I would like to do a solo on the hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross," but since
singing is not my thing, I am going to use the four stanzas of that great
old hymn as the four points of my sermon today.
George Bennard, who wrote both the words and music to this hymn said:
"It was like seeing John 3:16 leave the printed page, take form, and act out
the meaning of redemption."
The scripture text that I want to use is John 19:16-18. It reminds us of
that horrible cross.
So he (Pilot) then delivered Him to them to be crucified. They took Jesus
therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the
Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified
Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.
19 And Pilate wrote an inscription also, and put it on the cross. And it was
written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS."
Now let's look at the hymn.
Verse one tells us that …
I. THE OLD RUGGED CROSS WAS AN EMBLEM OF SUFFERING AND SHAME.
"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."
In the early hours of Friday morning Jesus was arrested. Judas, one of His
closest associates, had betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver. An army,
armed for battle, came to arrest Jesus as if He were a dangerous criminal.
It was like they handcuffed Him and led the desperado away.
Jesus was put through the mockery of a trial before a council of jealous,
angry religious leaders. In a desperate determination to get rid of Jesus,
they stooped to hiring men to testify falsely against Jesus. As well they
mistreated Him by slapping Him and spitting in His face.
After this high and mighty Jewish counsel had condemned Jesus, they took Him
to the Roman governor demanding that Jesus be executed. Pilot knew that
Jesus was legally innocent of any wrong. He knew that the motive of these
hypocritical religious leaders was jealousy. Yet he cowardly gave in to
their demand and sentenced Jesus to be crucified.
The Roman soldiers wanted to have their fun with this "so called King." They
took Jesus, stripped Him of His clothing and whipped Him mercilessly with a
scourge until His back was mutilated. Then they put a royal robe over His
bloody shoulders and a thorny crown on His head. They put a stick in His
hand to resemble the scepter of a monarch. Then they bowed down in mockery
and said, "Hail, King of the Jews."
They made Jesus carry that horrible cross to a rocky hill resembling a skull
where they would crucify Him. They nailed His hands and feet to the cross
like nailing two pieces of lumber together as He groaned in agony. Nearby,
they did the same thing to two guilty, condemned criminals. They hung the
three together, with the innocent One in between two thieves.
For six hours they watched Jesus suffer the pain and shame of crucifixion.
The mob of radical Jews scoffed at Him, "If you are the Son of God like you
said, come down from the cross." "You who were able to save others, now save
Yourself."
Then at three o'clock in the afternoon, Jesus shouted out, "It is finished."
Then He committed His soul to God the Father and was dead.
Yes, that old rugged cross was an emblem of suffering and shame.
The second verse of that great old hymn tells us that …
II. FOR THE OLD RUGGED CROSS, JESUS LEFT HIS GLORIES ABOVE
"Oh, 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."
The Bible tells us that …
"Christ Jesus … although He existed in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the
form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being
found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)
Or listen to this translation.
Christ Jesus …always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by
force he should try to remain equal with God. Instead of this, of his own
free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became
like a human being and appeared in human likeness. He was humble and walked
the path of obedience all the way to death-his death on the cross. (Good
News Bible)
This scripture tells us that it was Jesus' choice to leave His place in
Heaven to become a human being like us. It also tells us that it was Jesus'
choice to die on the cross. It was not something forced upon Him. It was His
decision.
Perhaps there was a conversation between God the Father and Son like this.
The Father says, "Son, Adam and Eve failed us terribly bad and so have their
descendants. They have sinned against us and doomed themselves."
The Son says, "Isn't there some way we can save these people we created?"
The Father answers, "Yes, Son, but it is going to take a perfect human being
and they can't pull that off." Jesus says, "I'v got an idea, Father. Let me
go down there and do it for them." The Father says, "But it will mean that
You must become one of them and suffer a horrible death in their behalf."
The Son says, "I am going to it."
And Jesus did. He set aside His royalty in heaven and became one of us
through a miraculous virgin conception between God's Spirit and a young
woman. He was born to common people like us in a cattle shed of a Bethlehem
inn.
So the old rugged cross reminds us that Jesus left His glories above and
became one of us.
