Articles
Six Hours that Changed the World
Six Hours That Changed the World
By Kent Heaton
“Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Heb. 5:7-9).
This morning we prepared ourselves to worship Jesus Christ. Two thousand years ago He prepared Himself to worship His Father.
We were in the comfort of our homes. Jesus was agonizing in grief in a garden.
We enjoyed a breakfast meal. Jesus would forgo eating.
Our day is planned with joy. His day was planned for horror.
We had a night’s rest. He would have a restless sleep on Wednesday and find no sleep before death on Friday.
No one will betray us today. Judas betrayed Jesus.
No one will come to arrest us. Jesus was bound with chains and dragged away.
We will assemble with people who care about us. A huge mob will descend on Jesus to kill him.
We will sit for an hour in the comfort of a building. Jesus would be dragged from place to place into mock courts of shame.
We will fret about the sermon going to long. Jesus will be beaten, spit on, slapped, scorned, humiliated, taunted and mocked.
Our day will be filled with naps, watching a movie or shopping. Roman soldiers will tie Jesus to a post and beat him with a whip shredding His back in ribbons of bleeding flesh.
We may decide not to attend an evening service this day. Jesus would be nailed to a cross.
Our day will be over quickly with an hour of church this morning and maybe an hour of church tonight. Plans will fill our minds as we think of what we want to do this week. Children will laugh, couples will enjoy a meal together, recreation will fill the hours of our day and life will be remembered as good.
Jesus will suffer for six hours on the cross. His body will writhe in agony for six hours. The back scourged earlier will scrape against the blood covered cross for six hours. He will cry out to His Father. He show love to His mother. His forgiveness will be uttered to the rabble below Him. He will endure a burning thirst. A fellow prisoner will receive grace. His mission will be finished. He will die.
Six hours. The world was created in six days. Jesus suffered for six hours to redeem the world from sin. God rested on the seventh day. Jesus rested in the seventh hour. His work was finished. Thank God for those horrible six hours that Jesus suffered for me. As I worship may I never forget the final six hours of the life of Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord.
“In the Cross and Him who hung upon it, all things meet; all things subserve it, all things need it, it is their center and interpretation. For He was lifted up on it, that He might draw all men and all things to Him.” (John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, VIII, 1843)
The Drawing Power of the Cross
By Bubba Garner
“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name. Then a voice came from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, An angel has spoken to Him. Jesus answered and said, This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying by what death He would die. The people answered Him, We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man? Then Jesus said to them, A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them” (John 12:27-36).
“And, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” Death has a natural drawing power, an attraction that is both captivating and frightening. There is horror, mystery, and uncertainty attached to it. But we are drawn to Jesus’ death for different reasons.
We are drawn to His attitude toward death. He spent His whole life in service to His people, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,” so that He could ultimately give His life “a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Death is man’s greatest fear; for Jesus, it was His greatest feat.
We are drawn to His attitude in death. He carried His own cross “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7) and gave no answer to the abuse hurled at Him. Even when the nails were being driven through His innocent hands, He prayed for the pardon of His executioners.
We are drawn to the significance of His death. “It is finished” was His cry. Not “I” am finished; “it” is finished, what He came to do. His sacrifice for sins completed, the debt paid, He could now await His glorious resurrection and ascension to the right hand of His Father.
Through His death, we have life. Don’t be drawn away from Christ and Him crucified. It is “to those who are perishing, foolishness, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God” (1Cor. 1:18).
A Moments Wisdom
--A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.
--My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.
(Winston Churchill)
--The secret to having a good marriage is to understand that marriage must be total, it must be permanent, and it must be equal.
--What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.
--More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better often comes after the worse.
--Newlyweds become oldyweds, and oldyweds are the reasons that families survive and succeed.
--Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate.
Test Your Bible Knowledge
1. List two Proverbs about raising children. __________ & __________
2. List two Proverbs about being a good spouse. __________ & __________
3. List two Proverbs about being a good citizen. __________ & __________
4. List two Proverbs about being a good child. __________ & __________
5. List two Proverbs about aging with grace and wisdom. __________ & __________
6. List two Proverbs about exercising self-control. __________ & __________
Upcoming Sermons
5/23/21 AM - “Come Let Us Reason Together”: The Logic of Scripture; PM - Mary: “Blessed Among Women”
5/30/21 AM - “Aaron Shall be Gathered to His People”; PM - Andy Brenton
