| *************************************************************************************
Who (And What) Crucified Jesus??
To begin our lesson, allow me to draw your attention to the words of the Lord's apostle Peter in (1 Pet. 2:21-24);"For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; --- for by His wounds you were healed." Now, if you will, please turn back to (Mt. 27:) and we'll pick up the text, in (Vs. 33); --- "And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull,they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. --- And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there." In this lesson my challenge, or question for your consideration is; --- Who Crucified Jesus?? The greatest, most horrific tragedy that has ever taken place in the history of mankind took place just outside Jerusalem, on a hill called Golgotha or Calvary when the Son of God hung on the cross; - And when darkness veiled the brightness of the sun; --- And when the earth shook and trembled; --- And when rocks were split; --- And the veil of the Temple was torn from top to bottom; --- And it seemed as though Satan and all his evil forces were about to batter down the very threshold of glory; --- And when God's Son, His only begotten Son; --- the Creator and Master Builder DIED for man, the creature of sin!! Tongue can not tell, nor can pen write, neither may
poet describe, and song can not capture the suffering of JesusChrist on
that Roman cross. --- There is no sorrow like His sorrow, no pain like
unto His pain!! --- When Jesus Christ died upon that cross, all the sins
of mankind from the beginning of creation, --- my sins, and your sins were
placed upon Him!! --- Every sin of all time was compressedupon Jesus!Jesus
experienced the pain of Hell(as it were) for us!! --- The scourging, the
thorns beaten into His brow, nor the nails through His hands and feet can
not compare to the horrible pain of anguish He must have felt as He cried
out with a loud voice, saying, --- "ELI,
ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" --- that is, 'MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN
ME?' --- (Mt. 27:46) --- At that very moment Jesus, for the
first time ever experienced what it was like
to be separated from His Father!! --- Jesus being infinite, was able to
bear in a
Eternally and hopelessly damned!! --- So the question remains; --- Who Crucified Jesus?? Somebody says; ---"The Jews crucified Jesus!" --- Did they? --- May I remind you that His disciples also were Jews?And what about the apostles and all the New Testament writers? --- They were Jews also. --- NO! We can't just simplydismiss the matter by saying the Jews crucified Jesus!! --- Well, another might suggest; --- "The Romans; --- They arethe ones who crucified our Lord!" --- Well it's true, the Roman soldiers did indeed drive the nails into His hands and feet; --- But they were just carrying out orders!! Who then did crucify the Son of God?? --- WE crucified Him; --- WE DID!! --- And until we are fully convicted of thatterrible fact; --- His sacrifice will have meant nothing as far as we're concerned!! Rembrandt was said to have painted a depiction of the crucifixion, and standing off in the shadows there's the face of a man, that if you look closely enough, you'll see that Rembrandt painted his own face on a figure there in that crowd around the cross. --- What was Rembrandt saying? --- He was saying, "I crucified Jesus!" --- "I was there, when they crucified my Lord!" --- Now, I do not know if Rembrandt was a Christian; --- But perhaps we might take some time to study some of the other figures in that crowd gathered around the cross of Jesus; --- It may be quite possible that some of us might identify ourselves as having been there. However, before we say who crucified Jesus, we need to have a better understanding of WHAT crucified Jesus!! ---What kind of hellish inclinations were responsible for nailing the pure and sinless Son of God to that cross?? ---So,with that question in mind, let's go back to (Mt. 27:) and investigate some of the attitudes that crucified the Lord Jesus. And to begin our investigation, let's notice (VS. 1-2); --- "Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor." --- Now, who were the chief priests, elders? --- And who were the scribes and Pharisees?This was the religious leaders of the crowd who had Jesus crucified; --- But (again) we ask; --- ---- WHAT CRUCIFIED JESUS?? ---- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Self-righteousness: Crucified the Lord!! The Pharisees had Jesus put to death, but yet they were a very religious group. --- And today Jesus is still being crucified by the religious crowd in the house of His friends! --- Have you ever thought about what a church full of Pharisees would be like today? --- If every single one of those seated in your congregation were Pharisees, what do you suppose they would be like? --- They would all be in their place on Sunday morning, Sunday night and even Wednesday night! --- They would all carry a Bible, paying strict attention to every act of worship! --- They would allcontribute their money! --- And they would all end up in Hell!! You see, the Pharisees were a self-righteous, pious,
bigoted group; --- And they were so devoutly religious that if their hen
was to lay an egg on the sabbath, they probably would refuse to eat it;
--- Or if they got a tack in their sandal on the sabbath they would likely
