THE PASSION OF CHRIST

The film entitled “The Passion of Christ” has been playing at movie theatres across North America since February 25. Months of media attention and Christian curiosity have made the film one of the most anticipated works to come to the big screen in years.

A large number of people express great excitement about the movie and the opportunities it presents for evangelism. There has been a flurry of testimonials, endorsements and strategies by well-known church leaders to use the movie for such a purpose.

I think that we, as Apostolic Pentecostals, would be remiss if we fail to avail ourselves of the opportunity that the release of this movie presents.

• With all the publicity, news stories, debate, and talking going on, many thousands of people have the death of Jesus Christ on their minds.
• One of my purposes for this message is to help you be ready with a biblical answer for some of the questions that are being raised in viewers minds regarding the film.

Let me say from the outset by way of disclaimer that I have not seen The Passion of Christ, nor do I intend to, nor do I by any means endorse it.

• My stand against any form of Hollywood cinematic production has not changed and neither should yours.
• We ought to firmly resolve not to lend our support to any entertainment-oriented media that is counter-productive to the furtherance of righteousness and godliness in this evil age.

My remarks in this message that have reference to Mel Gibson’s film will be based upon reviews that I have read, and from what I have heard from those who saw the film,.

• Frankly, I am troubled by the way in which some people are talking about the movie as it relates to the gospel account.
• One viewer of The Passion of The Christ observed that some were heard crying out, "Have mercy on me, God, I didn't know, I didn't know," after watching the movie. Another person said, "I've read the Gospels hundreds of times throughout my life, but this was the first time I'd actually stepped into them."

Is it really possible that church going, Bible-reading Christians did not know much about the sufferings of Christ and its implications for our lives before Gibson made this movie?

• Can anyone really gain something beneficial from the film that is missing in the sacred text of God’s word?
• It is as if the suggestion were being made that the Bible alone, with the illumination and revelation of the Holy Spirit, is simply not sufficient.
• Does the church need cinematic assistance to make the "quick and powerful" Word more relevant?

The film obviously includes significant biblical quotations, which is good, for there is indeed some exposure to the audience of God’s word.

• But I am told that the movie is also shaped by some extra-biblical sources, primarily having to do with Roman Catholicism.
• This, of course, is to be expected, since the producer and director is a staunch, traditional Catholic.
• And the actor who plays the role of Christ said that he attended mass daily during the filming because of the spiritual strength that it supplied over the course of his grueling ordeal.

Gibson believes that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a co-Redemtrix with Christ.

• Not only does he present her in the traditional garb of a nun, he also has Peter and John calling her “Mother” in one of the scenes.
• The subtitles clearly capitalize this reference to her as the Holy Mother.
• After he denied knowing Christ, Peter twice told Mary not to touch him, as if she had some kind of holiness that he did not deserve to take part in, which is clearly an unbiblical tradition.

Catholics believe in 14 specific events occurring on the Via Dolorosa, which they call the Fourteen Stations of the Cross.

• Only nine of them are actually in the gospel account. The rest are highly suspect, contained only in traditional writings.

It seems that some people are confusing the emotional and gut responses they have to the graphic imagery of the movie with the Bible itself.

• Others imply that we have an advantage over the generations of Christians in the past who had no opportunity to view such a movie.
• It's almost like they are saying, "Those poor people only had the Scriptures."
• As amazing, graphic brutal and gory as the production may be, I submit to you that if you will prayerfully and attentively read, listen to, and meditate upon the word of truth that is taught and preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, you will have a superior advantage in every way over those who watch Gibson's movie.
• If you think otherwise, then I have some serious misgivings about your understanding of the power and sufficiency of the God-breathed Scriptures.

Admittedly, the four gospels do not bear record of every minute of what happened during the last couple days prior to Jesus’ death.

• We can give Mel Gibson some leeway for artistic license in his production.
• But it is patently clear from reviews by students of the New Testament that there are a number of biblical and historical inaccuracies in this film.

In addition to traditional Catholic sources, it is reported that Mr. Gibson also consulted the unusual 200-year-old book, “Dolorous Passion of Our Lord,” containing some supposed visions of a Catholic mystic nun named Anne Catherine Emmerich. The following scenes in the movie come from her writings:

1. Satan’s temptations of Jesus during his agonizing prayers at Gethsemane;
2. while heavily chained, Jesus confronting Judas after the arrest;
3. Pontius Pilate’s wife, Claudia, sympathetically bringing some cloths to Mary; and
4. a crow poking out the eyes of the unrepentant thief on the cross in swift judgment for his unbelief.

