The Cross, the Crown, the King — Shane Idleman

And begin to go into the house of my God and call out to God. And it is a desperation. You're exchanging one appetite for a greater appetite. Lord, I want this, but I want this even more. And it's fasting throughout all of scripture, 77 times I think it's mentioned.

And so it's something I think important. I think that discipline has been lost over the last few decades. We don't talk about it anymore. King's stomach is on the throne, and we don't want to talk about these things that are really near and dear to our heart, which is eating, which is a very good thing.

And I've noticed over the years that what somebody doesn't like in the Bible, they call it legalism. And that's how they get out of it. Oh, no, that's just legalistic. That was for the Old Testament. Well, you have a hard time proving that.

Fasting, Spiritual Discipline, and the Meaning of Good Friday

It is for us today as well. Tonight is the cross, the crown, and the king. The cross, the crown, and the king. And typically, Good Friday messages aren't really long. It's more of just remembering the cross, and that's really what I want to do tonight.

And we call it Good Friday because it's really a reflection of a, it's a reflection before a celebration. So on Sunday, typically, we are excited that he is risen. It's the empty tomb. It's why we are here.

It's prophecy was fulfilled. Without an empty tomb, we wouldn't be sitting here. I can guarantee you that much. And so the cross is leading up to that. We remember the price that was paid because if we just celebrate the victory of the risen Savior, we forget exactly what happened on that fateful day.

The Bad News of Sin and the Good News of Grace

And I'm convinced that if more people knew the bad news, they would appreciate the good news. Isn't that true? If we just talk about the good news, which is great, it's called the gospel is the good news.

And heralding preaching is proclaiming the good news. But you have to understand it with a backdrop of the bad news because God's grace isn't going to be really appreciated if you don't explain what the grace is for.

God's grace saving us from eternal damnation is saving us from the wrath of God. And then, oh, now the grace of God that saved a wretch like me. Now I understand how important and how pivotal that is.

And what's very important about the cross is it's a bridge that allows us to cross over the bottomless cavern of sin. It's a place of death that gives life. It conquers our fear of death and judgment and replaces it with joy.

It pays a debt we could have never paid. And I found over the years, and so have you, that sin wouldn't be so attractive if the wages were paid immediately. Can you imagine if the wages of our sin was paid immediately?

God gave us a loan. He put our debt way out in the distant and put it on Jesus. But if that sin debt was paid immediately, we would be in big trouble. And so that was really the point of the cross. Many people come here to remember the cross.

The Cross as Sacrifice and Salvation

Many people don't understand the cross. And that would take a whole nother sermon to explain without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. That the sacrifice for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and that blood makes atonement for the soul, and if there was any other way, there would have been another way, but God said there is no other way.

He is the only way, the only truth, the only life. And the more you study Scripture, the more you understand, oh, there's a penalty. If I'm a sinner, there's a penalty I must pay. Well, I can't pay it.

How can I pay it? And so Jesus, the sinless sacrifice, the blameless sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice, paid that sin debt for us on the cross called Calvary. And so that's why we are here. And we actually, you can see the cross in the Gospels leading up to Jesus' final, of course, betrayal.

But even when he was a child, Luke 2, 34 through 35, it is seeing Christ, the cross in the Gospels. This child is destined, when Jesus was born, they said this child is destined for what? To cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul too.

Talking to Jesus' mother. And can you imagine a mother seeing her son knowing he's innocent? And that sword piercing, that piercing her heart to watch him on the cross. And it wasn't something that was easy to look at.

It was very difficult to look at. And many of you have probably seen the movie The Passion of the Christ, and that's a pretty close resemblance to what happened. And we also see a prophetic warning at his birth when they gave the gifts of frankincense and gold and why would they give myrrh?

The main reason, the main purpose for that gift was it was a burial spice. And then we also see in Matthew 12, Jesus answered. They were accusing him and saying different things. A wicked and adulterous generation asked for a miraculous sign, but none will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Talking about the cross and ultimately the resurrection.

The Reliability of Scripture and Fulfilled Prophecy

All this fulfillment of prophecy. And I find it pretty ironic when people question the Bible, oh, a man couldn't be followed by a fish. Well, Jesus said it. And if you've ever seen a well, it's very, very possible.