The third verse of that great old hymn tells us that …
III. ON THE OLD RUGGED CROSS JESUS SUFFERED AND DIED TO SAVE US FROM SIN'S
CONSEQUENCES.
"In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
Such a wonderful beauty I see;
For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me."
From His humble birth, Jesus grew into manhood and began His public ministry
at the age of thirty. For three years He taught with the mind of God. He
preformed unbelievable miracles. Then at thirty-three years of age, He was
tried by a council of religious fanatics, condemned by a gutless governor
and crucified by ruthless soldiers.
But in doing so, Jesus, the perfect Son of God, took our sins to the cross
and paid the penalty for us sinners. The Bible says,
For the wages of (our) sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
And God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Then listen to this description of Jesus mission.
But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a
woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were
under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians 5:4-5)
So the old rugged cross reminds us that Jesus left His glories in heaven,
suffered and died to provide us salvation from sin. He did all this so that
we could become a part of His eternal family.
The fourth verse of that great old hymn tells us that …
IV. TO THE OLD RUGGED CROSS WE MUST EVER BE TRUE.
"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 way,
Where His glory forever I'll share."
Two words describe the meaning of that verse to me.
1. The first word is "commitment."
The fourth verse begins with these words, "To the old rugged cross I will
ever be true. Its shame and reproach gladly bear."
That commitment begins with a decision of faith. That means that we must
believe that Jesus is God's Son who died on the cross to save us from our
sins. It also means to trust Jesus by committing our lives to Him as both
Savior and Lord. That is what the Bible means when it says, "Believe (or
have faith) in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved…" (Acts 16:31)
That commitment also means that we want to live the Christian lifestyle and
serve Jesus as Lord. He said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." (Matthew 16:24) When we
drift away from this commitment we need to rededicate our lives to Jesus.
You see, Jesus died for us and He asks us to live for Him. So we should sing
the great old hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," with meaning. Listen
to the commitment we make when we sing that hymn.
"When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all."
2. The second word I see in the fourth verse is "reward."
Look at the last two lines of that verse.
"Then He'll call me some day to my home far way,
Where His glory forever I'll share."
There is another great hymn that tells us that the way of the cross leads
home. Listen to the words.
"I must needs go home by the way of the cross,
There's no other way but this.
I shall ne're get sight of the gates of light,
If the way of the cross I miss."
The chorus goes like this.
"The way of the cross leads home,
The way of the cross leads home,
It is sweet to know as I onward go,
The way of the cross leads home."
Then listen to the chorus of "The Old Rugged Cross."
"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 someday for a crown."
Jesus exchanged His cross for a crown. If you and I take up our cross and
follow Him, we too can exchange our cross for a crown.
For all who come to the crucified Savior and commit their lives to Him there
is hope for life beyond the door of death. We will have a home with Jesus in
His beautiful, marvelous paradise.
Conclusion
Listen to what Paul writes to us about Jesus in Philippians 2:8-11:
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on
a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW,
of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father.
Jesus may have died that horrible death on the cross but He did not stay
dead. He resurrected from the grave and His name is the greatest among all
who ever lived.
Now before our benediction, I want us to stand and sing all four verses of
that great old hymn. Let's sing it like we have never sung it before.
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.
Oh, 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,
Such a wonderful beauty I see;
For 'twas on that old 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 way,
Where His glory forever I'll share.
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 someday for a crown.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we acknowledge what great things you have done for us.
You loved us so much that You stepped off the throne in heaven and became
one of us. You exchanged Your place in heaven for a straw, stuffed crib. You
traded in your crown for a horrible old cross. You did all that so that we
could be pardoned from our sins and have abundant and eternal life. In
return we want to live for you and serve you with our very best.
Now would you repeat that prayer after me, phrase by phrase?
Lord Jesus, we acknowledge what great things you have done for us. You loved
us so much that You stepped off the throne in heaven and became one of us.
You exchanged Your place in heaven for a straw, stuffed crib. You traded in
your crown for a horrible old cross. You did all that so that we could be
pardoned from our sins and have abundant and eternal life. In return we want
to live for you and serve you with our very best. Amen.
