The Road To The Cross

Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.

Transcript

rief And Birth As A Metaphor

unny Sick Notes And Clear Speech

esus Predicts His Death Plainly

rophets Point To The Cross

nswering Skeptics With Common Sense

he Odds Of Fulfilled Prophecy

hy This Matters Now And Next

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Now, I assume that last week might have been a little confusing for some people, and it may have also um I probably was finding it a little bit hard to express myself. Um, and like I've I've said on many occasions, Easter and Christmas, um, those are the most significant times in the Christian calendar that are all about our faith and the journey that we have. But right now we're talking about uh the journey that Jesus had and not all of his ministry, but primarily uh the road to the cross. So I'm gonna continue on from there, but you'll probably find that I overlap a little bit, and then I will finish that up uh for Easter Sunday as well. Now we know that the road to the cross sounds like it's a very bleak terminology, but to everyone it was time full of rejection and pain, but we remember who we were talking about. It was and it is all about Jesus, and Jesus emerged on the other side of the cross into the brilliance of resurrection life. The only one to ever do this. See, the road also revealed the pattern for every single disciple and for anyone since who's been on a journey of darkness. Now, I know I've spoken a few times on uh grief and overcoming grief, um, but as you notice last week I was talking about it's rather ironic, you know, that I'm talking about birth and uh the birth of a child and the pain that the mother goes through and all of this sort of stuff. Because we've got like three friends of ours plus uh a daughter-in-law, uh, that are all in the the um, how should we say, in the baby producing phase of their pregnancy. Now, a few of them have been born, but as per usual, uh my grandson is trying to be a little bit um stubborn in that area, and he's taken a little bit of time to uh show his uh face to the world and let everybody know how blessed we are that he has come into our life. So, with that aside, I want to go on about this because otherwise I'm gonna run out of time like I normally do, and because I'm trying to squeeze so much into a very short period of time. So, I'm not gonna read all of the scriptures, but I want you to note them down for later reference because they are very, very pivotal in our Christian walk, our journey with Jesus to the cross. You see, even as you read the Bible, our understanding is not always clearly understood or communicated by others in the same way for the disciples. You know, I used to always speak in parables and all that sort of stuff. Communicating clearly is always a challenge for us, even in today's constant changing world. But before we get all doom and gloom, let's lighten the mood a little bit, alright? Now, uh these these are actual uh real um real letters or or notes that were sent to school by the parents on behalf of their children. Now, the thing to notice here is that the parents wrote these notes, not the children, you know, like forging mum and dad's signature and saying, Oh, I can't do sport today because I'm sick. So listen to this. This is this is quite funny. Right, so these are the the um notes that the parents uh who are supposed to be a very good educational role model for their kids, they wrote these uh sick notes for their children. Now the first one is my son is under a doctor's care and should not take PE today. Please execute him. I'm serious, that's what I said. Number two, please excuse John, and that's spelled E K S C U S E, right? Please excuse John being absent on January 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, and also the 33rd. Once again, this is what the parents wrote. Number three, please excuse Lisa for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot. Uh number four, please excuse Ray. Friday from school, he has very loose vows. Not bows, vows. And and this one, Megan could not come to school today because she has been bothered by very close veins. I don't know what that's meant to mean. Uh number six, please excuse Jennifer for missing school today. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it Monday, we thought it was still Sunday. Really? And finally, please excuse Jimmy for being it was his father's fault. Now I am totally serious, these are real sick notes sent by the parents, and I think they may have fared better if they got their kids to write their own sick notes. Seriously. Alright, let's let's get back to where we're talking about. The point I'm trying to make here is that no matter how you put something, it is hard to communicate clearly. Sometimes it's difficult to understand some of the cryptic passages of the Bible, but not this passage. Here Jesus speaks plainly, he doesn't employ apostolic language or use a parable with a hidden message. He says, Read my lips. I'm going to Jerusalem to die, and still the disciples didn't get it. To make my point, let's read from the beginning of Luke 18 to 31. Right? Jesus took the twelve disciples aside. We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again. Can you get any clearer than that? I honestly don't think so. The disciples didn't understand any of this. It means that the meaning was hidden from them and they did not know what he was talking about. Even before his birth in Bethlehem, Jesus was on the road to the cross. Now it reminds us of that in Revelation 13:8, where it says, The Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world. See, in this passage, Jesus is moving closer to the cross already. