Borrowed Cross

[0:00] on Good Friday, Jesus borrowed a cross. You see, there was a man who that cross belonged to.

[0:14] I don't know if you know him. When Jesus was in trial before Pilate and others, Pilate, seeking to release him, said, I find no guilt in him, but you have a custom.

[0:30] That I should release one man before Passover. So here's the chance. Here's the chance to release to you the King of the Jews.

[0:41] Yet his own people said, No, not this man. Away with him. Crucify him. Give to us Barabbas.

[0:55] Barabbas, a man in prison for insurrection, in prison for fighting and murdering Romans. A man whose sentence was death and who had a cross with his name on it was released to the people and Jesus took his place.

[1:13] You see, the cross that Jesus hung on was not his own. It wasn't his own because Pilate saw that he was innocent. He was an innocent man. This man has done nothing deserving death.

[1:27] This cross did not belong to Jesus. The cross did not belong to Jesus because he had no sin. He had no sin.

[1:38] The wages of sin is death. Yet Jesus, with no sin, was not due death. The cross did not belong to Jesus because it belonged to Barabbas.

[1:56] The cross belonged to Barabbas, who was under trial, who I'm sure that Pilate would have thought, here's a man that is never going to escape his destiny on the cross.

[2:08] This man is sentenced for death, for treason against Rome. There's no way they're going to pick him. There's no way that I'm ever going to release him. He's going to die.

[2:20] So if there's any prisoner that I should put up against Jesus for release, then it's Barabbas because nobody's going to pick him and I'm never going to release him. Yet Jesus hung on his cross when the people were shouting crucify him.

[2:35] You see, Jesus hung on a borrowed cross because the cross didn't belong to his, his self. The cross didn't belong to Jesus.

[2:45] The cross belonged to you and me. You and me. That's what it says in Isaiah 53. Surely he has carried our sins, our iniquities, surely the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.

[3:11] Who was in the crowd shouting crucify him? Who was being released when it should have been them on the cross? Was it not you and I?

[3:25] Was it not us? Was it not us? Was it not us? Jesus borrowed a cross for a very specific purpose and that was to show the love of God.

[3:43] He knew it was coming and he knew it wasn't his. He knew it was ours. Yet he said to Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

[4:01] for God so loved you and me that he gave Jesus his one and only begotten Son on the cross, our cross, so that whoever believed in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

[4:23] Why do we call this Good Friday? Well, because Jesus borrowed a cross that was not his own but was ours. Why do we call it Good Friday? Because Jesus did not lose on the cross but he won.

[4:38] And if you believe in him, then you who were dead in your trespasses, God made alive together with him by forgiving us of our trespasses, cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, he set it aside, nailing it to the cross.

[5:03] And in doing so, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and he put them to open shame. You see, the cross that he borrowed, the people thought it put him to shame.

[5:14] No, no, no. It put the rulers and authorities to shame. It nailed our sins to the cross and it cancelled our debt. He borrowed a cross for a day so that me and you could have an eternity with him.

[5:34] And so what do we do? Do we trust in him? There are many of us here that we do. And we are bound by this blood that sets us free.

[5:46] And so let us give praise for today is a good day. It is a day that has released us from our bondage to sin and death and has freed us from the darkness that once captured us.

[6:03] Let us sing together for the salvation that has bought us in Christ's blood. Let us do that now. Here we is. Let us do it. There we go.

[6:14] There we go. Thank you. Let us do it. Thank you.