take it out before Saturday, lest they be accused of carrying a burden
on the sabbath! They were so religious that if a mosquito was biting them,
it's conceivable they wouldn't slap it, lest they be accused of hunting
on the sabbath!! --- Note: Go and google "Jewish traditions" and there
you can find 39 categories of Jewish, or man made
customs and traditions. Now, as far as I know, these were just traditions
of the Jewish elders, and not God's Law; --- But the point being; --- They
had an outward form of righteousness, but inwardly their hearts were crooked
as a dog's hind leg!! ---Jesus put it this way in (Mt. 23:27-28); ---"Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! --- For you are like whitewashed
tombs which
So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." You can go to a sawmill, and you can watch those loggers as they take those old twisted and crooked logs from the forest, and put them on the bed of that sawmill and run it through, lop off one side, run it through again and lop off the other side, then run it through still again and again, until finally they have a log beam that is absolutely straight. That is, straight and smooth on the outside; ---But on the inside of that log you would see a heart that is still crooked!! Now, that's what is wrong with so many people today who profess to be religious; --- And that's what was wrong with the Pharisees!! --- The Pharisees didn't do this; ---The Pharisees didn't do that!! --- They were strict, dotted every "i" and crossed every "t", but their heart was sorely crooked!! --- It was a religious crowd who crucified Jesus!!---And beloved, I don't care how religious you are; --- If you have not obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ in repentance and baptism; --- And if you as a Christian are not faithfully walking in humble obedience to God's Divine will; --- You, my friend, will spend eternity in Hell with the worse scum that ever walked the face of this earth!! --- The worse form of badness, is human goodness; --- when that human goodness becomes a substitute for a deep abiding love forGod, and His will !!! --- Self-righteousness Crucified the Lord!! --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. Hypocrisy: Crucified Jesus!! (Mt. 27:3-5) --- "Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, --- 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood' But they said, ‘What is that to us? See to that yourself!' --- And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself." Judas was guilty of betraying Christ, and was most certainly guilty of crucifying his Master. --- And Judas was afirst-class bonafide hypocrite; --- no doubt about it!! --- But how grateful we all ought to be that the other eleven apostlesdid not quit because one of their number was a hypocrite!! There are hypocrites in every walk of life, --- We're all are aware of that, aren't we? --- Some doctors may be quacks,but if I get sick; --- I'm first going to pray that God will comfort and heal me; --- and then I'm going to go see my doctor! --- Some lawyers may be shysters, but if I find myself in trouble with the law (heaven forbid), --- I'm first going to pray forstrength and wisdom to prove my innocence, knowing that God alone will be the final and just Judge; --- And then I'lllook me up a good lawyer. Some Christians, or so called Christians may be hypocrites; --- But let me assure you dear soul; --- that does not destroy the validity of the genuine, the real!! --- You know, one day I saw some counterfeit money; --- Why, that so infuriated me that I ran home and gathered all the money I could find laying around the house and burned it!! --- You say; --- "Why, that can't be true!" --- You're right, it's not true! --- That would be a pretty stupid thing for me to do, wouldn't it ?? And you'd be amazed at the number of people who say; --- "I don't want anything to do with Christianity because of all the hypocrites!!" --- Let me ask you; --- You look at a hypocrite, and then you look at a faithful Christian; --- Which would you choose to imitate? --- Or you see someone living the gospel of Christ, and another, mocking the gospel by their hypocritical actions; ---Which direction would you choose?? --- Paul said; --- "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." But also, hypocrisy crucified Jesus!! --- And it's entirely possible there may be a hypocrite or two reading this very article! --- A person who outwardly professes to love the Lord; --- Who may profess to be faithful. --- A person who, like Judas, gives Jesus a kiss of betrayal!! --- Jesus said; --- "Some people honor Me with their lips, --- But their hearts are far, far from Me!!" (Mt. 15:8 - paraphrased). There may be some reading this who may have some sin in your life that you're aware of; --- And yet, somehow you'veallowed Satan to con you into thinking everything between you and God just couldn't be better!! --- If this is so, may Ihumbly warn you, and remind you of what God has spoken concerning your spiritual state?? --- (Heb. 6:4-6) The Spiritsays; --- "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, --- and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame." Now, this is God's forecast for the Christian who knowingly and willingly harbors sin in his life; --- And if you find yourself being described here; --- Don't you think it's time for you to repent and ask God for forgiveness?? --- But if you stubbornly rebel, the Bible teaches