From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shereve, he'll revisit the importance of the Cross of Christ.

Speaker 2

Listen, as Christians, it's easy for us to get kind of calloused to Calvary, that hill on which Jesus died. We've heard it and we've heard it and we've heard it. We just get kind of numb to it. We get kind of just take it for granted.

And the reason that the Lord gave us this, "do this in remembrance of me," is so that we would never, ever forget the price he paid to purchase our salvation.

Speaker 1

As Christians, it's easy to get callous toward what Jesus did for us on Calvary. Have you ever found yourself taking the Cross of Christ for granted, even a little bit?

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. And thank you for joining us today as we begin the last week of the year, having just celebrated the birth of Christ and now looking for the real reason for his birth: so he could die on the cross for our sins.

In today's message, Pastor Jeff is going to share the prophetic words King David wrote in Psalm 22 regarding the crucifixion of the coming Messiah, reminding us of the suffering, the sacrifice, the surrender, and then our shift to praise.

If you can open your Bible now to Psalm 22, we are reminded of the power of the cross of Christ.

Speaker 2

What did David the prophet tell us about the cross of Christ? Three prophecies. Prophecy number one: The Christ would be forsaken by God. He was going to be forsaken. Psalm 22, verse 1 states, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Anyone familiar with the New Testament, particularly the Gospels, will recognize that Jesus, while dying on the cross, cried out this very verse. Matthew records it, as does Mark. He expressed it in Aramaic: "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani," which translates to "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This question reflects a dual meaning; it was the cry of His heart, but it also served to direct the people to Psalm 22, a psalm they would have known well. Jesus quoted it to indicate, "This is the psalm about me." The psalm mentions, "They pierced my hands and my feet."

Jesus had seven phrases from the cross, often referred to as the "seven words from the cross." Initially, I was puzzled by that phrase, thinking he had spoken more than seven words. However, it refers to seven distinct phrases. Jesus was crucified on Friday at 9 AM and hung on the cross from 9 AM to 3 PM, enduring six hours of suffering. During the first three hours, He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Toward the end of those three hours, He spoke to the repentant thief, saying, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise." He also addressed John and His mother, Mary, saying, "Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother."

In the last three hours, darkness covered the land. The brightest part of the day turned dark as He suffered the wrath of man during the first three hours and the wrath of God during the last three. For three hours, He remained silent. Then, at three o'clock, He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Following that, He said, "I thirst," and they offered Him sour wine on a sponge. Finally, He declared, "It is finished," not "I am finished," but "It is finished," meaning paid in full. The last thing He said was, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Quoting from Psalm 22 is very significant; it points back to this psalm and expresses the cry of His heart. Why would the Father abandon Him?

Remember when Jesus prayed in the garden, sweating blood? He prayed the same prayer three times: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done." Each time, the silence from His Father indicated, "My son, there is no other way. This is the only way to redeem man." Jesus understood what was in the cup; all the sin of the world was in that cup, distilled and boiled down. All your sin, all my sin, and all the sins of humanity were in that cup. He had to take that cup and drink from it, knowing that when He bore our sins, the Father would be forced to turn away.

When Jesus took our sins, the Father had to turn away from Him, abandon Him, and reject Him. The fellowship within the Trinity was broken. You may wonder why it had to be this way. Habakkuk 1:13 states, "Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and you cannot look on wickedness with favor." The Lord is light, and in Him, there is no darkness at all. When Jesus took on the darkness of sin, the Father could not have fellowship with Him. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Thus, the Father turned away from the Son, as the song says, "He could have called 10,000 angels, but He died alone on Calvary."

When Jesus took our sins, He not only faced the Father's rejection but also the fate of sinners. He experienced what every sinner will face when they die without Jesus because He took our place. Pilate wanted to release Jesus, repeatedly stating, "I find no guilt in him." To appease the crowd, he brought out Barabbas, a notorious criminal guilty of insurrection and murder, asking, "Who do you want me to release for you? This man or Barabbas?" The chief priests and religious leaders incited the crowd to shout, "Not this man, but Barabbas." When Pilate asked what to do with Jesus, they shouted, "Let him be crucified!"

Barabbas deserved to be crucified, but Jesus took his place. Interestingly, the name Barabbas means "son of the Father." The Son of the Father took the place of a man who should have died for his sins, allowing that man to truly be a son of the Father. Jesus faced what every sinner faces and experienced the wrath of God and the horrors of hell. On the cross, He died and was separated from God, which is why He cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

The horrors of hell are often described in terms of fire and brimstone, as seen in Revelation 20, which speaks of the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. However, the true hell of hells is to be separated from God. In 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, it states that those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus will face eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. Jesus experienced that separation on the cross.