The Scripture is not, air does not penetrate the Scripture. You cannot find air in the Scripture historically, prophetically, archeologically, scientifically. Now, there's questions. I have questions, but the Bible always stands the test of time.

Look at the last 100 years of archeological discoveries from stories, from coins and tablets of kingdoms. They even believe that they found where Sodom and Gomorrah could have been destroyed by maybe a meteor type event.

And it's just tons of research that comes out, tons of confirmation, tons of examples of God proving His Word. In John 12, 32, and if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. Now, this could be a point, people argue, where He was lifted up, like ascended into heaven, and that is true as well.

But also, as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, and all who looked to Him were saved, that can resemble the cross as well, that Jesus said, I will be lifted up, and I will draw all men unto me.

The Cross and the Transforming Power of the Gospel

How could this be a fable? How could Jesus not be the true Savior if this message of the Gospel, it rocks the entire world? No matter where you take it. We sponsor a missionary who translated the Bible, Papua New Guinea, and different languages, and it's just amazing when they hear this Gospel, they hear the truth, it penetrates the heart.

No matter where you take it, it penetrates and it changes lives. And that's the big difference you'll see with different religions. People might embrace it, but it doesn't change their heart. It doesn't change their nature.

They'll maybe do some good works to earn God's approval, but the heart doesn't change. That's the difference. In Christianity, God reaches down to man because we embrace the cross, we repent of our sin, and that cleansing nature of the cross comes into our lives and into our hearts, and now we have joy and freedom because we've been cleansed of that sin.

And what happened, what prevented a lot of the Jews from believing in Jesus, it happens today. They could not bring themselves to believe that God's Messiah would die under a curse on a tree. Cursed is the man who's hung on a tree.

The Scripture would teach in the Old Testament too. And they just couldn't believe that God's Messiah, this doesn't make sense. And let me tell you, this evening, a lot of times God doesn't make sense.

We want things to line up with His Word. We love sound doctrine, but sometimes things just don't make sense. I didn't know God was going to do that that way. I didn't see that coming. And if it prevents you from believing in God, that's a big problem.

This is what prevents a lot of people from embracing Jesus Christ is doubt or questions. It's okay to have questions as long as you take to God and you really want the answer. You know, a lot of people bring up questions, they don't want the answer.

That's just their excuse. Yeah, but, oh yeah, you know, but what about this? Oh, do you want the answer or are you just convicted? Let's figure this out first. And then we can find the solution. Very interesting about the cross.

The Innocent One Punished for the Guilty

The guilty were punished. Rome actually, if I remember correctly, Rome wouldn't even punish their own citizens on the cross. It was so horrific. It was barbaric. But what would happen? The guilty were punished on the cross.

In this case, the innocent was punished for the sins of the world. There was an exchange took place. The cross held the criminal against their will. But in this case, what do we know? Jesus laid down his life willingly.

And in all cases, without a shadow of a doubt, the cross conquered its victims. But in this case, Jesus conquers death. As Scripture says, oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?

That's why we get excited about that song. My resurrected king has rendered you defeated. The king has overcome hell, death, and the grave. That's where that saying comes from. It's one thing to die upon a cross.

It's another thing to raise again and then conquer that very thing that was meant to destroy you. That's how you conquer something is you defeat it. And that's how he defeated death. Death couldn't hold him.

Death couldn't keep him. The decay of the body didn't take place. The grave couldn't hold him. He rose again. And it's interesting, it's very interesting about the tomb. If you study it and you read history, you read Josephus, even the Jews of that day, they were all wondering, who got into this tomb?

They missed the question. No, you should be asking, who got out of this tomb? Not who got into this tomb, who came out of this tomb? And you realize there's power in the name of Jesus Christ. And I didn't know when I was gonna read this.

I didn't even know if I was. I printed it out. I just slipped in my notes 45 minutes ago. But it comes from the 1970s. And I just love what this guy said. His name is S .M. Lockridge. Many of you, I'm sure, have heard this preached before on YouTube with about four million views.

