The Old Rugged
Cross
On a hill far away stood
an old rugged
cross,
The emblem of suffering
and shame,
And I love that old cross
where the dearest and
best
For a world of lost
sinners was
slain.
Chorus:
So I'll cherish the old
rugged
cross,
Till my trophies at last I
lay down;
I will cling to the old
rugged
cross,
And exchange it some day
for a
crown.
O that old rugged cross,
so despised by the
world,
Has a wondrous attraction
for me,
For the dear Lamb of God
left His glory
above,
To bear it to dark
Calvary.
In the old rugged cross,
stained with blood so
divine,
A wondrous beauty I
see;
For 'twas on that cross
Jesus suffered and
died,
To pardon and sanctify
me.
To the old rugged cross I
will ever be
true,
Its shame and reproach
gladly
bear;
Then He'll call me some
day to my home far
away,
Where His glory forever
I'll
share.
Isaiah 53:3 He is despised
and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted
with grief: and we hid as it were our
faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him
not.
4 Surely he hath borne our
griefs, and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for
our transgressions, he was
bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was
upon him; and with his
stripes we are
healed.
6 All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned
every one to his own way;
and the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us
all.
7 He was oppressed, and he
was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth: he is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and
as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb, so he openeth not
his
mouth.
8 He was taken from prison
and from judgment: and who
shall declare his
generation? for he was cut off out of the land
of the living: for the
transgression of my people was he
stricken.
A Man
Must Die for a Man's Sin
We’re in a day and time
when much of Christ's work in
redemption is taken for
granted and the suffering that He went
through is taken too
lightly. We believe it’s time well spent for us
to once again look face to
face at the suffering He actually
went through to bring you
and me the deliverance we enjoy
today. We spent some time
recently going through the Gospels
and lining out the walk of
Christ from Gethsemane to
the Cross.
Some time back, we read an
article written by a Christian
medical doctor that really
stirred our heart. In this article he
said, "I realize that I
had taken the crucifixion for granted all
these years. I had grown
calloused to its horrors by an easy
familiarity of its grim
details, and it occurred to me that, as a
physician, I had not even
been interested enough, even
though I claim salvation
by the Cross of Jesus Christ, in the
suffering of Christ to
study to my own satisfaction and find
what actually caused
Christ's
death."
We must remember some
things as we study. The four
Gospel writers–Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John–didn’t go
into great detail, and
there was a reason for it. In those
days,
scourging and crucifixion
were very common. It was nothing
to walk down the road
toward the city and see someone
suffering crucifixion on a
cross. However, each Gospel writer
gave some detail that
points out the terrible
suffering.
As we study about Christ's
physical suffering, hold your
mind on the thought of how
awful sin is. What a price had to
be paid! How much God
loves us, and how much Christ loves
us, that He would stand
sufferings beyond that which any
human body ever stood up
to or ever will stand up to. I know
that men have suffered
great things, but none has had to drink
of the cup that He drank
of, because there was so much in the
contents of that cup. We
want to answer the question of what
the body of Jesus endured
during those hours of torture. None
of the Gospels give the
entire pattern in sequence, but if you’ll
put them together, you’ll
get the whole walk of Christ
from
Gethsemane to
Calvary.
Gethsemane is where His
torture really began.
There’s where He began to pay the price
for our redemption.
There’s where the physical suffering first
began to be laid upon Him
as He bore the sins of the whole
world.
In the
Garden of Gethsemane
We begin our study in Luke
22:39-40: "And he came out
[after He gave the
disciples the Lord's supper], and went, as
he was wont, to the mount
of Olives; and his disciples also
followed him. And when he
was at the place, he said unto
them, Pray that ye enter
not into
temptation."
Christ was beginning to
fall under one of the greatest
powers of temptation that
man could ever know. As He got to
the place of actually
bringing Himself into submission to God's
will, truly submitting to
laying down His life and suffering the
terrible death that we
will study about, He began to
be
tempted. Even though His
spirit was willing, the flesh was
weak.