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the south near Jerusalem. He grew up in Nazareth, near the Sea of Galilee. Now, for three years, this is the base of his ministry, and it was all around Capernaum, which is on the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is the largest freshwater lake, about seven miles long and three miles wide. And he visited Jerusalem a few times, but he was basically a country boy who didn't care for the big city. That's the easiest way of putting it. But you know, you notice I said for three years, okay. His ministry only lasted three and a half years, even though he was 33, and they say 33 and a half when he was crucified. Only a very small percentage of that was his ministry because back in those days um they had different age brackets for a person's maturity. Let's not get sidetracked, alright? Now, as we trace the road to the cross, let's learn four important spiritual lessons in this journey. Number one, the road to the cross was predicted by prophets. Now in verse 31, Jesus said, Everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. Now, there are over 300 prophets or prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament, and many of them predict the death in detail. If you aren't convinced the Bible is the supernatural word of God, I invite you to consider the following ten Old Testament prophecies. Alright? Now I'll reiterate that. Now you probably missed that because I managed to stop recording, but I just had a little coffin fit. Now let's get back to this. I'm talking about um ten Old Testament prophecies about the death of Jesus. Well, they were written hundreds of years before Jesus coming to earth. He clearly fulfilled each one of them. And I'm talking about just ten, okay? Now, first off, he was betrayed by a friend, even my close friend whom I trust, he has shared my bread and has lifted up his heel against me. That's in Psalm 41:9, and it's repeated in Mark 14.10. Tells us one of the disciples, we know this was Judas, okay, went to the Jewish authorities and he offered to betray Jesus. So he led them to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and kissed him on the cheek for if there's non-Christians out there listening to this. Number two, Silent was accused. Now he was led like a lamb to slaughter, as a sheep before its shearer is silent. So he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53, 7 says this. Instead of trying to argue for his innocence, it's repeated in Matthew 26, 63, tells us that Jesus remained silent when he was given a chance to defend himself. Now, slapped and spit upon. Oh, yes, I missed one. Uh, we go back to number two, which was just after Jesus was betrayed. Uh, it also says that he was sold for 30 pieces of silver. Uh, if you think the best way, give me my pay so that they paid him in 30 pieces of silver. That's what they're basically saying. That's in Zechariah 11, 12, and it's repeated in Matthew 26, 55. Clearly states that G Judas was paid to betray him. So now we get back to number four, slapping and spitting, okay? Um in Isaiah 56 and Mark 14, 65. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. See this confirms that the Roman soldiers took a whip and tore open the back of Jesus. They plucked out his beard and their foul spittle desecrated the face of the Messiah. What Isaiah wrote seven hundred and fifty years earlier actually came true. Right? Number five, I I want to go through all of these because I think it's very important if you've got uh non-Christians and you want to, you know, open a doorway to you know bringing them to salvation because I think it's a pivotal time, especially with what's going on in the world today, that we don't tread water, we make sure that given the opportunity, we were actually going to be able to preach the gospel and bring others to Christ. Number five talks about how his hands and his feet were pierced. A band of evil men have surrounded me, they have pierced my hand and my feet. That's Psalm 22, 16. When David wrote this psalm in about a thousand BC, crucifixion wouldn't have even been invented as a mode of execution for another four hundred years. Yet John 2027 confirms the sadistic Roman soldiers surrounded Jesus and drove massive nails into his hands and into his feet. Now this is this is only ten prophecies I'm going through. Number seven, uh the soldiers cast lots for his garment. In Psalm 2218, it says, They divided my garments amongst them and cast lots for my clothing. Even this tiny detail was totally fulfilled according to Mark 1524. The Roman soldiers divided up his clothes because he had a seamless garment. They cast lots to see who would get the prize. See, when you're wearing back in those days a seamless garment, that's a very expensive piece of clothing rather than others that are all stitched together. Maybe we can talk about that another time. Now, number eight, I think this one is very, very important. Not a bone was broken. He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. That's in Psalm 3420. It was highly unusual for someone to suffer crucifixion without having some bones broken. In fact, John 19 33 records that the Roman soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves on either side of him, and