plainly that in the judgment, your soul will be consigned to an ever burning and horrible Hell; --- Along with Judas and every other murderer, liar and hypocrite!! --- Some consolation then!! Self-righteousness crucified Jesus; --- Hypocrisy nailed Him to the cross; --- Now, look at (Mt. 27:20), and we're goingto discover; --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. Ignorance: also was guilty of crucifying the Son of God!! (Mt. 27:20); --- "But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death." --- Here, we have a multitude of people who had been deceived by these religious leaders. --- They didn't know any better but they cried out for the crucifixion of Jesus none-the-less! -- - And if you were to ask one of them; --- "Why are you doing this?" --- "Why on earth would you want to see this man, Jesus crucified?"--- They would most likely answer; --- "I have nothing against Him, but the leaders say He ought to be crucified, and I'm just going along with the crowd!" Ignorantly there are some people today who stand against the gospel, therefore against Christ Himself! --- They don'tknow where they actually stand on God's truth; --- they're confused!! --- They're ignorant, but they're lost just the same.Because, ignorance is not innocence. --- Jesus speaking in (Jn. 7:17), had this to say; --- "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching(doctrine), whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself." --- Again, in (Jn. 8:43f); --- "Why do you not understand what I am saying? --- It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ---But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. --- Which one of you convicts Me of sin? --- If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? --- (I'll tell you why, Jesus says); ---He who is of God hears the words of God; --- for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God." What this is telling you and I; --- "If you want to really know who Jesus Christ is; --- and if you really want to obeyHis will, and be faithful to Him; --- You CAN know Him and you CAN be obedient to Him!!" --- And you CAN remain faithful unto death!! --- But, dear soul, it won't do you any good to come to the Judgment seat of God and say; --- "Oh, God! I was ignorant!" --- "I participated in the crucifixion of Jesus, by crucifying Him afresh; --- but I didn't know any better!" Jesus Christ prayed from the cross for those who crucified Him; --- "Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." (Lk. 23:34) --- But today, Jesus could not pray that prayer for you. --- (Why?) --- Because you have heardthe gospel; --- it's been around for 2,000 years! --- Therefore, you stand without excuse!!! --- What else Crucified the Lord?? --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. Cowardness: Crucified Jesus!! Look back again in (Mt.27:24); --- "When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot wasstarting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, --- 'I am innocent of this Man's blood; see to that yourselves." --- As we would say in today's terms, Pilate was a fence-straddling politician! --- And he would not take a stand for the innocent Son of God!! --- Pilate knew who Jesus was; --- The voice of reason told Pilate who Jesus was, for (Vs. 18) says; --- "For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over."; --- The voice of conscience had spoken to Pilate in (Vs. 23); --- "Why, what evil has He done?" and in (Lk. 23:4); --- "Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no guilt in this man."; --- The voice of a loved one had spoken to Pilate in (Mt.27:19); --- "While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, --- 'Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him." --- And the voice of Deity spoke to Pilate in (Vs. 11); --- "Now Jesus stood before the governor , (Pilate) and the governor questioned Him, saying, --- 'Are You the King of the Jews?' And Jesus said to him, --- "It is as you say." But Pilate had so much pressure upon him; --- There was the pressure of public opinion; --- The pressure of popularity, possessions, and the crowd!! And so, Pilate being unwilling to take a stand, and being the coward he was; --- crucified the Lord Jesus Christ!! --- Pilate had a soft job, and he wanted to keep it; --- and what buttered his bread, determined his conduct! --- And if you were to ask him why he did what he did, he would most likely say; --- "Well, a man's got to live!" But he was wrong; --- a man must die, NOT live!! --- You're going to die, I'm going to die, we're all going to die some day, and after that, then what? --- "inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this --- comes judgment." (Heb. 9:27) Pilate did not touch the bone laced lash which tore into and ripped apart the back of Jesus! --- Nor did Pilate spit into the face of Jesus, so as to defile His face! --- Jesus was not nailed to the cross by a hammer held by Pilate's hand; --- And yet, Pilate crucified Jesus of Nazareth!! --- Oh, he tried to remain neutral, but eternity will expose his utter folly; --- And show without a doubt, that indecision was the worst decision that Pilate could possibly had made!! --- PilatecrucifiedJesus through unmitigated cowardness!! I can't help but wonder if perhaps some of you readers; --- Rather than taking a firm stand for the cause of Christ,even though the voice of reason, the voice of conscience, the voice of loved ones, and the voice