The same thing is true
with every Christian.
Every
Christian is willing to go
all the way with Jesus, but we have
a flesh that’s weak.
Second Corinthians 12:9 states that
Christ's strength is made
strong in our weakness. Our
weakness is in the flesh.
Jesus had the same kind of flesh
that you and I have, and
no one's flesh desires to suffer.
There’s just something
about our fleshly bodies that if we
can
escape pain and misery, if
we can detour any real suffering
we’ll go around
it.
"And he was withdrawn from
them about a stone's cast,
and kneeled down, and
prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be
willing, remove this cup
from me; nevertheless not my will, but
thine, be done" (verses
41-42). Great suffering began
righthere.
"Remove this cup from me" was one of the prayers
Jesus did not get
answered.
God in Heaven knew He was
suffering under great stress
because He dispatched an
angel right out of Heaven to
strengthen Him. It’s
encouraging to know that if we’ll be
true to God, no matter
what it costs Heaven to give us
strength and give us the
victory, we can have the victory to do
what God would have us
do.
"And there appeared an
angel unto him from heaven,
strengthening him. And
being in an agony he prayed more
earnestly . . ." (verses
43-44). Agony means great mental or
physical pain. We believe
Paul helps with this in Hebrews
5:7-8.
Many people think that
Jesus was afraid to die. Friend, Jesus
didn’t fear physical death
any more than any real child of
God fears physical death.
There was something that He
feared, but it wasn’t
physical death. "Who in the days of his
[Jesus'] flesh, when he
had offered up prayers
and
supplications with strong
crying and tears unto him that was
able to save him from
death, and was heard in that he feared;
Though he were a Son, yet
learned he obedience by
the
things he
suffered."
The cup that He was going
to have to drink of---was having
to die as a lost sinner
dies without God. He was going to have
to submit Himself unto the
power of eternal death, separation
from God, facing eternity
without God, with God's face hidden
from Him. It wasn’t
physical death that He feared–it was
spiritual
death.
Every child of God has
more fear in his heart of spiritual
death than he does of
physical death. If you’ll be afraid of
failing God, if you’ll
fear the thought of going into a lost
eternity without God, you
will not have to fear physical death
in any
way.
Luke was a medical doctor,
and he wrote many things that
John, Matthew, and Mark
didn’t mention, because he
understood medical terms.
Luke was the only one who
mentioned the fact that
Jesus' sweat became as drops of
blood. Luke wrote (verse
44), "And being in an agony he
prayed more earnestly: and
his sweat was as it were great
drops of blood falling
down to the ground." What agony!
What
suffering!
Too many times, all we can
see in Jesus' suffering is a
whip and a sword, but
there was a deeper agony. Certainly,
the whip and the sword
were bad enough, but there was a
deeper agony–agony of
soul. Isaiah wrote that He laid down
His soul as a sacrifice
(Isaiah
53:10).
There was an agony of
heart and mind and soul---and as
He began to pray, He was
under such great pressure that His
blood began to come out in
His sweat. Medical documents
state the fact that there
are cases on record, though very rare,
that men put under strain,
in great pain and great agony,
have
actually had blood come
out with their perspiration. Medical
science says that the body
can be under such pressure, such
agony, and such mental
stress that the small blood vessels
that run close to the
sweat glands burst and the blood runs
out
through the sweat glands.
The Word of God lets us know that
Christ began to fall under
such agony. What troubled Him?
Your sins! My sins! The
sins of every person that was
ever born---or will be
born!
Medical science says that
the process of being
under
great mental stress was
alone enough…to produce marked
weakness and possible
shock, but that was just the start.
"And when he rose up from
prayer, and was come to his
disciples, he found them
sleeping for sorrow" (verse 45).
There are two ways a
burden will “hit us”. If we’re are not
as
spiritual as we ought to
be, it will put us to sleep! If we are
spiritual, it will cause
us to
pray.
