Which One Am I?
Text: Matthew 27, Mark 14, John 19
Introduction:
I want to go to with me now to the last night of Jesus life
on earth. Have you ever considered what
it must have been like for those who witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus
Christ. If you could have been at the
crucifixion, what role you would have played? What character in the story would
you have been? What role of those involved with the most important event
of history, would you have played? Is
the relationship I have now with Jesus and indicator of who I would have been
then? Let's look at three sets of people
whose life was forever changed by the decisions they made that day. Then let us look at our own life and the
choice we must make over 2000 years later because of that same event.
I. Two Disciples Mark
14:42-46, John 18:10-11
Mark 14:42
42 Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me
is at hand. 43. And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the
twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief
priests and the scribes and the elders. 44
And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I
shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead [him] away safely. 45 And as soon as he was come, he goeth
straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him. 46 And they laid their hands on him, and took
him.
John 18:10
10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and
smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name
was Malchus. 11 Then said Jesus unto
Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me,
shall I not drink it? 12 Then the band
and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him, 13. And led
him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the
high priest that same year.
Go with me to a
garden it is night time and very late.
As we enter the garden we pass by several men huddled together in the
night air fast asleep. A little further
up the path we see 3 other men also asleep and then there in the distance we
see a lone figure. We can't quite hear
what he is saying but you can see that he is praying and the prayer pours from
his soul, like the beads of sweat that run from his forehead.
He finishes the
prayer and walks back to the group of men sleeping now we see it is Jesus. He wakes them up them with a question. "Could you not tarry one hour in
prayer?" They join the other group
and they begin to walk back towards the entrance of the garden. Jesus senses others coming toward them in the
darkness. Just as they approach the
brook which marks the edge of Gethsemane a crowd of soldiers and guards from
the temple appear. In their hands are
spears, swords and clubs. A man is in front of the crowd, trying to act
as if he is not leading them. Judas
rushes to Jesus and kisses him in greeting.
Jesus looks at his disciple and says, "Judas, betrayest the son of
man with a kiss?" Judas knows he
has not fooled the Lord. Not now with 30
pieces of silver in his money bag for betraying his Lord nor all the other times
he had stolen from the bag instead of giving to the poor. One of the servants of the high priest steps
forward to take Jesus away. Suddenly
from the shadows behind Jesus a man leaps forward with a short sword and
strikes at the man arresting his Lord.
The blow was aimed for the man's head, but Peter is only a fisherman not
a soldier and the blow is a glancing one that takes off the man's ear. Jesus steps between Peter and the wounded man
before the crowd of soldiers can respond.
"Put up thy sword, the cup which my Father had given me, shall I
not drink it? This is their hour, and
the power of darkness." Jesus
reaches to the wounded man's head and with a touch heals him.
As you stand there
with me in your mind’s eye, let me ask you a question. If you were there at this moment, which
disciple would you be?
Would
you be Judas, who betrays him with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver? Or Peter who leaps from the darkness to
defend his Lord? Of course, you say, I
would not be Judas! I would not sell out
the Lord, I would not betray the one who has taught me and whose power I have
seen. Yet today as you sit in the real
world and not the world of your imagination and you have never fully given
yourself to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are just like Judas, the
betrayer of the Lord.
Like Judas you
cannot come to a full commitment of your life and heart to Jesus. Like Judas the things of this world have your
devotion and loyalty instead of Him.
Your 30 pieces of silver may not be the kind you can carry in a bag,
they may be something else you treasure enough to refuse Jesus. It may be your
pride, or your career, or you family or your friends. Whatever it maybe you
have given yourself to it and betrayed Jesus who longs to make you his own.
You say, "No,
I would be Peter." Oh, I pray we
would all be Peter, but that can only be true if you also like Peter while
standing on standing on the mountain in Caesera Phillipi and Jesus asked,
"Who do you say that I am?" Peter said, "Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God." Until
you can make and believe that same confession you and I and all others will
take our stand with Judas. Now in the garden betraying Jesus and later
committing suicide. For you must realize that rejecting Jesus as Lord and
Savior is suicide, the suicide of your soul, and suicide for all eternity.
Now,
let us move on several hours into the future.
Jesus has been convicted in an illegal trial, by an illegally assembled
Sanhedrin. He is beaten by their hands, ridiculed by their words and spat upon
by their spite. So violent is their
anger they even tear out his beard with their hands. From this place of trial and torture, He is
taken to Pilate the Roman governor, that the sentence of death might be
pronounced and carried out. The sentence is passed and Jesus is led through the
streets of Jerusalem carrying his own cross on his back, until he ascends a
hill just outside of town called Calvary or Golgotha.
II. Two Thieves Mark 15:22 Luke 23:39-43
Mark 15:22-27 And
they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place
of a skull. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received
it not. And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots
upon them, what every man should take. And it was the third hour, and they
crucified him. And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE
KING OF THE JEWS. And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right
hand, and the other on his left.
Luke 23:39-43 And one of the malefactors which were hanged
railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other
answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the
same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our
deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
On the way to
his execution, weary without sleep and without food for over 12 hours, Jesus
falls under the weight and burden of carrying His own cross. The soldiers take
the cross beam from Jesus shoulders and grab a man from the street, Simon of
Cyrene, who is made to carry the cross behind Jesus. Finally, they arrive at
the mount called Golgotha, the skull in Hebrew, in Greek it is called Calvary.