then when they came to Jesus, he was already dead. So they didn't break his legs. When the Jews killed the Passover lamb, they had instructions that none of its bones were to be broken as our Passover lamb, none of the Jesus' bones were broken either. Now, number nine. Isaiah 53, 9 said Jesus died between two criminals, but according to Matthew 27 57 through to 60, a wealthy man, Joseph of Arimathea, laid Jesus in his own new expensive tomb. And finally number ten, his resurrection. You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let our holy one see decay. Psalm sixteen ten, Jesus died and was buried, and he wasn't abandoned in the grave. His corpse didn't decay according to Matthew twenty eight nine, he came out of the grave and he is alive forever. Now, if you're not all right, okay, rather than me say you're not convinced, I I think people have to do their own research. But if you're skeptical about the Bible, how would you respond to these fulfilled prophecies? You may insist Jesus was just an ordinary man and he was known as like a great prophet or the greatest prophet to walk the face of the earth. Even in the Quran, Jesus is mentioned, and they speak about him being a worldly prophet, he intentionally fulfilled them so everyone would think he was the Son of God. And of course, he knew the prophecies, but there were many of those predictions over which he had no control. So do you think that Judas uh he would have got there and he said, Hey, you know, uh Judas, you're my buddy. Um look, I need one of the prophecies fulfilled, so you have to betray me and ask for some money, you know, like 30 pieces of silver from the uh Sanhedrin. Uh, do you think you can do that for me? Because that fulfills one of my prophets. Great, good on you, way to go. Or can you imagine his conspiring with the Roman soul just by saying, hey, listen guys, don't forget to beat me up, pluck my beard out, and spit on me. And remember, you know, like do a raffle, uh, you know, like a meat raffle and and get tickets for someone to get my uh my clothing. Well, they may have done this if they were, you know, in what is it, world worldwide um wrestling. But you know all that's fake, don't you? Well, if you're still watching wrestling, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but that's what it is. Or perhaps you just believe that Jesus accidentally fulfilled these scriptures and it was a simple matter of chance, which in theory is problematic, but it it is also possible. All right? Now, but let me just Put this uh in another way, all right. Um let's say, for instance, I go to there's a science book, um, and this was quoted to me. I I had to look this up to see whether it was real, because sometimes when people say things from the pulpit, or it's the same with me when I'm giving a message. Am I really and truly telling you the actual facts? That's why I give you the scriptures, that's why I get you to look them up. Okay, but listen to this, and I did do my research. There's a there's a a scientist uh by the name of Dr. Peter Stoner, right? Uh he has calculated the mathematical odds of one man in history fulfilling eight of these prophecies, you know, and they say it's one in one thousand and seventeen. That's one followed up by 17 zeros. Okay. To comprehend the magnitude of this number, take the 1,017 gold dollar coins, right, and mark across on one of those coins, then dump them in the state of Western Australia, all mixed up. Now, for those that know Australia, Western Australia is like half of the whole of the Australian continent. Now, the entire state would be covered by a depth of two feet. You fly over WA and parachute out, and then you fling the um coins over the land, reaching them from one end of it to the other as you're floating down. Um, by the time you get to the bottom, you've run out of coins. Now, what's the chances of you being able to find the one dollar coin, you know, that you dropped out of that 1017? If they're all mixed up and they're flung all over the place, right? This just shows how precious our faith is to those that believe. And it is that is not good enough for you. Those odds are fulfilling just eight prophecies. Now, Dr. Stoner goes on and writes the odds of randomly fulfilling forty-eight prophecies, which is one in ten thousand one hundred and fifty-seven, and Jesus didn't just fulfill eight or forty-eight, he fulfilled over three hundred prophecies. How can you maintain intellectual integrity if you ignore that sort of evidence? Now I'm gonna finish here because I want to do the next sermon while I'm on a roll. I really, really want you people to understand the probability of the prophecies being fulfilled not only by one person, but over such an incredible time span, and even to the extent where you are prophetically predicting that Jesus would die by crucifixion when it never actually existed when the prophetic words were spoken. It's like if I just quickly jump forward to Revelation, we know what's going on in the Middle East and all of that sort of stuff, okay, with Israel and all of that. Now it talks about um in the scriptures about fiery darts shot at Israel. Now, when you read in depth in that relationship to um the end times and also um Revelation, they're actually talking about ballistic missiles. Now they can't say ballistic missiles because even the words weren't even existing back then. Does that make sense? I hope it does. Now, we are gonna go on uh with this next week. Okay, bye for now.