We follow the sequence in
John, Chapter 18. Now, it was
the middle of the night.
"When Jesus had spoken these
words, he went forth with
his disciples over the brook Cedron,
where was a garden, into
which he entered, and his disciples.
And Judas also, which
betrayed him, knew the place: for
Jesus ofttimes resorted
thither with his disciples" (verses 1-2).
The Bible says that Jesus
and His disciples spent “many a
Night” in this garden,
because the Son of man had nowhere to
lay His head. Judas knew
where the garden was.
Judas had been dismissed
from “the feet-washing service”
after Jesus washed his
feet and was so kind to him and then
told him to go do what he
was going to do, quickly.
Judas
walked quite a few miles
back into the city and there sold the
Savior for thirty pieces
of silver. He brought the crowd back
because he knew the
place.
This is the reason that
apostates can hurt so badly. They
know the ways, the
manners, the customs, and the places of
the saints. This is why an
apostate---one who ceases to follow
Christ, is a worse enemy
to the true cause of Christ than
the
out-and-out worldly man
who never knew God. The apostate
knows the ways of the
saints, and he knows how to attack.
"Judas then, having
received a band of men and officers
from the chief priests and
Pharisees, cometh thither
with lantern, and weapons"
(verse 3). Every time we read that, we think
how blind men are in sin.
It’s kind of strange---to go out with
lanterns and torches and
weapons after the Light of the world
and the Prince of
Peace.
"Jesus therefore, knowing
all things that should come
upon him [He knows the end
from the beginning, and notice
how He acted knowing all
the things that should come upon
Him], went forth, and said
unto them, Whom seek ye? Then
they answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them,
I am he. And Judas also,
which betrayed Him, stood with
them" (verses 4-5). Judas
was once Christ's disciple and
stood with Him, but now he
was standing with a group that
had come to kill Jesus.
Let’s open our eyes a little bit.
We can watch where people
stand “when truth is at stake” and
know whether they’re true
disciples or apostates. Judas had
stood with Jesus, one of
the first twelve that He had chosen,
but here he was, with a
band of bloodthirsty Roman outlaws
that “couldn’t care less”
for anything. Crucifixion meant
nothing to them. They did
it day after
day.
"As soon then as he had
said unto them, I am he, they
went backward, and fell to
the ground" (verse 6). There’s
power in that: "I am."
When God sent Moses to deliver His
people out of Egypt, Moses
asked, "Who will I tell them sent
me?" God said to tell
them, "I AM THAT I AM" (Exodus
3:14).
When Jesus opened His
mouth and said, "I am," they fell
back as dead people on the
ground. I think that’s recorded in
the Bible to let us know
“beyond the shadow of a doubt” that He
gave Himself up willingly.
They had no power! The devil has
no power against the Son
of God and the power of His Word.
He didn’t strike them, but
there was enough power in the "I
am" that they fell
backward upon the ground as dead men. He
spoke them to the ground,
and He could just as easily have
“spoken them to hell”,
without another opportunity to get right,
but He didn’t do
it.
"Then asked he them again,
Whom seek ye? And they
said, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus answered, I have told you that
I am he: if therefore ye
seek me, let these go their way"
(verses 7-8). And they let
them go. Jesus was in command!
He didn’t beg them. He
told them what to do! He wasn’t at
their mercy. They were at
His mercy! Let’s stay right with the
Bible---as it is! People
get the idea that the devil just comes in
and “takes over”. The
devil doesn’t come in and take over
anything! God’s in
control, and His Word will be fulfilled as
He said it would. "That
the saying might be fulfilled, which he
spake, Of them which thou
gavest me have I lost none" (verse
9).
"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" (verse
10). Historians agree that Peter
was not after Malchus. He
was after Judas. However, he was
not a swordsman. He was a
fisherman---and he
couldn’t
“guide a sword” as good as
some
people.
This was before Pentecost.
