On The Way to The Cross - Preaching The Cross

Luke 9:51, John 12:34

INTRO: Good morning church. Our text today is taken from Luke 9:51 and John 12:34. Let’s first look at Luke 9:51 – “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,” [NKJV]. Next in John 12:34 we read, “The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, `The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?''”.

When we read the four gospel records, it is evident almost from the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus was destined to die on the cross. We saw this last time as we examined sacrifice, and saw that the sacrifices under the Mosaic Law were only a shadow of the perfect sacrifice to come, Jesus Christ.

There are numerous prophetic indications of this event. These prophetic indications, well known to us, were also well known to the people of Jesus day. Yet at that time these indications were not fully understood.

We recognize that from the beginning of His earthly ministry He is destined to the cross. We also recognize that even before He came in human form He was destined to die as a sacrifice for our sins. However when Jesus spoke of His death, reactions were varied and sometimes what He said was misunderstood.

For example, His disciples were adamant that such a thing should not befall Him. The people of that day were certainly confused about the Messiah and as we see in our reading of John 12:34 they believed that “Christ remains forever”. The passages they might have had in mind are Psalm 110:4; Isaiah 9:7; Ezekiel 37:25; and Daniel 7:14. In all of these, the everlasting dominion of the Messiah is implied or stated. This morning as we continue this series we are going to be looking at, “on the way to the cross”.

I. LET US BEGIN BY LOOKING AT PROPHECY...

A. As we do so, keep in mind that the people of His day did not understand the idea of a crucified messiah. The people’s idea was that the law said He’d abide forever and that He would establish an earthly kingdom over which He would reign for eternity. They did not comprehend that the Christ could be crucified.

1. We begin in Genesis 3:15 – Many believe this is the earliest prophetic saying about the ultimate death of Christ. Here God is speaking to Satan after the transgression of Adam and Eve and He says: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” - “you shall bruise His heel”. Satan would bruise the heel of the coming Messiah but it is not a mortal wound. On the other hand the Messiah, the woman’s seed, would deliver a mortal wound to the head of Satan. Satan was responsible for taking Jesus to the cross because of our sin. This was the bruising of the heel. Not a mortal wound, yet from the physical perspective it was, but what Jesus did on the third day was to rise from the dead.
2. Now lets look in Isaiah 53:12, in this chapter concerning Christ, we read, “Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” – Keeping that in mind, turn with me to Luke 22:37 – where Jesus says “For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: `And He was numbered with the transgressors.' For the things concerning Me have an end.” - “numbered with the transgressors”
3. Look at the first part of the verse of Daniel 9:26 – “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;…” Jesus taught His disciples in Mark 8:31 – “that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,…” - “Messiah shall be cut off”
4. In the book of Psalms there are numerous prophecies. In Psalm 22:16-18 – “16. For dogs have surrounded Me; The assembly of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17. I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18. They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”

a. We can see this in Matthew 27:35 – “Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: "They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.''”
b. Also in John 20:25, this is what is written about Thomas, “The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord.'' But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.''”
c. Next we read in verse 27 “Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.'” - “they pierced...”
d. We read in Psalm 34:20 – “He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken.” And in then John 19:36 – “For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, "Not one of His bones shall be broken.''” - “not one of them is broken”

5. Let’s compare Psalm 40:6-8 - “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the Book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.''”

a. With Hebrews 10:7-10 - “7. Then I said, `Behold, I have come in the volume of the book it is written of Me to do Your will, O God.' '' 8. Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them'' (which are offered according to the law), 9. then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.'' He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” –
b. “I delight to do thy will”. Marvelous prophesy. Hundreds of years before Christ came in the flesh; specific things are said concerning the death of Christ. Those prophesies were then referred to by Christ and the New Testament writers to confirm that He is the fulfillment.

6. In Psalm 41:9 – we read something which to me is one of the sadist of the prophetic references, “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” … Of whom does this prophesy speak? Jesus says in John 13:11,18 – “11. For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, "You are not all clean.''' Then in verse 18, "I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, `He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.'”
7. We turn next to Zechariah 12:10 – “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

a. In the New Testament John 19:33-37 – “33. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. 35. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. 36. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, "Not one of His bones shall be broken.'' 37. And again another Scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced.''”
b. “whom they have pierced” The way to the cross was strewn with prophetic notice!

B. From our point of view in retrospect, these things seem so clear, so obvious. These were also well known to the disciples in Jesus’ day – they were known to be Messianic in nature. Yet the people had in their minds that the “Christ abideth forever”, and they applied this to a physical expectation rather then spiritual. They did not grasp that the Christ would be crucified.

1. From the very beginning we see that Jesus is on the way to the cross, and it was not a question of would He be sacrificed... but when.
2. Would you open your bibles to Acts 2:23 – In this memorable sermon on the day of Pentecost following the resurrection of Christ, the apostle Peter and others speak concerning the events in Jerusalem on that fateful day “Him, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;” - As we look at this historically you and I are not surprised. We know about the prophecies and we look at them with a fuller understanding then did the people of that time.
3. We know that what happened in Jerusalem on that Friday was the fulfillment of prophecy. Can you imagine how staggering this must have been for them to realize that they had crucified the Messiah? The sermon that day continues and when they come to this realization they say, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” The response was they were told “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;”.
4. Later in the book of Acts we read about this man from Ethiopia who asked Philip for help in understanding some scripture. Acts 8:32-35 – “32. The place in the Scripture which he read was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so He opened not His mouth. 33. In His humiliation His justice was taken away. And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.'' 34. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?'' 35. Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.” - “of whom does the prophet say this”. All of these prophecies bring us to Jesus Christ and the crucifixion.