It's a very powerful sermon. I just wanna take just a quick excerpt from this that fits right into where I'm at right now. Talking about Jesus, he said he is enduringly strong. He is entirely sincere.

He is eternally steadfast. He is immortally graceful. He is the sinner's savior. He is the centerpiece of civilization. He is unparalleled. He is unprecedented. He is supreme. He is the loftiest idea in literature.

He is the highest personality in philosophy. He is the fundamental doctrine of true theology. He supplies the strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and he saves.

He heals the sick. He cleanses the leper. He forgives the sinner and he delivers the captives. Is he your king? Hold on. He's the wellspring of wisdom, the doorway of deliverance, the pathway of peace, the roadway of righteousness.

He is the highway of holiness. He's the gateway of glory. He's the master of the mighty. He's the captain of the conquerors. That's my king. Do you know him? He's indescribable. He's incomprehensible.

He's invincible. He's irresistible. The Pharisees couldn't stand him. Satan couldn't stop him. Pilate couldn't find any fault in him. Herod couldn't kill him. Death couldn't handle him and the grave couldn't hold him.

That's my king. And sometimes you have to remind yourself of that. Everything I just read, every single letter is true. That's the King Jesus. No death can hold him down. No enemy can conquer him. And we come in and we remember the cross even though we go through hell, even though we don't feel like it sometimes, even though life is challenging, there is still a King on a cross and we came to proclaim that today.

Oh, I'm glad I printed that out. I'm pretty encouraged. But remember with the cross, not everyone is a fan. Have you ever been mocked for believing in a Savior who died on a cross? Yeah, there's tremendous scorn, but there's tremendous blessing and healing for us.

Christ Builds His Church Against Every Opposition

We are ridiculed, but we have a relationship. There is mockery, but there is a movement that no one will ever put out. No matter how dark it gets in our country, one thing I'm very hopeful of and we all know this, but it's good to remind ourselves of this, is that Jesus said, I will build My church.

I will. There's no question. And the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The true church. Have you ever noticed that a true church of Jesus Christ will stand the test of time? Now churches can start out good and they will drift sometimes and that's what the enemy does.

Do you think he would love to take me out? I have to live every day with that thought. Knowing that thought. Walking circumspectly, as Paul says, because the days are evil. Knowing, and you look at even major denominations, did you know they used to be very solid?

Methodist? Now ordaining gay clergy or transgenderism was founded by John Wesley. Presbyterians? Founded by John Calvin. Lutheran, Martin Lutheran, on and on it goes. These solid. Episcopalian, when our nation first came over, when the pilgrims and Puritans, they brought a lot of these traditions and some of these denominations.

But a true church will not fail because it's built on Jesus Christ. As soon as you slide off that rock, now you're in trouble. So you ever say, how could that church, how could that church so many years later be like this because they fell off the rock?

They didn't stay on the rock? Because Jesus doesn't fail. His church will never fail. No matter how dark it gets, no matter how much they try to silence free speech and try to silence the churches, the true church will arise.

Why? Because once you have a relationship, even though you struggle with fear, I do, you understand at the end of the day, Jesus is your Savior. And you will deal with that fear and you will follow Him.

Biblical Conviction in a Hostile Culture

So if they say, Shane, you can't preach on Romans 1 anymore. You can't say that's a sin. Well, I have to answer to God, not you. Well, are you gonna go to jail? Okay, I understand that, but I still have eternity with God.

You might lose your life. Yep, that's true. I realize that. I might lose my life. My life is but a vapor here on earth. And you live that way. Now, it doesn't mean you pursue death. You know, I've got some kids to raise.

I've got a church to lead for a while. But I'm not afraid if someone takes me out. I'm actually, you know, well, I'm not gonna go there, but can you imagine heaven right now? I mean, instead of just the garbage, I only wanna stay here to lead this church and my family.

If it was up to me, I'd say, Lord, take me in my sleep. But the cross 2 ,000 years ago still calls out to us today. I believe we have 1 Peter up on the screen for you to say. You see, it's so important for you to see these verses because I don't believe this is just a good excerpt from a book.