It is taught by some people,
that the disciples were
born-again men before Pentecost, but
truly born-again people
don’t “act like that’! The
world was still under
the legal dispensation and the Gospel was just
breaking forth.
The price of redemption hadn’t been paid, and
the Holy Spirit
hadn’t yet been given. So, when Judas led the
group out
there, I can see Peter saying, "Why, you dirty
devil! You worked
with us for three years! Jesus fed you and
clothed you and
made you everything that you are, and now will
you stand
right there with that
group of bloodthirsty men? I'll fix you!" But
he missed Judas and took
off the high priest's servant's ear.
(Luke recorded that Jesus
put the ear back and healed
it.)
"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? Then the band
and the captain and officers of the
Jews took Jesus, and bound
him. And led him away to Annas
first; for he was
father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the
high
priest that same year. Now
Caiaphas was he, which gave
counsel to the Jews, that
it was expedient that one man
should die for the people"
(verses
11-14).
In
the Palace of the High Priest
"And Simon Peter followed
Jesus, and so did
another
disciple [John]: that
disciple was known unto the high priest,
and went in with Jesus
into the palace of the high priest. But
Peter stood at the door
without. Then went out that other
disciple, which was known
unto the high priest, and spake
unto her that kept the
door, and brought in Peter. Then saith
the damsel that kept the
door unto Peter, Art thou not also one
of this man's disciples?
He saith, I am not. And the servants
and officers stood there,
who had made a fire of coals; for it
was cold: and they warmed
themselves: and Peter stood with
them, and warmed himself"
(verses
15-18).
Peter was so angry with
Judas for what he had done that,
according to history, he
was ready to cut his head off, but he
turned right around within
an hour and denied the Lord
himself. You’ll notice
that the Scripture says that Peter
stood with them, the same
bloodthirsty crew that he had been
so stirred at Judas for
standing
with!
Paul said to let every one
that thinketh he standeth take
heed lest he fall (1
Corinthians 10:12). It’s very easy for us to
become very stirred with
what someone else does, but not a
one of us knows what is
ahead of us. Peter never intended to
deny Jesus. However, if a
Christian allows himself to get in
the wrong place with the
wrong crowd, it’s very easy
to
compromise.
"The high priest then
asked Jesus of His disciples, and of
His doctrine. Jesus
answered him, I spake openly to the
world; I even taught in
the synagogue, and in the temple,
whither the Jews always
resort; and in secret have I said
nothing" (verse 20). He
said that because they were trying to
prove that He was setting
up a secret society, intending to
take over the Roman
Empire.
"Why askest thou me? ask
them which heard me, what I
have said unto them:
Behold, they know what I said. And
when he had thus spoken,
one of the officers which stood by
struck Jesus with the palm
of his hand, saying, Answerest
thou the high priest so?
Jesus answered him, If I have spoken
evil, bear witness of the
evil: but if well, why smitest
thou
me?" (John 18:21-23.)
Little by little, Isaiah's prophecy is
fulfilled. He answered
truthfully, but the servant was stirred
because of the pressure of
the hour, and he smote Him. When
that one hit Him, it
stirred up something. They all took the
liberty to slap Him in the
face, as we find recorded in Luke
22:63-65: "And the men
that held Jesus mocked him,
and
smote him, And when they
had blindfolded him, they struck
him on the face, and asked
him, saying, Prophesy, who is it
that smote thee? And many
other things blasphemously
spake they against him."
Matthew 26:59-68 tells more of what
happened at the high
priest's
palace.
To think that One so
loving and kind and had never done
anything but good---One
who came to bless mankind, would be
so mistreated, shoved,
beaten, and persecuted and take it all
for you and me! Let’s
never forget…that every slap He took,
every spit…that was put in
his face, was for us! They
ground
Him down, made fun of Him,
spit on Him, kicked Him, slapped
Him, and like a sheep dumb
before the shearers they fleeced
Him of every bit of pride,
reputation, and anything that a man
could have, but He opened
not His mouth---to pay the price
for
you and me. Thank God for
Jesus! Thank God for One that
loved us that much---to
pay the price for our redemption!
