Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: How long will you live? 20 years, 30 years, 100 years? Then the end comes. But when you really know the Savior and you deny yourself because of Him, and then you pick up that cross, that cross that we have to bear, and then to follow Him. For that's the only way that we can follow Jesus.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Well, it's good to have you with us this Good Friday for the conclusion of our Easter series celebrating Christ's life-giving love.

As you join Raul in pondering the redemptive work that Jesus accomplished on a cross, you'll get a challenge to put your faith in Christ's sacrifice. Stay with us to see that when you genuinely and completely surrender your life to Jesus, He calls you to follow Him on a path of self-denial, faith, and obedience. Here's Raul Ries in the book of Mark.

Raul Ries: When I was preparing this lesson, I was very touched in going through this whole thing this week about Jesus dying on the cross. Going back to Jerusalem, you're in Jerusalem there, you see the Mount of Olives and you remember as Jesus last week came into the city riding on a donkey on Palm Sunday. And you get that picture as He's coming in, recognizing that He's hated. The same people that are praising Him are going to be the same people that will say, "Crucify, crucify, crucify Him."

And He had done nothing wrong. Pilate could have released Him, but He didn't. He wanted to please the people. It's a lot of Christians that want to please the people. And we can't do that. We have to make a stand. The lines have to be drawn because we really believe what Jesus Christ has done, what He's doing in our lives, everyone here. Then we know for sure that we have to stand as witnesses and we stand as warriors in the kingdom of God.

I love speaking about the cross because it reminds me and it keeps me in a place where I have to die to myself. The cross is used 27 times in the New Testament, the cross of Jesus Christ. And of course, we know that the cross is not a popular subject or topic today. You talk to people that don't know Christ and you start talking about the cross of Jesus Christ, and they'll say, "I don't want to hear about that." But you can't give up on these people, we can pray for these people.

Because as we pray for these people, somehow, like you, like me, the Holy Spirit got a hold of our lives and the Holy Spirit brought us conviction and we repented and we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior. So the message has to go out, especially as you're reading the Lord Jesus Christ, what He went through and the things that He faced in His own life. Let me read beginning there in verse 21 of chapter 15. And by the way, the cross demands death to a personal life. My personal life needs to die.

He says, "And then they compelled a certain man by the name of Simon, a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross." His name was Simon Cyrenian. And you figure as Jesus was carrying this 100-pound cross, just the beam 100 pounds, as He was walking through Jerusalem, going to Mount Golgotha, to Calvary, falling down, getting picked up, getting whipped, getting spit upon by the people, and the people saying, "Crucify, crucify Him." Deep down in His heart, He loved them. He cared for them, He cares for you, He cares for me.

And as we read these stories, let those stories become real in our lives because the cross of Jesus Christ has to be borne every single day. We have to carry the cross of Jesus Christ in our lives. It speaks of death in my life. Do I really want to die to myself? And then He goes on to say there, "to bear His cross, and they brought Him to the place called Golgotha, which is translated the place of the skull."

Now, before He comes to the place of the skull, you have to remember that Jesus was spending time in the Garden of Gethsemane and just struggling, "Father, do You want me to go to the cross? What do You want me to do?" And He said, "I want to do Your will," and the Father's will was, "Jesus, You have to go to the cross." We have to go to the cross, the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have to carry that cross in our hearts.

We have to deny ourselves in such a way that people can see Christ in my life. Without sharing the gospel with them, they could see Christ in your life. That's why I get so excited today. I was praying, "God, Lord, bring so many people that can hear about the cross. The cross that has touched my life, the cross that has touched your life and continues to do that every single day." He goes on to say, "And they brought Him to a place called Golgotha, which is translated the place of the skull. And then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink to release the pain."

But Jesus never drank, He never really took the anesthesia for Himself. He bore all the pain upon Himself. Can you imagine those nails that went through His hands and His feet? We're not talking about little, we're talking about spikes that big. And going through His hands and going through His feet, when they would crucify, they would lift them up this way. And the moment they would crucify and break their legs, they would begin to suffocate in their own blood. And when they came to Jesus, He was already dead.

But in the lesson here tonight, we're going a little bit backwards where He's not only arrested, He's taken, He's been beaten, and now He's on His way to be crucified by these people that hated Him. He goes on to say, "And then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh and to drink, but He did not take it. And when they crucified Him, notice, they divided His garments, casting lots for them, to determine with every man what he should take. And now it was the third hour, 9:00 in the morning, and they crucified Him. And the inscription of His accusation was written above, The King of the Jews."

But not only did He become the King of the Jews, He became our Lord, He became our Savior. The love is incredible that He has for us. Incredible. Palm Sunday, arrested, in trial, judgment, and then crucified. And then Jesus brought to Golgotha, He's looking at Golgotha, recognizing this is where I am going to be crucified. And as He sat there, as they laid Him down to crucify Him and to put those nails through His hand and His feet, as He's looking to the heavens, the Father standing back because His Son is going to take all the sins of the world.