A recent cartoon from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette pictures a man and woman who have just left a theatre where The Passion of Christ is playing. He is saying to her, “The book was better”.

The Book we call the Bible will always be better than any cinematic production based upon a biblical account, whether it is “The Ten Commandments”, “Judas”, “The Passion of Christ”, or any other work of man.

My preaching text today is found in Luke 23:33, which says, And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. I’ve asked God to impress those last four words upon your hearts by his Spirit: “there they crucified him”. These will supply the basis for my preaching.

The running time of Gibson’s film is two hours.

• By the help of the Lord, we can see more and longer-lasting results take place if you will give your attention for the next 60 minutes or less.

The chapter context, along with parallel passages from the other three gospel accounts, deals with the passion of Christ.

• That word, ‘passion’ encompasses the totality of Christ’s vicarious sufferings.
• Consider with me these four elements in particular as regards that passion, and, in particular, his crucifixion:

1. the place,

2. the perpetrators,

3. the procedure, and

4. the person.

THE PLACE OF THE PASSION: There

It was at the place that is called Calvary.

· The Hebrew word is Golgotha. Literally, “the place of the skull”. What a foreboding & sinister sounding word.

· This was the place where criminals & thugs of the very worst caliber were executed.

No one knows for sure how the terminology of "the skull" became part of the meaning of Calvary.

• The most likely reason is that the site was a place of execution; the skull being a widely recognized symbol for death.

“On Calvary’s hill of sorrow, where sin’s demands were paid, and rays of hope for tomorrow, across our paths were laid.”

John 19:20 says the place was "near the city" of Jerusalem. From Matthew's reference to "those who passed by" (27:39), it seems the site was close to a well-traveled road. It also is reasonable to think that Joseph's tomb (John 19:41) was quite close. But these geographical hints are very general. The Bible does not clearly indicate exactly where Jesus died.

· Various sites of the crucifixion have been proposed.

· One factor that makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact place is that the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.

· Many geographical features and the location of the city walls were greatly changed because of this and a series of conflicts that continued for centuries.

It is the fact of our Lord's self sacrifice-"that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" – not the location, which should concern us.

There… in public view – just outside the gates of a city that was known worldwide as “beautiful 4 situation, the joy of the whole earth…” It is situated on an uneven rocky plateau at an elevation of 2,550 feet.

Jerusalem, the city of David; the holy city of God, the city of the great King, was once known as Jebus + salem (city of peace).

· It was the first city of Palestine, and the "holy city" for three great world religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

There in that bustling city, just a few days prior to the events of our text, crowds of believers had thronged Jesus & greeted his entry with loud hosannas of praise.

· In that same area & at that time, he had wept & sobbed aloud as he beheld the city, crying,

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

There, just outside Jerusalem, was a most fitting place for Christ to be slain, because Heb 13:11-15 says,

11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without [outside] the camp.

12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

There, outside that great city, which spiritually is called Sodom & Egypt, they crucified him.

There, upon a rugged cross, rough-hewn out of cypress, a tree that is still an emblem of pain, distress, burden bearing, sorrow, & death. Perhaps no word in the human tongue is more widely known, especially to anyone with a knowledge of Christianity. As a preacher, I need to continually remind myself that Christ did not send me to preach the gospel with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

· The sacred book does not say, “It pleased God by the foolishness of a Hollywood film production to save them that believe.” Nor does scripture declare, “It pleased God by the foolishness of a passion play to save…” Nor does the Bible say; “It pleased God by the foolishness of an Easter Cantata…

· But this holy book we call the Bible unequivocally and without apology says these words, and I am reading them from 1 Corinthians, chapter one:

21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

• Peter, in one of his epistles, makes reference to the cross in this manner, saying Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree. That tree upon which he offered up himself was a tree of death for him, but a tree of life for all who believe on his name. It’s the tree that purifies & sweetens every soul and every nation wherein the gospel seed is cast.

• A certain Old Testament statute declares, “cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.. The cross became a stumbling block to the Jews for their reasoning was, how could one who was hung, & therefore under the curse of God, be their Messiah?