Philippians 2:7-8 tells
that He humbled Himself to become
a man, and then He humbled
Himself and came down to the
Cross. He humbled Himself
to the place that every bit
of
human pride was laid
aside. He let men spit on Him, beat Him
around, buffet Him, kick
Him, and mock Him, when within
Himself He had the power
to deliver Himself from
them.
Before Pilate and
Herod
All this drinking of “the
cup of suffering” began
in
Gethsemane and had lasted
all night long. "When the morning
was come, all the chief
priests and elders of the people took
counsel against Jesus to
put him to death: And when they had
bound him, they led him
away, and delivered him to Pontius
Pilate the governor"
(Matthew 27:1-2). All night long He had
suffered. With His body
beaten, battered, bruised, dehydrated,
and exhausted from a
sleepless night, He was taken to
Pontius
Pilate.
It stirs up a deeper
appreciation in us, for Jesus Christ.
Revelation, Chapter 5,
relates that God looked all over
Heaven, all over the
earth, and under the earth to find a man
who was willing and worthy
to pay the price of redemption,
and He could not find one.
Everyone was dying for his own
sins. Thank God, the Lamb
of God prevailed to open the
great
plan of salvation for
mankind. We’re studying what it cost
Him to open up salvation.
He had to drink a cup---not for just
an hour or so on a cross
on Calvary's hill, but He drank a cup
all throughout the night
and the next day until late in the
afternoon. He drank that
bitter cup for you and me.
As far as I’m concerned,
false religion is one of the
most
hateful things on the face
of the globe. All the dirty work done
to Jesus was done by
religious folks. It wasn’t bar operators
and racetrack owners that
called this counsel. It was the chief
priests and the chief
religious men in Jerusalem. No people
are more hateful than
religious folks---without
real
salvation.
"Then led they Jesus from
Caiaphas unto the hall
of
judgment [going to
Pilate]: and it was early: and they
themselves went not into
the judgment hall, lest they should
be defiled; but that they
might eat the Passover" (John 18:28).
What do you think of that?
We want to take a look at what tradition
will do for us!! They had
murder in their hearts, planning tomurder the
Son of God, and that
didn’t bother them a bit; but
according to an old
tradition, if they go into a Gentile's house
during the days of the
Passover, then, they can’t eat the
Passover---because they
would be ceremonially
unclean.
That is a picture of
people today! They’ll fight
for
doctrine! They don’t want
anything to do with you, if you
teach doctrine a little
different than they, and they think they’d
defile themselves, if they
came and sat in a building
where you’re teaching, but
they have a heart full of hatred,
all the time. Read 1 John
3:15. They don’t fret a bit about the
hatred, but they don’t
wanna overstep that doctrine!
Let’s take a lesson from
this.
We read in Acts that
Pilate’s “in hell today” over
the
decision he made. Just as
Jesus was brought to Pilate,
Jesus is being brought to
every one of us, and we’re going
to have to decide
something about it. Pilate was like a lot of
people today. He let his
job get in the way. He was fearful of
losing his job as a Roman
procurator. His own conscience
told him what he needed to
do. His good wife sent him
word
what he needed to do. He
knew what he needed to do, but for
fear of losing his
position, he sent Jesus to the
Cross!
Luke, Chapter 23, goes
into more detail about Pilate. "And
the whole multitude of
them arose, and led him unto Pilate.
And they began to accuse
him, saying, We found this fellow
perverting the nation, and
forbidding to give tribute to Caesar,
saying that he himself is
Christ a King. [they lied right
there,
because He taught and
practiced to render to Caesar what
belonged to Caesar, and to
render to God what belonged to
God]. And Pilate asked
him, saying, Art thou the King of the
Jews? And he answered him
and said, Thou sayest it.
"Then said Pilate to the
chief priests and to the people,
I