This is why He came, that was His purpose, to come and take upon Himself the sins of the world. It was Charles Spurgeon that said, "No matter what text He chooses, He moves as quickly as possible across country to the cross of Jesus Christ." That's how important the cross of Jesus Christ is. And this is a great example for us to understand the cross, to continue every single day, not just Easter. Easter for me is every day.

But that resurrection, if He would have died on the cross and never resurrected, we would have no hope. We didn't have to be here tonight. But He had to go through Gethsemane, He had to go to the cross, and then He had to rise again from the dead in order for Him to become the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And that's why we're all here tonight.

Spurgeon again said to his ministerial students, "More and more I am jealous lest any of us upon prophecy, church government, politics, or even systematic theology, should draw one of us from glorifying the cross of Jesus Christ. Salvation is the theme for which I would enlist every holy tongue, the cross of Jesus Christ." Calvary is the place of atonement, also the place of amazement. Atonement, amazement.

And when you think about that amazement, that people that were there watching Jesus, the amazement that I have in my own life that He would be willing to forgive me, to forgive you for every one of our sins, because of the cross of Jesus Christ. To worship Him completely and fully. The cross. Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, "If anyone desires to come after Me, three things: let him deny himself, one; two, take up your cross; three, follow Me."

So He says: deny, take up, and follow Me. Three things. And the word "deny" there means to forget about yourself. People today, all they think is about themselves, me, myself, and I. How long will you live? 20 years, 30 years, 100 years? Then the end comes. But when you really know the Savior and you deny yourself because of Him, and then you pick up that cross, that cross that we have to bear, and then to follow Him. For that's the only way that we can follow Jesus.

He says, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" What are you willing to exchange for your soul? A lot of people give their souls over to Satan just to become famous. We need to really be careful.

We need to really be careful the things that we want in our lives, the things that we want to do in our lives, to make sure that we align ourselves with the perfect will of God. And the perfect will of God is to love Him, and to care for Him, and to walk according to the scriptures, to walk in holiness, to die to myself.

To reckon the old man to be dead, Paul said in Romans chapter 6. And when you reckon that old man to be dead and you yield yourself to the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you can say that people can see your life and say, "You know what? There's something different about you," especially those that knew you in the past. Something has happened and then you can share that the cross of Jesus Christ has changed my life, fully, completely.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. We encourage you to connect with us anytime at somebodylovesyou.com for Bible-based resources to deepen your faith and enrich your walk with Jesus. This special Easter series is conveniently available on both CD and thumb drive. Let's continue now with more from Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: You see, the world wants to recognize the cross, but they can't. In Roman times, they had three types of crosses. One was the T, the other one was the beams, and then there was an X. Those are the type of crosses that they would have. The cross that Jesus Christ was hung upon was a T.

Imagine sitting there, as they place those nails through His hands, one on His right, one on His left, thieves, one repents, the other doesn't, the other one begins to curse Him. And Jesus looking up to heaven saying, "Father, forgive them for what they're doing. They really don't know what they're doing." That's true love that God has for each one of us individually, that He really, really loves us, to ask the Father to forgive us.

To ask the Father, and the Father sending Jesus Christ into this world so that you and I can come to that place and humbling ourselves before the Lord and saying, "Jesus, here's my life." And in each one of our lives, the faith that God has given to us fully, completely, so that when we look at the cross of Jesus Christ, there is no doubt in my mind that He is my Lord, that He is my Savior.

That He's the one that allowed not only Himself to come and bring me to Himself, to break me, to mold me, to shape me into His image, every one of us here, for each one of us that are willing to pick up that cross. "Father, not my will, Your will," we need to pray that way. "Father, what's Your will for my life?"

And we know that God's will for our lives is first of all to seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto us. Seeking and finding and then taking upon yourself the cross of Jesus Christ. What He's done, what He's doing, what He will continue to do. Joan Schroeder said, "It has been the cross which has revealed to good men that their goodness is not good enough." There is nothing good about each one of us individually here.

It's the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross all over the New Testament that we have the cross of Jesus Christ pierced in our hearts. When I go to Israel, I go to the garden and I go down to that garden and stand there and watch Mount Calvary. When we go over to the tomb, it's right around the corner and Mount Calvary is on this side and there's a place you can stand and look out to the mount and on top of the hills where they crucify Him.

There is not one time that I haven't been there, and this last time we went, everybody was weeping and crying as we partake of communion, to know and to recognize this is where they crucified Him and then they put Him in the sepulcher. They put Him in that tomb. That tomb that speaks of life that is given to each one of us individually as we believe that He died and rose again and that He's coming back again.