Some may wonder how Jesus could die on the cross for six hours and pay for everyone's sin. If I reject Christ, how is it that I will spend forever in hell? He didn't spend forever in hell, and people often struggle with this concept. However, Jesus is the eternal God, the Creator. He is infinite, and thus, He can die on the cross and suffer in a finite period of time what would take a finite being an infinite period of time. The suffering He endured as the infinite God in that finite time is unimaginable. He was forsaken so that you and I would never have to be forsaken.

The second prophecy is that the Christ would be despised by the people. Psalm 22 is a psalm of suffering and praise. In verse 6, it states, "But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people." The imagery of being a worm is profoundly humiliating. To be treated as a worm signifies rejection and disdain. The term "reproach" means disgrace, while "despised" means to regard with contempt, as vile and worthless. This is how people regarded Jesus, the sinless Son of God, the Creator of the universe, the long-awaited Messiah.

When He came, the religious leaders, who had studied the Scriptures their whole lives, got it wrong. They accused Him of being a Samaritan and having a demon, claiming He cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. They despised and rejected Him. John 1 tells us that He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. They said no to Him.

Not only was He rejected, but He was also beaten. Their rejection was not passive; it was passionate. They hated Him. Jesus said, "They hated me without a cause." He was love in the flesh, yet the people responded with hatred. Some may argue that if preachers were kinder and gentler, everyone would love them. However, Jesus told His brothers, "The world doesn't hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its deeds are evil."

The light has come into the world, but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. They do not come to the light, lest their deeds be exposed. Jesus called out the religious leaders, labeling them as hypocrites and whitewashed tombs. They looked good on the outside but were rotten on the inside. They couldn't stand His truth and beat Him when they had the chance.

When He was arrested in the garden, they beat Him. At the house of the high priest, they beat Him, spat in His face, and mocked Him. Pilate had Him scourged, and the Roman soldiers laughed at Him, mocked Him, and beat Him. Isaiah 52:14 states that many were shocked when they saw Him; He was beaten so badly that He no longer looked like a man. David prophesied that they would mock Him, beat Him, and reject Him.

In verses 7 and 8, it says, "All who see me sneer at me; they laugh at me, they mock at me. They separate with the lip, they wag the head." As Jesus hung on the cross, those passing by hurled abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you're the Son of God, come down from the cross." The chief priests, scribes, and elders mocked Him, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself."

Initially, both robbers crucified with Him insulted Him, but one later recognized Jesus' innocence and asked Him to remember him when He came into His kingdom. The pain of being laughed at and mocked is something we can understand, but when it is meant to hurt, it becomes a deeper wound.

Jesus was betrayed by Judas with a kiss, a kiss from hell. The pain associated with that betrayal is profound. Rick Warren, after the tragic loss of his son Matthew, expressed the difficulty of grieving publicly while facing the celebration of haters. They celebrated Jesus' pain, laughing and mocking Him, fulfilling David's prophecy a thousand years before Jesus' arrival.

David also made it clear that they would crucify Him. In verse 14, it describes the agony of the cross: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws." We know He said, "I thirst," and that thirst would have been unbearable. "You lay me in the dust of death, for dogs have surrounded me, and a band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; they look, they stare at me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing, they cast lots."

We know that the soldiers cast lots for His clothing at the cross, as predicted by David. David the prophet, David the king, foretold that they would crucify Him. However, there is a shift in the psalm from suffering to praise and hope, leading to the third prophecy: that Christ would be victorious over death.

Speaker 1

You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve and today's message, the Cross of Christ, Part one. Tomorrow, we'll move from the suffering to the praise and the hope that we all have in the resurrection, thanks to the Cross of Christ. When you place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus for your eternal salvation, a miracle took place in your heart. Your transformation was miraculous as well. Because you received the Holy Spirit of God, he came to live in you. You became his dwelling place, the sacred space where you meet him in worship. Your heart is God's very own temple, his holy of holies, where he longs to meet you daily and remind you that he has taken up residence within you.

Pastor Jeff has joined 38 other pastors and church leaders across this nation to create a brand new 365-day devotional book that will remind you of that fact. It'll connect you with God's heart each day. The book is called The Heart is God's Home, and these daily devotions are designed to awaken that truth each day in your heart. He is truly alive in you. It's a high-quality keepsake book with truths that will last forever. It's also our gift to you for your support to From His Heart this month.

We're nearing the end of this month and our calendar year end, and we have wonderful hopes for expansion next year if we have the resources. We're considerably behind our needed goal for this year and this month. So would you consider a sacrificial gift this year? If From His Heart has been a blessing to you, what a gift that will be! When you do, we'll send you The Heart Is God's Home year-long Devotional Book. Call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org and request it.

When you make the gift, be sure to join us on this great station to learn part two of the lesson, the Cross of Christ. That's on Tuesday when we'll open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope From His Heart. From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at fromhisheart.org.