Last Time Prophecy

58m

Dan Vis Weekend

For Such a Time

41m

The Sower

The Sower: The Secret to Good Soil

32m

The Law of God in the Great Controversy

41m

Seven Dips in Dirty Water

28m

Plenary

The Second Coming

1h 3m

Sound Doctrine