• The cross consisted of two separate planks. The upright, vertical portion was permanently affixed in the ground on the hill. It had been used often. It was scarred, scratched & stained with blood, urine & the feces of many criminals. The horizontal beam was the part that the Roman soldiers forced Christ to carry

There, on the cross, on a low elevation called Calvary, outside the walls of Jerusalem, there they crucified him.

There, between 2 thieves who were both deserving of death. The scripture had foretold hundreds of years before this time, “he was numbered among the transgressors, & he made his grave with thieves in his death.

We have described the Place of the Passion; now let us consider

THE PERPETRATORS OF THE PASSION:

“There they crucified him.”

• The controversy over Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of The Christ” has renewed a debate that was raging off and on for the last two millennia: “Who is responsible for the death of Jesus Christ?” Several answers have been offered, each one with a unique twist on the event. The subject garnered the cover story in the Feb. 16 issue of Newsweek magazine.

• For a starter, let me say that men and women are often mere pawns or instruments in the hands of Christ’s adversary and ours: the devil. The passion was Satan’s finest hour – he had carefully masterminded & engineered the project. The prince of this world, after several previous attempts and failures, finally succeeded in slaying the prince of life, and he accomplished his deed through the actions of wicked men. The prophesied seed of the serpent bruised the heel of the seed of the woman.

52 Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?

53 When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.

· But let’s put some names and faces on flesh and blood beings that were involved in this dastardly deed.

• Who crucified him? Was it his betrayer, Judas Iscariot, who had sold out our Savior for 30 pieces of silver, the price given in those days for a slave? Was the guilty party the man who identified Jesus to the arresting officials with a kiss? Certainly a good share of the blame must fall on Judas.

• But Judas turned Jesus over to a great multitude of soldiers from the Roman army, who seized & bound him & led him away to be prosecuted.

• Perhaps we should pin the blame on Caiaphas, who tore his high-priestly robes in a rage of jealous hatred as he condemned Christ to death?

• Then there were the false accusers who testified at his trial. Could they not also be considered to be accomplices in slaying the Christ? Was it not their word in a court of law that condemned him?
• Others would say that Jesus’ suffering and death was directly traceable to The Sanhedrin Court – 70 renowned men of the cloth – who viciously spat upon & struck him with open palms, & mocked him with contempt.

• What about Peter, who denied him 3 times? Peter, the man who had loudly boasted , “Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death.”

• And let’s not forget the other disciples, who forsook him entirely, by their cowardice and refusal to lend help in the hour of his greatest distress.

Who slew our Lord and Savior?

Was it the scribes and chief priests & elders: those who counseled together to put him to death?

• Ah, Pilate, there’s the likely culprit. After all, he had the authority to release Jesus, but instead released Barrabas, who was a murderer and an insurrectionist. Pilate, the man who sentenced Jesus to be scourged with cat-a-nine-tails, & turned him over to a rioting, bloodthirsty mob. Besides, Pilate’s wife had asked her husband to have nothing to do with that just man.

• How about it if we cast the blame on that multitude of frenzied people who clamored for his death saying “OK, Pilate, you’ve washed your hands of his blood, let his blood be on us, and on our children?

• Now let’s fast-forward the footage a little. Perhaps we can assign responsibility for the crime of the ages on those who mockingly pressed a crown of thorns on his head, slapped a reed into his hand, stripped him naked & arrayed him in a purple robe.

• “No”, someone says, “it was the near-death experience he suffered at the hands of viciously cruel men who whipped his body to a bloody pulp”.

• “I’ll tell you who did it”, a witness shouts, “it was the soldiers who drove the nails through his hands & feet & hung him up as a spectacle. They are responsible for the death of Christ.” Did they not sit down and watch him there? Was it not to them nothing more than just another crucifixion – just another murder story – just another brutal film? “C’mon, man, roll the dice and pass me some more popcorn. Let’s see who goes home with his garment as a souvenir!”

• And how about those who passed by & reviled him & scoffed at him to his face, saying “Come down from the cross, & save yourself if you can”?

Who killed Jesus? Was it the one who thrust his side with a spear so forcibly that blood & water gushed forth & flowed profusely down his body & spilled upon the ground?

• But listen to these indicting words found in Acts 2:22-23 that were spoken by the apostle Peter to a large number of devout Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven to celebrate their annual feast of Pentecost ….

