"COME TO THE CROSS!"
Written and preached by David P. Nolte
LUKE 23:33-47
Legends about King Arthur, Queen Guenevere, Sir Lancelot and the odious
Mordred, Arthur's nefarious nephew, abound. They have been told in poetry,
song and narrative. They have been debated and disputed, doubted and defended.
A number of years ago the movie Camelot was popular. In it Sir Lancelot
and Queen Guenevere are caught in an indiscreet encounter by the scheming
Mordred. Lancelot escapes but Guenevere is captured. She is tried and found
guilty of treason against the King and the Kingdom. She is sentenced to
death by burning at the stake. The day of her execution arrives, she is
led to the stake, and people come from miles around to witness this historic
moment. King Arthur is beside himself with grief. He is torn between maintaining
the integrity of law by upholding the penalty assessed by jury and his
undying love for this woman he affectionately called "Jenny." Mordred presses
the issue and the King's advisor urges Arthur to give the signal for death.
Come to the cross. You will see there one found guilty by His peers of
treason and blasphemy. You will see an anger-sickened, blood-thirsty crowd
demanding death. You will see the heart of the Father torn by the demand
of law and the appeal of love. Come to the cross.
SEE A DIVINE CHOICE:
Let me say first that the cross was not an unexpected development.
It was not a glitch in God's plans. It was not an unforeseen complication.
It was not a clever coup on the part of the enemy.
But when faced with the sin of man and the just demand of righteousness,
God had a choice to make. Angels and demons alike watched the Divine drama
unfold. What would God the Father do? What would Jesus the Son do?
Just think about the Divine choice:
As the Son of God had to make it:
Would He rebel against the plan at the last minute as the horror of the
cross dawned fully on His consciousness?
Would He, as He said He could, appeal to His Father for more than twelve
legions of angels to rescue Him? Matthew
26:53.
Would He bear the stripes, carry the cross, assume our guilt, and lay down
His life?
Those are, for us, moot questions: He submitted His will to that of the
Father; He forbore being rescued from the cross; He bore our sins in His
body on the tree, and He willingly gave His life an atonement for sin.
That was His Divine choice.
As the heavenly Father had to make it:
Would He remove the bitter cup or would He extend it, filled with the filth
and agony of our sins?
Would He maintain the integrity of His decree, or set it aside and forfeit
His right to judge?
Would He give up His Son to the cross, or would He give us up to hell?
Again, moot questions: He extended the cup, He fulfilled His law, He forsook
His Only Begotten on the cross. That was His Divine choice.
In light of that Divine choice, think
about the choice you and I must make!
Will we die to our sins, or in them?
Will we take up our cross and follow him?
Will we crucify the flesh and its lusts?
Will we be crucified to the world and the world to us?
That is our Divine choice!
King Arthur had a choice to make. Mordred articulated it: "Your Majesty.
Why not ignore the verdict and pardon her? But, you can't do that, can
you? Let her die, your life is over; let her live, your life's a fraud.
Kill the Queen or kill the law!" Would he live by his commitment to law
or be swayed by his love for his Queen? God had a choice to make but He
was in perfect control and had made the choice long before Calvary. Having
made the choice, nothing would swerve him from it. Come to the cross and
see the Divine choice and then:
SEE A DIVINE COMMITMENT:
Listen to the guarantee of God's commitment:
God said, "for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember
their sins no more." Hebrews
8:12. That was His commitment. He would do it, not He might
do it and He would do it through the cross!
Isaiah, speaking prophetically 740 years before the event, captured the
spirit of the Savior who said, "I gave My back to those who strike Me,
and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face
from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord God helps Me, therefore, I
am not disgraced; therefore, I have set My face like flint, and I know
that I shall not be ashamed." Isaiah
50:6, 7. Can't
you see the unswerving commitment to go to the cross?
God was committed to:
Destroy sin while delivering the sinner.
Reconcile those estranged in sin.
Maintain His integrity while manifesting His mercy.
Carry out the precept of law and answer the pleading of grace.
Redeem those in slavery to the evil one.
Jesus was committed to the salvation of the lost so He resolutely set His
face to go to Jerusalem, the place of His cross. LUKE
9:51.
God calls us to a life of commitment:
To service and ministry
To sacrifice and cross bearing
To soul winning and nurturing.
To obedience and surrender.
Though King Arthur was committed to his Round Table and to the Kingdom,
he could not bring himself to carry out the law he had decreed. Whether
he would have given the actual signal to carry out the execution or pardon
his beloved became immaterial when Lancelot and his troops rode in and
rescued the forlorn Guenevere. At a later meeting, she said to Arthur that
she hoped one day to find forgiveness in his eyes. Come to the cross; there
you will certainly find forgiveness in God's eyes. You will see a Divine
choice, you will see Divine commitment and you will
SEE A DIVINE COMPASSION:
While others would have used every resource at their disposal to
lash out at their tormentors, Jesus showed compassion.
Notice in particular:
His compassion to His mother when He gave her into the keeping of John
the apostle.
His compassion to the crucifiers when He cried out for the forgiveness
of their sin.
His compassion to the repentant thief to whom He promised paradise.
God's heart is still kindly disposed to you; God's love has not diminished;
God's compassions remain sure:
As Moses said to Israel, "for the Lord your God is a compassionate God;
He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your
Fathers which He swore to them." Deuteronomy
4:31.
Nehemiah, confessing the sins of the people, said, "but Thou art a God
of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding
in lovingkindness; and Thou didst not forsake them." Nehemiah
9:17.
David said, "Thou, o Lord, wilt not withhold Thy compassion from me; Thy
lovingkindness and Thy truth will continually preserve me." Psalms
40:11.
He said, "just as a Father has compassion on His children, so the Lord
has compassion on those who fear Him." Psalms
103:13.
Jesus, seeing the multitudes, felt compassion for them, "because they were
distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd." Matthew
9:36.
Would that His heart of compassion touch ours! That won't mean asoftening
on sin; it won't mean condoning
wrongdoing; it won't meanpandering
to the flesh! But it will mean
A gentleness with the sinner.
A spirit less quick to criticize and condemn, and one more quick to encourage
and restore.
A heart less vain in its own self-admiration and one that is more humble
and generous in regard to the estimation we accord to others.
Guenevere hoped to find compassion and forgiveness as she looked into Arthur's
eyes, but his Round Table was split; his hopes dashed; his heart broken;
his marriage over and though Arthur loved her, he sent her away, saying,
not unkindly, "You must go, Jenny." Many come to God hoping to find tolerance
of sin; God will never tolerate sin. Some come hoping to find God indifferent
with respect to transgressions. But God is not indifferent. Many come hoping
to find ignorance on God's part, "Does God know? Is there knowledge with
the most high?" But God is not ignorant for "the eyes of the Lord are in
every place, watching the evil and the good." Proverbs
15:3. But those
who come with a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart will find forgiveness.
Those who come in sin but loathing it will find a Savior. Those who come
in honesty and humility will find One Who will in no wise cast them out
saying, "you must go." Oh no! Not, "Go!" but it is always, "Come!" Come
to the cross -- see God's Divine choice to save you, see God's Divine commitment
to ransom you, see God's Divine compassion even at the expense of His Most
Beloved and Only Begotten Son. Come to the cross -- come as you are --
come out of your sin and darkness and defeat and despair - come out of
your shame and failure and loss - come out of your fear and confusion and
dread - come today - come!