This is like God's living, active Word. And you might read something that I'm not even gonna talk about. And it might resonate with you. It might lift you up. It might encourage you. It might convict you.

Knowing Christ as Shepherd Through the Cross

1 Peter, he himself bore our sin in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep and have now returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls.

But I'm wondering, some of you listening or maybe here, are you wondering? Can you truly say that Jesus Christ is your shepherd? I know you know about Him, but do you truly know Him? Do you have a relationship?

That relationship is only possible through the cross. I look to the cross and say, He paid the penalty for me. I repent of my sin and I believe in faith that He saved me. And you experience a new birth.

That's where that term comes from. Born again. I was dead in my sins and trespasses, and then Jesus made me whole and alive again. I've been born again. Not physically, spiritually. Spiritually born again.

Hebrews 12, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, the joy, I mean, talk about, I mean, I don't know if any of us could even get to Gethsemane.

If I knew I was coming, I would be on the road, I would be following Jonah to Tarshish. Get me out of here. But He, what did He do? For the joy that was set before Him, He endured, put up with, held on steadfast, clung to God's will, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

I mean, just imagine Jesus here on earth, then your creation is mocking the Creator, spitting on Him, slapping Him, the crown there on His head, the thorns are thick, and mocking and ridiculing Him. But because of that, He had His eyes set on the joy that was before Him, and He endured the cross.

What was the joy? What was the joy that was set before Him? Millions of people being saved. In Galatians, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by what? By becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.

Embracing the Wondrous Cross and Christian Assurance

And we often sing that song, O wondrous cross. Many of those great hymns were written by men and women who had met the risen Savior. The lines go like this, Upon the cross, my Savior died, and for my sins was crucified.

His love was so great, how can it be? My Savior died, yes, died for me. O wondrous cross, O Calvary, my longing eyes look to Thee. O wondrous cross, where Jesus died, and for my sins was crucified. I'll sing His power while I have breath, I'll sing His glory after death.

Redeemed, redeemed, I know I'm free, I have peace with God and liberty. And so any time we talk about this subject, it does beg the question, do you have this liberty? Do you have this peace? Do you have this assurance?

Have you truly embraced the cross? The message of the cross? What is happening, you'll see in our nation, you'll hear words like watered down. Have you heard that? Seeker sensitive, non-offensive. All of those are anti-biblical.

The Undiluted Gospel and Cultural Opposition

Because the Bible doesn't sugar coat anything. It removes the sugar and gives you the truth. The Bible is seeker sensitive in the sense that it wants seekers to know God, but it's not going to tailor the message based on how they might feel.

It's not going to say, I don't want to be offensive, because actually the pure unadulterated message of the Gospel is offensive. It offends our pride. Somebody who doesn't know the Lord, it offends them.

Have you ever tried to tell them? You know, you're not all that great. Don't say it that way. But explain it better. You need a Savior. You need that cross. And are they filled with, oh man, thank you so much.

Oh, you're right. They humble themselves. How dare you? Isn't that what the transgender movement, Disney and Hollywood and all those are putting? How dare you? How dare you tell me what is right and what is wrong?

How dare you? It's offensive. And that's why they're going to start coming out with legislation. They keep trying to push a lot, I'm telling you here, especially in California. Hate speech, which it just makes me laugh.

Hate speech. Oh, that just means it offends you. That's what it means. It's not hate speech. Because you can tell someone a loving thing and it hurts them. That's not hate speech. But they have to label it that way so then you can be prosecuted as a hater.

Domestic terrorist. I mean, you see what is happening in our culture. There is just the kingdoms colliding. I mean, remember when moms got upset and went to school board meetings throughout our nation?

Wasn't that exciting? Well, they were called domestic terrorists. And as if the Homeland Security didn't have something better to do, they're going to keep an eye on these mama bears. Right up there with Bin Laden.

But why is that? Because the school districts get upset. How dare you? These are our children, not yours. How dare you? And it's this huge battle that we're seeing. It's a spiritual upheaval. And you need to be grounded in the truth and have the cross deal with your sins and bring your sins to the cross.