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

Acts 3:11-19 relates the sequel of the miraculous healing of a man who had been born lame… A portion of that passage again lays the blame for Christ’s death on “ye men of Israel”.

And in Ac 4, a powerful prayer of some saints is recorded for our edification & learning. Notice how the guilt is more widely dispersed this time:

The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

• Who is responsible for the passion of Christ? I submit to you that everyone I mentioned, and more, crucified him. No one race or individual is to blame. In reality, many who were responsible for his crucifixion were not even present when it happened. In fact, his sufferings and execution were a result of, and a remedy for, the sins of the world.

• A man slept and dreamed of seeing Jesus being led out to be scourged. He saw the Savior’s back laid bare & a rough soldier inflicting bloody stripes upon his flesh. Again & again the victor’s lash rose & fell. At length the sleeper could bear no more. In his dream he rushed forward, caught the upraised hand of the Roman soldier, spun him around, & – looked into his own face! Yes, each of us is responsible for Christ’s death!

• Admittedly, Luke 23:33 says, “there they crucified him”, but beyond the “they” who were then present, the guilt of his death, as I have endeavored to show from the scriptures, is far-reaching, from the time of Adam even to our generation.

• Everybody ought to know, since it is a foundational part of the conversion process, that it was for the sins of all mankind that Christ suffered and died. But the staggering theological truth is that in addition to His willingness to be hung on that accursed tree, his passion was part of God's decree before the dawn of creation.

• The cross had flung its shadow down the corridors of many centuries. Prophecies had been made: bruised heel – (Genesis); Passover Lamb – Exodus; sacrificial offering – Leviticus; pierced – Psalm 22; wounded between shoulders – Zechariah, etc.

In the final analysis, let it be therefore resolved that God worked through the intentions & deeds of wicked men. He allowed ungodly men to do their worst, while carrying out his own designs. He foreknew what men would want to do, & permitted them to do it.

Jesus informed Pilate: Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.

1 Peter 1:18-20 declares:

18 … ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,

Rather than make vain attempts to blame any individual, group, or race of people for Christ’s death, we need to be reminded that he had been delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, according to Acts 2:23.

God, the Father, said in effect, “The buck stops here.”

The passion of Christ was planned and purposed by God himself:

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Isa 53:5 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.

Isa 53:6 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.

• The third stanza of the great hymn “How Great Thou Art” captures beautifully the reality of God’s delivering up His only Son to be crucified for sinners: “And when I think that God, His Son not sparing/ Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;/ That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing/ He bled and died, to take away my sin./ Then sings my soul, my savior God to Thee;/ How great Thou art, how great Thou art!”

THE PROCEDURE OF HIS PASSION

“There they crucified him.”

Time does not permit me to attempt to describe the awful suffering Jesus must have endured in the garden of Gethsemane, where, “being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” –Luke 22:44.

I might say at this point, that there is no biblical evidence for the scenes from the movie that depict the soldiers throwing Jesus off of a bridge as they left Gethsemane. Nor does the Bible say anything about demon children mercilessly taunting Judas Iscariot after he betrayed Jesus.

• After Jesus had been arrested, stood trial, and had been sentenced, he was taken out to be scourged. This wasn’t just an ordinary beating: the criminal was flogged within an inch of his life by brutal men using whips composed of leather thongs that were tipped with sharp scraps of bone, metal & with pieces of glass.

• Historians say that the prisoner was first stripped of his clothing and then tied by his hands, with his back bent forward, to a stake that was fastened deep in the ground in front of him. Six men, with their instruments of torture, gave him a total of 40 long, hard blows. Each stroke cut into his quivering flesh until his veins and entrails were laid bare and blood sprayed from his wounds.

• It is reported that the weirdest scene in the movie is that of Satan holding a grinning, grotesque-looking demon child during the beating of Jesus (which Mr. Gibson said is a satanic parody of the Madonna holding the baby Jesus, a kind of anti-Madonna).
• 
  At the last supper with his 12 apostles 2 days earlier, Jesus had taken a loaf of bread from the table and broke it in pieces. As he handed the bread to those men, he said, “Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you”.

Let this word of faith enter your spirit: “By his stripes ye were healed”.