of all Deity has spoken to you (Eph. 6:10-17); --- You had rather be "IN" with the crowd, and "GO" with the crowd; --- You had rather keep what you think are your possessions and your rights; --- than to have enough faith and courage to stand up and be counted as one of Christ' very own!!! Let me once more, drive it home; --- COWARDNESS CRUCIFIED JESUS CHRIST!!! --- And the Bible says; --- "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, --- their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Rev. 21:8) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. Insensitivity: Crucified Jesus!! (Mt. 27:27-31); --- "Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. --- They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, --- "Hail, King of the Jews!" --- They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the (thorn crowned) head. --- After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him." Talk about Insensitivity; --- These were Roman soldiers; --- They were cruel and hard, and to them life was cheap! --- Jesus Christ wasn't the first man they crucified, and He certainly would not be the last. ---They made sport of the very Son of God; --- They even played games at the foot of His cross! --- Instead of kneeling, they played games!! And the world today is still playing games at the foot of the cross! --- We're more interested in the Rose Bowl or theSuper Bowl, than we are in the game of life! --- We're more interested in playing than praying!! --- We have become so calloused and insensitive, that the preaching of the crucifixion of Jesus no longer moves us; --- And doesn't even theleast bit interest most people in general!! --- In general, they could care less!! I heard of a preacher one time tell of a man who was out fishing; --- And the man had a little Spitz dog in his boat; ---The dog was a frisky little thing; --- But the man was a very ardent fisherman!! --- And when the man was just about to get a bite, or a nice fish was somehow tugging on his line, the dog would growl and bark. --- So the man felt that the movement of the dog in the boat and his paws scratching on the bottom of the boat would surely scare the fish away!! Well, after this happened several times, the fisherman became so upset and enraged, that; --- he took the forepaw of that little helpless dog, put it on the side of the boat and took a hatchet and chopped off one of the poor dogs paws, which fell into the water; --- Then he took the other forepaw, placed it on the side and chopped it off as well; --- and then, if you can believe it, being so enraged and completely out of control, he took the hind paws of that dog up there and chopped all four paws off; --- and then threw the dying animal into the water with all his paws chopped off, trying to swim; --- And of course, while bleeding to death he drowned!! That preacher told the story to his congregation much more vividly than I did; --- And he said people were sitting theresome shocked beyond words and many were crying; --- And then he said; --- "Earlier in my sermon, I preached to you about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ; --- and not a tear was shed!! --- And now I talk about a little mongrel dog getting his paws chopped off and you people sit here with tears flowing like rain, weeping and crying!! Insensitivity crucified our Savior!! --- And we have become by and large a generation of people who have become gospelhardened; --- That is, many of us have heard the "Old, Old Story" so many times that it has simply become "Old Hat"to us! --- When we talk about the precious gospel of our Lord, --- we just "mouth" the words as just so many facts!! ---And we let ourselves get so stagnated when it comes to allowing our emotions play any part of our spiritual endeavor!! Now, please don't get me wrong; --- people who have known me long enough, can tell you that I don't go for all theoutlandish displays of emotionally charged "hoop-ti-la" seen in so many churches around the land where some of our denominational friends meet. --- But beloved, to be frank about it; --- I'm persuaded that we, as members of the Lord's church have reacted to "Pentecostalism" in such a way that we have somehow developed an emotional hang-up!! ---We have become soldiers at the cross, rather than soldiers of the cross!! --- I'm persuaded that many, if not most of us have become INSENSITIVE!! --- But, not only was insensitivity responsible for our Lord's suffering and death; --- But Also --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. Indifference: Crucified Jesus Christ!! Again, going back to (Mt. 27:36); --- "And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there." --- Who does this refer to? --- Of course, it refers to the rabble, the gawkers, the whole crowd!! --- Jeremiah asked; --- "Is it nothing to all you who pass this way?