II. THEN, THERE WAS WHAT JOHN THE BAPTIST SAID We looked at this awhile ago but turn with me now to John 1:29,36 – “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

A. “…the Lamb of God”. If we had no other information, what John says here might be somewhat obscure to our modern western mind.

1. But as we realized from our look at sacrifice, to the people of that day the mention of a lamb and sin would be very clear. They knew about sacrifice concerning a lamb and sin.
2. Here we find Jesus at the very beginning of His ministry and here is the indication He is going to die as a sacrifice.

B. Let’s look at some verses in Genesis 22:7-8,13. Here we have the incident involving Abraham, and his son Isaac. We know God told Abraham to take his only son to a place He would tell him and Abraham was to offer Isaac there as a burnt offering. We also know that God had promised that though Abraham’s seed God would make a great nation.

1. “7. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!'' And he said, "Here I am, my son.'' And he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?'' And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.'' And the two of them went together.”
2. Going to verse 13 – “Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.”
3. Every time I have read this I have wondered if these words “God will provide himself a lamb...” were prophetic? Perhaps, I really don’t know, yet I do know that what God did for Abraham in providing him a sacrifice, He has done for all humanity! The lamb God provided was Jesus Christ. "Behold the lamb of God".
4. We studied 1st Peter recently, and in these verses are some of the noblest scripture in the entire Bible. In these are references to Christ, the Suffering Servant, as depicted in Isaiah 53. – 1st Peter 2:21-24 “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth''; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.”

III. ON THE WAY TO THE CROSS...

A. There were three and a half years of “ministry”.

1. 3 ½ years filled with touching people’s lives. Peter’s mother-in-law who was ill, the widow whose son was being carried out for burial, over and again we see how He touches the lives of people.
2. 3 ½ years of teaching about the kingdom of God. Think of all the parables about the kingdom.
3. 3 ½ years of challenging contemporary views of religion. This religion we know was no longer the pure Law of Moses but had been changed by man.
4. 3 ½ years of growing criticism from spiritual leaders of His day.

B. It was also three and a half years sprinkled with comments about His death. His own comments. Let’s look at some of these.

1. Matthew 16:21-22 – “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!''” - We see Peter immediately rejected such an idea. His disciples refused to accept what Jesus showed them about His coming death on the cross.
2. John 2:18-22 – “18. So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?'' 19. Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'' 20. Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?'' 21. But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.” - Again, words prophetic and misunderstood. Words that toward the end of His life that would be remembered as an accusation against Him... yet, He never was speaking of that building, that temple of stone. He was speaking of His body.
3. John 3:14-15 – “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”. - Words so easy for us to understand in retrospect ... but words that were so unwanted then.
4. John 12:32-34 – “32. "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.'' 33. This He said, signifying by what death He would die. 34. The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, `The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?''” – Here they understood but refuted as incomprehensible—a crucified Messiah!
5. Luke 22:19-20 – “And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'' Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” - “my body...my blood” “which is shed for you”. So clear this is to us.

C. Jesus was always on the way to the cross. There was always the cross “looming” in Jesus’ future.

1. Also in Luke chapter 9 verse 51 – “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,” - We notice the words “when the time had come...” What we need to understand is that God had a time line. There was a schedule to keep. It is not given to us to understand the time line or the schedule, but what we can understand is that there was a time when it was the right time for Jesus to die on the cross.
2. From the beginning (yes, even from before time began) this was an appointment Jesus would keep. On the way to the cross? Folks, Jesus was always on the way to the cross!

CLOSE: I cannot imagine living and working usefully with such a thing as crucifixion looming over me. I tell you, folks, I would be a “basket case”. Jesus knew that this event would benefit all of humanity ... He knew it was necessary for Him to die as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. He willingly went to the cross in the knowledge that He would be raised the third day. That did not alter the horror of the cross ... but it made it worthwhile to Him.

He knew that the way of the cross leads home—just as it does for us. There is no way to the Father but by the way of the cross, by way of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. There is no way home but by the way of the blood of our Savior. In the marvelous wisdom of God, a plan was devised by which you and I can know that we are cleansed by the blood of Christ.

This marvelous plan of God involves death, burial and resurrection. In baptism this resurrection become ours personally, for we enter into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ when we are buried in the waters of baptism, and through faith in God are raised to walk in newness of life. You will find this recorded in Romans 6:3-5. The way of the cross still leads home.

It is one thing to think of “on the way to the cross” as an historic event, but there is something else there for us personally. Don’t see this only as a lesson, though it is one. If we see it only as a lesson, we will miss the point of the cross. This applies to us… to you and me. We are offered the opportunity of the cleansing, of forgiveness because of the sacrifice of Jesus in atonement for our sins. He died in our place. It is up to us to respond to that. It is up to you to accept the offer that is made for cleansing and forgiveness by making His sacrifice yours, which you do when you are baptized.

God extends the invitation “come”, to everyone. To those who are in need of accepting the way, and to those who need to find their way back. If you are in this assembly and there is any way in which we can give you assistance, we invite you to come while we stand together and while we sing.

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Adopted from Sermon by: Cecil A. Hutson