Here the cross is laid upon the ground and Jesus weary and worn is thrown
prostrate upon it. His arms and legs are stretched out and cruel spikes are
driven into his hands and into his feet. The bone underneath fractured and
broken by the cruel blows of the hammer. Now the cross is lifted, just as Jesus
predicted, lifted up even as Moses had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
now for all of time and history to see. The cross is cruelly dropped into the
empty hole which will hold it, jarring and tearing the nail pierced hands and
feet. As Jesus hangs from the cross, he is offered myrrh mixed with gall, a
pain killer but he refuses to drink. He will not allow anything to deaden the
pain and punishment of paying for the sin of all mankind. That price must be
paid in full.
On
either side are thieves who have also been condemned to die by
crucifixion. One thief joins in with the
soldiers and the crowd hoping perhaps to be allowed to die a little faster or
just hoping that by turning his anger on another he will not feel his own pain
as much. The other thief though, looks at Jesus and sees a righteous man, the
Messiah of Israel, the savior of the world.
Instead of ridicule or hatred, He calls out for mercy and forgiveness,
“Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” And Jesus hears
him and said to him, “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in
paradise.” In the midst of his
suffering, in the midst of dying, Jesus is still loving the lost.
Which thief am
I? Which sinner am I? Paul writes in the book of Romans 3:23
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The issue is not whether I have sinned but
what will I do about Jesus? Would I
revile him, curse him, betray him? We say no not us, but to ignore Him and what he has done for us
is to revile him, it is to curse him, it is to betray him. We count the precious blood of Jesus Christ
of no effect and trample his sacrifice for us underfoot!
Which sinner
are you today, one who would accept Him as Lord and call out for mercy? Or one
which would scorn Him, ridicule him, Jesus God’s only son, and die without
asking for forgiveness from the one paying the price for my sin. Will I accept
or reject Jesus the Son of God who died in my place for my sin?
III. Two Soldiers
Mark 15:33-41 and when the sixth hour was come, there was
darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And some of them that stood
by, when they heard it, said, behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a sponge full of
vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us
see whether Elias will come to take him down.
And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil
of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, which stood over
against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly
this man was the Son of God.
Finally,
look at the soldiers on Mt. Calvary standing around the cross. There is the
soldier who swung the whip and struck the Lord thirty-nine times with the
scourge, a leather whip with nine straps tied to a handle. The strands of the
whip were usually braided with bits of lead, bone or stones. So that with each lash they would bruise,
tear and lacerate the flesh, leaving the skin tore open and the muscle exposed
and shredded.
Over there is the soldier who braided the thorns into a
crown and put it upon the head of Jesus to mock and torture him. The thorns are
not rose thorns but thorns from the desert, huge with two inch shafts and sharp
as needles. He took the crown and forced
it down onto the head and brow of Jesus. The thorns piercing down to the bone,
tearing the scalp and embedding themselves.
At the very foot of the cross, right under his pierced feet
a group of soldiers are gambling for the only thing Jesus ever really owned on
this earth, his cloak and his robe. One
takes his shoes another takes his robe and since his cloak is woven in one
piece they gamble over it rather than tear it in pieces.
At the
sixth hour, the world turns black. No, this is not an eclipse but God the
Father turning his back on the Son as the sin of the world is placed on him.
Then, Jesus cries out, "My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?"
For the first time in all of eternity he is separated from the Father. He calls
out with a loud voice and he gives up his life.
The earth shakes in agony as its creator dies and for three hours the
heavens and the earth are covered in blackness as they mourn his death.
The centurion, who was in charge of all the soldiers that
day, hears the cry of death from Jesus lips, he feels the earthquake and sees
the blackness. He puts in words what his heart now realizes, "Truly, this
was the son of God."
Now, which of
those soldiers would you be? Would you
beat Jesus who never did anything more than love people? Would you force the thorns down onto his
head, laughing as the blood runs from his brow?
Would you gamble for his clothes, while He hangs on a cross dying?
Our minds cannot bear the thought that we would drive nails
into his hands and feet. That we could be so cruel to someone filled with so
much love. Yet in truth I am just as responsible as they are. It was my sin
that drove him to the cross as much as any soldier whip. It was my sin that hammered the nails just as
much as it was the arms of the soldier.
A man painted a portrait of the Roman Soldier
driving the spikes into the hands of Jesus.
He presented at the portrait to his pastor. as the pastor looked at the
painting. He noticed the face of the
Roman soldier looked familiar. He asked
the painter who the soldier was.
"Pastor I painted myself into that scene. For I know that I was to just as much to
blame for the death of Jesus."
All of us are as
guilty as the soldiers that day but how many of us are have found ourselves at
the foot of the cross and as the centurion, looked around at the darkness of my
own sin, and hearing the voice of Jesus have then realized, “Surely, this is
the Son of God?"
Conclusion:
Which one of these are you?
Which soldier, which thief, which disciple? They all made conscious choices about Jesus
and his crucifixion, so must you. Do you choose to betray him or defend
him? To call out in mockery or to call
out in mercy? To ignore him or to
confess him as the Son of God and your Savior?
One final scene which takes place not in the past but
in the present. The time we have
witnessed was the most important in all the world's history, but the time you
now are in is the most important in all of your history.
In the book of
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
with me.
Christ is
standing at the door and knocking, seeking entrance. In the book of Revelation it is a church he
seeks to enter, but we do the scripture no harm by applying it to the door of
our heart. Jesus standing outside your
hearts door, seeking entrance, knocking, waiting for you to let him in.
A famous
painting shows Jesus standing outside a door overgrown with ivy there is a
light in his hand and love on his face.
As He knocks we notice in the painting that there is no latch or knob on
the outside. When someone noticed that
the doorknob was missing, he told the painter.
The painter looked at the door and said, “This door is the door to our
heart and it can only be open from the inside.”
Will
you open it today?