--- Look and see if there is any pain like my pain--!" (Lam. 1:12) Now, most of this crowd did not fight Jesus; --- They didn't drive the nails; --- They just simply observed Jesus!!And we can read about this same crowd over in (Lk. 23:35); --- "And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him,"; --- Notice again in (Vs. 48 of Lk. 23); --- "And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts." --- Now you can get the general picture concerning most of the crowd; --- (Vs. 49) tells about His friends; --- "And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things." --- But the main crowd, the mob, they were just standing around as if it were a 4th of July celebration, just observing!!; --- After a while though, when they seen that Jesus had died, their reaction was; --- "My, My! that's too bad!! --- They smote their breast and went home. Now, I'm not saying that these people were not impressed with Jesus and the events surrounding His death; --- They were impressed; --- They smote their breasts!! --- But it takes more than a pious gesture to save a soul!! --- Beloved, we need to wake up and realize that we live in a time and place, where every now and then you'll see some dear soul shed a tear over the thought of our Lord's suffering and death, perhaps as we sing that great hymn; --- "Kneel At The Cross"!! --- But sadly, and realistically, we're living in a time when, by and large people are indifferent to Jesus Christ, their hearts are hardened and they could care less!! --- The apostle Paul had this to say concerning these types in (Rom. 2:5); --- "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, --" --- And what would Jesus Himself have to say? --- We have but to look over in (Rev. 3:15-16); --- "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." --- And what does the Lord mean by this? --- He's telling the lukewarm, Christians of Laodicea; --- "Your attitude of indifference makes Me so sick, I could vomit you out of My mouth!!" --- INDIFFERENCE CRUCIFIED JESUS!! --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7. Cynicism: Crucified Jesus Christ!! The hellish list goes on, but we'll close with this. Look back in (Mt. 27:39-44); --- "And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, (blaspheming Him)wagging their heads and saying, --- 'You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! --- If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.' --- In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, --- 'He saved others; He cannot save Himself. --- He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. --- 'HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; --- for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'" --- The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words." --- These were the cynics, the skeptics!! Now, a cynic by definition, is a person who doubts the sincerity and motives of others; --- And displays his contemptand unbelief by sneers and sarcasm! --- A cynic is in the strictest sense, a pessimist! --- The word itself, "cynic", comesfrom the Greek; --- "kynikos", meaning dog like!! And these cynics mis-quoted and undermined every word Jesus had to say. --- Remember back in the earlier part of Jesus' ministry, where He drove all the money changers out of the templewith a scourge of cords?? (Jn. 2:14f) --- The Jews demanded that Jesus give a sign of His authority; --- And in (Vs. 19), Jesus said; --- "Destroy this temple, andin three days I will raise it up." --- He wasn't talking about THAT temple, but rather the temple of His body! (Vs.21) But not only did they mis-quote His words; --- They mocked His Deity!! --- They said; --- "IF you be the Son of God";Friends, there's no "IF" to it; --- That little word, "IF" will damn your soul, if you are not careful!! --- And they alsominimized His death; --- They said; --- "Save Yourself!!" --- They were outright and utter cynics!! --- And we live in thispresent age, in a nation cram-packed full of cynics and skeptics, don't we? --- People who know the price of everything,and the value of nothing!! --- Yes indeed, cynicism and skepticism crucified our dear Savior!!! Now let's come back and review; --- We've been talking about WHAT crucified Jesus!! --- We said; Self-righteousness ---- crucified Jesus Hypocrisy -------------- crucified Jesus Ignorance -------------- crucified Jesus Cowardness ----------- crucified Jesus Insensitivity ------------crucified Jesus Indifference ------------crucified Jesus Cynicism ----------------crucified Jesus And when we said that, we said; --- WE CRUCIFIED OUR LORD!!! --- For every one of those traits are in every one of us, to one degree or the other!! --- Who dares to deny it??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Alas, and did my Savior bleed, And did my Sovereign die; Would He devote that sacred head For such a worm as I?? Was it for crimes that I have done, He groaned upon the tree?? Amazing pity, grace unknown! And love beyond degree!! Was it for crimes that I have done, for which He agonized upon that tree?? --- Most certainly it was!! --- I crucified Jesus, just as surely as if I had been there; --- and it breaks my heart!! --- But I'm so grateful that He was willing to die for me; --- and for me, He did die!! --- And for YOU, He shed His pure sinless blood!! It was indeed our sins which nailed God's only Son to that wooden cross!! --- Every sin we commit, represents a splinter in His cross!! --- And it was our hands held the nails, and our hardened hearts were the hammer that drove those nails into His body!! --- YET, the Bible says; --- Paul says; --- The Spirit says in (Rom. 5:6-8); --- "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In memorial to our crucified Savior; Earl Wilburn Questions and remarks always most welcomed: ewilburn@austin.rr.com Please don't delete this from your files, as who knows that while you may not at this time be moved by these scriptures but perhaps in time you might want to refer back to this and come to know better the love of the Lord. --- ew
|