• The soldiers did their work extra well. When they were finished flogging Jesus, they cast a purple robe over his lacerated body, no doubt re-opening wounds that had just begun to clot. They fashioned a crown out of thorns and crushed it down on his head.. He became an object of ridicule and derision. They struck him openly and repeatedly with rods upon his head, and slapped him across his face and body with the palms of their hands.

Then they spit into his face. There he stood, no doubt swaying from the pain of those stripes and in trauma from loss of blood, with blood running down his face and mingling with the warm spittle and phlegm. One prophet had looked ahead to this hour and wrote: “He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”

It had been a long march for Jesus from the garden of Gethsemane, where he had agonized in prayer, to the place where he stood trial. He had been shunted back and forth between Caiaphas, Herod and Pilate. There is no indication that he was given any food or water during this time. He endured the contradiction of sinners. He somehow held up under the long, severe ordeal. Now he must begin the torturous trek to the place of the skull.

The crosspiece was dragged to his side and Jesus was forced to kneel and take its weight upon his bleeding shoulder while his hands were tied to it with thongs. It must have been an effort for him to get to his feet and put one foot in front of the other, but the soldiers no doubt urged him on with whips, cursing and insulting all the while.

“Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free?”

Quite a large crowd of people has gathered by this time and is joining the strange procession. Many of them had traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Festival, not knowing that Christ, the true Passover, would be sacrificed for the sins of the whole nation and of the world. Some of them are enemies of Christ, anxious to see his death. A few are friends. The majority are merely spectators.

• A man named Simon joins the crowd out of curiosity. He is from Cyrene, a large city in N Africa. It is possible that he was a Jewish proselyte.

• I am told that the film shows Jesus falling six times while carrying his cross, whereas the Bible mentions no falls at all. Nor does the scripture of truth say anything about his mother, Mary, running up to Jesus as he fell; nor does the Bible say a girl offered Jesus a drink of water when he fell, Gibson’s film does. I ask you, “Whose report will you believe”?

• At some point, the soldiers compelled Simon to bear Jesus’ cross. No one can walk in close company with Jesus without his life being changed, either for good or for evil. It is very probable that words, or at least glances, were exchanged between Jesus and Simon because 30 yrs later, when Mark wrote his gospel, he mentioned the sons of Simon, who were involved in gospel ministry.

The procession has arrived at Golgotha and it is time for the execution to begin.

· Crucifixion was invented by the Persians and perfected by the Romans as a tortuous method of capital punishment, one that produced a slow death with maximum pain. This was perhaps the most disgraceful, cruel method of dying, intended for the vilest of criminals.

• Two soldiers step in front of Jesus and shove him backwards. As he falls, one kneels on either side of him and extends his arms, positioning them over the crossbar and holding them with his knee. Each soldier feels for the hollow place in the upper area of Jesus’ hand between the bones, and with a heavy hammer blow, drives a 6” spike through the flesh, severing or crushing large nerves and producing bolts of fiery pain. Everything is done quickly and with great force because most men fight desperately to free themselves.

Isa 53:7 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.

· Now the crossbar is raised to its position on the upright beam that has been planted firmly in the ground, and Jesus’ body is allowed to swing freely as the two lengths of timber are nailed together. Following this, a soldier on each side grasps a leg and draws it up until his feet rest flat on the wood. One foot is placed over the other and the nail is driven home.

• I have in my files an old clipping from the Oregonian newspaper, dated Jan 3, 1971. The caption reads: Discovery Attests To Biblical-Era Crucifixion. The article notes that a team of Israeli scientists had recently announced the discovery in the outskirts of Jerusalem of a skeleton of a man who had been crucified about 2,000 years earlier. This was the first physical evidence of an actual crucifixion in biblical times.

• A study of the skeletal remains showed that a large iron nail had pierced the heel bones.

• Now we see some women rushing forward with a specially prepared wine that contains narcotics to deaden the senses and relieve the suffering. The two malefactors on either side gulp it down gladly, but Jesus refuses to partake. This is not the cup his heavenly Father has given him to drink.

• The film “The Passion of Christ", portrays Jesus and the two thieves as motionless on the cross. An article in The Journal of the American Medical Association, however, indicates that people who were crucified would have been constantly squirming, alternately pushing up with the feet and pulling with the hands in order to breathe. The physician went on to say that besides the excruciating pain of the victim’s bare, flayed back scraping on the rough wood, his loss of blood, muscular cramps and spasms, exhaustion, and gradually having his breathing cut off, he would also have had to endure the heat of the sun and the torture of insects trying to burrow into open wounds and into his eyes, nose, and mouth.

