This sermon was preached by Pastor Paul Mims at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Cherry Log, Georgia on Sunday, March 24, 2013.

Matthew 21:1-11
It began in eternity before the foundation of the world. It was first mentioned in the first book of the Bible. In Genesis 3:15 is a foreshadowing of the cross. The purpose for the call of Abraham was to provide a nation and a family through which the Redeemer would come. For hundreds of years the prophets foretold his coming. And finally, on the timetable of heaven, he came. He lived among us and taught us how to live. In just three short years of ministry he interpreted life more deeply than any philosopher had or has ever done. Then, on the day we call Palm Sunday, he presented himself to the world to fulfill his purpose. He moved humbly and majestically to the cross in his last week of life that we call his “Passion.” The way to the cross had stretched from eternity where this decision was made to that awesome time two thousand years ago when the crowds cried both “Hosanna” and “Crucify” within the same week. It is the same thing that the crowds of the world are still shouting about him. We on this Lord’s Day shout in our hearts with the Jerusalem crowd of Palm Sunday “Hosanna.” And there is a vast part of the world today that wants him crucified again. But the journey to the cross is one that every human being has to make to be made whole.

I. IT IS A JOURNEY THAT SOME DO NOT WANT TO MAKE.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:23, “…we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Many of the Jews of that day and this see the cross as a scandal which could not be associated with their Messiah. Others recognized Him as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah and the fulfillment of all the prophecies that had been given to Israel. Those who viewed the cross as a scandal could not make the journey. There were those of the Gentiles of that day and this that view the cross as foolishness. In their intellectualism they reasoned that man did not need redemption; and even if he did, that was not the way to do it.

Those who viewed man as not needing redemption have not made the journey to the cross.
C.S. Lewis said, “Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It has nothing to say to people who do not feel that they need any forgiveness.”

As Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday there was the shout, ‘Hosanna!” which means “Lord, save us!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!”
It was probably the Galilean people who cried this. They were ones who were with him when he raised Lazarus from the dead. They had followed him down from Galilee because they were intrigued by his miracles. When the miracle of overcoming death was seen they were shouting. Later on in the week, the Judean people spurred on the the religious leaders of the Temple cried, “Crucify Him!”

They did not see the sign of Zechariah 9:9 on Palm Sunday, “Do not be afraid, O daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

To one group the cross spoke powerfully. To the other group it has nothing to say. The same is true today. Some do not want to make the journey to the cross. Some here in this place have never it. You might think that you don’t need to come to the foot of the cross. But you will carry the full load of your sin all alone. You will have to answer to God as to why you have rejected his plan for your redemption. He wants to cleanse you from that which separates you and him. He was to repair that image of him in you that was marred by sin. He want to make you whole again and prepare you to be admitted into life abundant here and eternal life hereafter.

The Roman Emperor, Julian, came to power after Constantine has Christianized the empire. He lived from 331 to 363 A.D. He wanted to restore pagan worship and undo everything Constantine had done.
Julian had a young aid who was a Christian. One day, Julian asked him, “What do you suppose your friend, Jesus, is doing today?” The young aid answered, “Sir, since Jesus is a carpenter, it may be that even today he is taking time off from building mansions for the faithful to build a coffin for you.”
Before the day ended, the Emperor was fatally wounded by Persian soldiers. As the lay dying, it is said that Julian gathered a handful of dirt from the battlefield that was stained with his own blood and flinging it up toward heaven cried, “O Galilean, you have conquered!” Julian never made the journey to the cross.

II. THE JOURNEY TO THE CROSS IS A JOURNEY THAT MANY HAVE MADE.

The biblical interpreters of Jesus did make the journey.
Paul did. He said, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.”

Peter denied him when he went to the cross, but later made his own personal journey there. He said in 1 Peter 1:18-21; “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from your empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”

John made the journey to the cross for himself. He wrote, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (I John 1:5-7).

John also wrote, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! (Revelation 5:12).

There is an old Russian proverb that says, “He who has this disease called Jesus Christ will never be cured!”

When the heart of Jesus beats in us – we have been to the cross.

Sometimes the gift of life comes as a great cost. Chester Szuber found it to be so. The youngest of his six children, a 22 year old nursing student named Patti had been killed in a car accident and it was realized that her heart could be transplanted into his chest.

The Associated Press reported that Patti’s death occurred on a mountain road in Tennessee while she was on a trip with a friend before returning to nursing school. They were riding along in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the car hit a wall and rolled over several times. The driver was drunk and escaped with minor injuries. Patti was airlifted to a hospital. Her family rushed to Tennessee from Michigan to sit by her side. In a few days she was dead.

Patti had indicated that she wanted to donate her organs and her family agreed. But they had a decision to make – to give her organs to society or to specify someone on the waiting list whom they knew. Her father had been on the list for almost four years. He had undergone three heart surgeries and two angioplasties in the past twenty years. Tests showed that the transplant would be compatible. Five hours and fifty-one minutes after Patti’s heart was removed, it was beating in her father’s chest.
By her death, he was given life. That is the way it is for all who make the journey to the cross. Jesus’ heart begins to beat in us.

III. THE JOURNEY TO THE CROSS IS ONE YOU CAN MAKE TODAY.

When you look at the cross it should make you feel loved. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

When you come to the cross you are gripped by the power of God’s love. It is an awesome thing that such a place could speak of love. But it does. Also those who come to the cross feel saved. There is where life is transformed. To be saved from the power and penalty of sin is to be saved to a life of meaning and purpose.

The cross is a source of power in the life of the believer. It causes us to believe that God is with us because the transforming power of the Holy Spirit defeats our old nature and emboldens our new nature.
John Stott says, “Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin that I am bearing, your curse that I am suffering, your debt that I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Faced with this dilemma, the moralist must either renounce his own righteousness and thankfully embrace Christ’s or proudly cling to his own and repudiate God’s gracious offer in Christ.”
One evening in a Billy Graham crusade in Norfolk, I heard Johnny Cash tell how he made the journey to the cross. His fame had brought him great wealth but it also brought him a life out of control. He had to take “pep pills” so he could be up for the demands of his audiences. He soon became addicted to amphetamines. He was arrested and caught with more than 1,000 pills in his pockets. He lost weight. He was in a severe car accident and broke his nose and knocked out four teeth. Life was going downhill.
Then one day he was sitting in a pew of a small church in his home town. The pastor finished his sermon and asked the congregation to make things right with God. Johnny stood up and walked down to the front and knelt at the altar. In that moment God saved Johnny Cash and turned his life around. That happened when he came to the cross.

There is one question that I must ask each of us today. Have you made the journey to the cross?
The old hymn, “I am coming to the cross” expressed it like this:
I am coming to the cross; I am poor and weak and blind;
I am counting all but dross; I shall salvation find.
Long my heart has sighed for thee; long has evil dwelt within;
Jesus sweetly speaks to me, “I will cleanse you from all sin.”
I am trusting, Lord, in thee; Dear Lamb of Calvary,
Save me, Jesus, save me now. (W. H. McDonald).

PRAISE BE TO HIS NAME!