Why? The Bible declares it, that He's coming back again. The fact of the cross of Jesus Christ, His blood. The instrument of death in my life. Paul said in Galatians 5:20, "I am crucified with Christ." What do you mean by that? I crucify my flesh. I crucify my feelings, my desires to His desires. To be not only in the place where I say, "Jesus, I say to You, Lord, whatever You want to do in my life, I want You to do it. And Lord, I am crucified with You in Christ Jesus."

The cross of Jesus Christ is an everyday experience, not just on Sundays. You cannot come to the cross by faith and live just as you please after there has been a change in your life. When you say, "I'm a Christian," people look at you and wonder if your life has changed. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if any man is in Christ, all things are passed away. Behold, all things have become brand new."

That's how people come to know Christ. They see the cross of Jesus Christ in your life where it has brought you to death to live a holy life. Recognizing the pain that He went through. The pain that He not only went through but the pain that He had upon Himself in looking at those people that cursed Him and spoke against Him and clenched their fists. And yet Jesus looked down at them and said, "Father, forgive them. Forgive them." Just like He forgave you and forgave me.

How we need to come to our knees and ask the Lord. Paul in Romans 6:6 says: "knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin." Dying to sin then we can live for Christ. And that's very hard to do unless you submit your will to His will, the cross of Jesus Christ.

And when the cross takes place in my life, then there's nothing else that I want in my life but to see Him one day as I go to be with Him. To know that I have served Him, to know that I have loved Him, but most important to know that He's loved me. And that He continues to love me even here tonight. And the way He loves you and the way He loves people.

When you came in here, you came in one way, and I hope that when you leave here, you leave totally different. Totally different. And the way to do that is to submit, to surrender your life to Him. We're not talking about religion, we're talking about a relationship, the two Rs: religion or relationship. I want a relationship with Christ, I don't want religion.

All He wants from every one of us is your hearts. Jeremiah said, "The heart is deceitful, desperately wicked, who could know it? I the Lord know your hearts. I know your hearts. I know who you are. I know what you do." Some Christian missionaries once visited Mahatma Gandhi and he asked them to sing him one of their hymns. And they said, "Which one?" they asked.

And he replied, "Sing for me one that best expresses what you are preaching." It took them just a moment to decide and together they sang, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross." The cross of Jesus Christ. The cross that has brought you and myself to salvation and Christ died for our sins. And I will say this: the cross of Christ is a must.

1 Corinthians 1:17 says, "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Jesus Christ should be made of no effect." The cross of Jesus Christ reconciles. Ephesians 2:16, "and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity."

The cross of Christ makes enemies. Philippians 3:18, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping," Paul says, "that they are the enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ." The cross of Christ also brings peace. Colossians 1:20 says, "and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth, things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross."

And then the cross of Christ has redeemed me, has redeemed you. 1 Peter 1:18, "knowing that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver, gold, from an aimless conduct received by traditions of your fathers, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without any spot."

The blood of Jesus Christ. Revelations 1:5, "and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." The love of Christ for each one of us.

Guest (Male): Well, if you don't yet have a personal relationship with Jesus, we urge you to make this decision today to turn to Him in true faith and repentance and receive His gift of salvation. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's lesson was titled "A Painful Cross." If you'd like to get an unedited version, we'll be happy to send it to you for a donation of $5 or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165.

We'd also like to offer you Raul's entire series titled "Why the Cross Mattered and Still Does." Available on CD or USB, this 13-part study provides helpful insight into why the world needed a Savior and why God's only Son filled that role. You'll see that when you walk in step with Jesus, He'll guide your steps in paths of righteousness and lead you to your heavenly home.

Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's 13-lesson series "Why the Cross Mattered and Still Does." We'll send you the CD set for $25 or the flash drive for $16. That's 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, P.O. Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

Join Raul for straight talk on the Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10:00 AM West Coast time. You can also download all of our previously aired radio programs as podcasts using iTunes or Spotify, and download our app for live-streamed Bible teaching.

Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries is completely listener-supported. Every donation helps us keep sharing the good news of the gospel, and we're grateful for our partners. Well, thanks again for being with us today. We hope your Easter is blessed with an abundance of joy as you meditate on Jesus' goodness and grace and His victory over death and the grave.

Plus, you'll want to tune in next time for the launch of a new series in Job, a book that helps us reconcile God's matchless love with the suffering He allows in the world. Now, with a final comment, here's Raul once again.

Raul Ries: Are you willing to pick up the cross? And to take that cross and allow the cross to mold you and to shape you in whatever God wants to do in your life as that blood cleanses you and washes you from every sin and to have your name written in the Book of Life forever. That one day we will see Him.

And one day, according to the book of Revelation chapter 5, we're going to sit around singing as a chorus of the Lord, the angels will be there. And He will remind us of the cross. He will remind us. The hands and the nails, that He died for you, He died for me because He loved us. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.