Psa 22:14-15 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

By this time, I’m sure that some people in the crowd are screaming; some cry profusely; others pray. Jesus also prays, but not for deliverance: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

THE PERSON OF THE PASSION

“There they crucified him.”

An inscription was written above his cross: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews”. Someone said to change it so it would read, “He said, I am the King of the Jews”, but the request was denied.

500 years earlier, the LORD God Almighty had spoken thru the prophet Zechariah with these astounding words: “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced” (12:10).

Zech 13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

“Bound upon the accursed tree

Faint and bleeding, who is he?

By the eyes so pale and dim,

Streaming blood and writhing limb;

By the flesh with scourges torn;

By the crown of twisted thorn;

By the side so deeply pierced;

By the baffled, burning thirst;

By the drooping, death-dewed brow:

Son of man, tis Thou! ‘tis Thou!

• A soldier standing near the cross witnessed the sufferings of Christ, and when he saw the cataclysmic upheaval of the earth at the death of Jesus, he cried out, Truly, this was the Son of God.

The first chapter of John’s gospel records these inspired words:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

• Paul testified that had the rulers of this world known, they would not have crucified The Lord of glory.

• The cry of Jesus, “It is finished”, was one of triumph. Nothing had been left undone. His mission on earth as the Lamb of God was complete, so he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.

• A fountain was opened for our sin and for our uncleanness when a soldier thrust his spear into the side of Jesus as he yet hung upon the cross. Blood, mingled with water, gushed forth.

In Col 1:13-22, we are enjoined to give thanks unto the Father,

13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

· The magnetic-like power of the crucified and now risen Christ to draw people unto himself is just as real today as it was 2000 years ago at a place just outside the gates of Jerusalem at a place called Calvary.

• “What shall I do?” someone here may be anxiously asking. Your heart has been strangely pricked at the anointed preaching of the gospel. I assure you that you are not unlike thousands of devout people who were gathered in Jerusalem on a day known in scripture as the day of Pentecost. An apostle named Peter had just preached to them of Christ and him crucified. Stabbed by guilt, with their conscience stricken, they also had cried out, “What shall we do?”

• My reply is the same as Peter’s. It was then, and is now, the only way for anyone to be free of the sin, guilt, and shame of having slain Jesus Christ. In the very words of Acts 2:38, I tell you that you must

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

· Repentance, followed by water baptism will take care of your past and present sin problem. Then God has promised to give you the gift of the Holy Ghost, which will give you grace and strength to not fall victim to future temptations to sin.

• We live in a sinful, wicked world, but the shed blood of Christ is able to deliver you, wash, you, and give you peace.

• The correct response to the passion of Christ is for you to be crucified with him. When you repent, it’s as though your fleshly, sinful nature is slain with Christ on his cross.

• Repentance is a gift of God that gives you a godly sorrow for sin. Repentance not only takes care of sinful acts, it also is necessary for right thinking. You may have come here with your mind confused because of repeated exposure to false teachings and misconceptions about Christ and the Bible. Repentance will help you get your head on straight so you can put your faith in Christ and act on the only gospel that can save you and set you free.

• Jesus freely offered up himself as the one supreme sacrifice for your sins. His body was taken down from the cross, anointed, wrapped in grave cloths, and buried in a borrowed tomb. But the gospel account does not end on that dead note. He arose from the dead three days later in a glorified, immortal body. In the first chapter of Acts it is written: “he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs”.

• One proof of his resurrection lies in the fact that you feel his divine, holy presence in this place even now. He is drawing you to himself with cords of love. He yearns to fill you with his holy Spirit, give you life more abundantly, set you on the highway to holiness, and walk with you through the strait gate and along the narrow way that leads to eternal life.

• I invite you to this altar, where you can find pardon and forgiveness of sin. Come believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God who loved you and gave himself for you.

· Others of you have already experienced the righteousness, peace and joy as a direct result of that new birth. That power of the Holy Ghost dwells in you to empower you to be a witness, not only of the passion of Christ, but of his resurrection. Come forward and reaffirm your love for him as you consecrate yourself anew to his service and assist others who are reaching out to the Lord at this altar.

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