The Cross as Christianity's Central Point

As I was studying on this, I'm going to close here shortly. At the heart of the city of London stands a cross. I can't pronounce the name of it, but it's a big cross there. All distances across the city are measured from its central point.

So this cross is the central point and all things are measured from it. Locals refer to it simply as the cross. One day a child became lost in London. Walking, lost. His mom, he couldn't find his mom.

He couldn't find anybody. He's crying, he's upset. And a policeman came over to him and said, hey, what's going on? I can try to help you. You don't have their phone number. You don't know their address.

Nothing, the policeman's getting kind of irritated or worried and I don't know what to do with this kid. Where should we take him? Finally, with tears streaming down the boy's face, he said, if you will just take me to the cross, I think I can find my way home from there.

And thank God, how much of us need this? If you can just take me to the cross. If you can just take me to the cross. Some of you, you just need to get your way to the cross. If you can get your way to the cross, you can find your way home from there because the cross is the central point of Christianity.

It is where life and death collide. It is where salvation and judgment go to battle. It is the cross of Christ that set us free. If you can just get me to the cross, I can find my way home from there.

On the cross, it is said that sin was nullified, the sinner was justified, the law was satisfied, and God was glorified. It's an act of worship and reverence. 1 Corinthians 11, 23 through 26. This is a special time for us now because we go into communion.

Communion, Remembrance, and the Blood of Christ

And we remember exactly what I'm talking about. This is our opportunity to remember it. And you don't want to take communion unless you have that genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. And unless you've dealt with sin tonight.

If you come in with besetting sin and, hey, I don't want to repent, I'm going to take communion anyway, Paul gives us a pretty harsh warning. On making sure we don't take communion in an unworthy manner.

And so Paul said to the church here in Corinth, for I receive from the Lord. So Paul received this from the Lord and I'm delivering it to you, the church, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, He took the bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you.

Do this, ah, the power of remembering. The power of remembering. Do this in remembrance of me. So it's not His actual body. We don't believe that. We don't teach that. It's a memorial. Memorial? Yeah, reminder of what happened to His body.

Because by His stripes we are healed and the body had to be bruised. The body had to be broken and then the shedding of blood was next. In the same way also, He took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you will proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. So it's a time of remembering the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

That precious blood. And I'm going to talk about it on Easter and I was going back and forth. I don't want this to be a separate message than Easter Sunday. But something that's really been in my heart is this idea of how precious the blood is.

And Scripture talks about that when people reject Christ, they actually trample the blood underneath. They trample the blood underneath. This wonderful sacrifice. It's like they walk over it and it's no big deal to them.

And what I wanted to mention on Sunday, I'll do it with you too, because it's so important, is I was listening a while back and I had to write it down, I pulled over, and I just almost was in tears because of how profound it was.

And any of you listen to Adrian Rogers on the radio network? He's on there in the evening. He's probably one of my favorite preachers if you ever want to know who I listen to. I don't as much anymore, but read his biography.

Many sermons have really changed my heart back 20, 25 years ago. But he talks about an incident where a man got a call and it wasn't a good call. They said, your son has been involved in an accident. And where is it?

And he explained it's only two miles from his place of work. And so he got to the scene of the accident. He could see the vehicle over there and the police. And he got there and he said, I'm his father, where is he?

And they said they took him away already in the ambulance. He said, okay, well, what hospital was he at? Where was he at? What hospital was he at? They said, I don't know, sir, but he didn't make it. My son didn't make it?

No, your son didn't make it. And they said, well, where was the accident? And they said, right over there is where the accident occurred. And you could see that still on the road, that area of blood that was there.

The blood on the road. And the man is seeing the cars driving over it. And he goes, no, my son's blood, my son's blood. And he stops traffic and he gets his jacket off. And he puts the jacket over his son's precious blood that he died right there and stops traffic.

And how much more when we trample over the blood of Jesus Christ, that precious shed blood that was the remission for our sins. And that's what happens when we trample over it and we don't take it seriously.

It has that same effect on the believer. It's such an important time to remember the blood that was shed. And actually, we believe that during communion, you can experience healing. You can experience being set free because of the blood.

There's so much power.