Christ, Cross, Crown, Cup: updated 11-10-08

Matthew chapter 16 and verse 16. Verse 16 of Matthew chapter 16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

The remainder of our verses will be all in John. Turn to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. We come down in this to verse number 42. And said unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.

Come with me to chapter 19. John chapter 19. I'm sure many, many times we have come to John chapter 19 as we anticipated coming to remember him.

John chapter 19. These verses will all fit together. Very simple.

We're just in our little alphabet ABC. The letter C. Then came Jesus forth, verse 5, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man.

Down to verse 25. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. Our last reading in chapter 18.

John chapter 18. Verse number 11. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath.

The cup which my father giveth me shall I not drink it. In the hallway, in between meetings, I shared this with a dear brother that is a close friend with me. I arrived at these little thoughts.

There used to be a servant of Christ, very quaint, fisher hunter. He said one time, someone asked him, how do you get your sermons up? He said, I don't. I get them down.

Well, I think that's very true when it comes to devotional ministry. I arrived at an assembly and I had been at an all-day meeting. Others were there to speak.

So I moved on. And out front when I'm waiting, preparing for the meeting, I discover that I really don't have all my notes. I have notes, but I don't preach from notes when I'm up here.

But I couldn't find them. So I had to finally pass. So I said, what will I do? I sat there.

And this is a recent time. I come to a message. And I spoke that night at a place called Calvary, the cross of Calvary and the man of Calvary.

You don't need notes to preach on that. It wasn't a sermon either. Here today, as I thought and read the article, that this is the third year now where they requested devotional ministry before the breaking of bread.

And really these verses have emerged from that message, as I thought of them. The Christ. The Christ.

At Dunkerdon, we have now devotional ministry after the breaking of bread. And that's what we're doing just now. I think it's good either both.

I've gone to a morning meeting and all that. And I have left. And sometimes they have read these letters, epistles, or psychopedias, whatever they all are.

And I have said, they have taken away my Lord. I know not where they laid him. So I trust today, as we leave today, as we think of these words.

Peter said these words, most profound words that ever come from the lips of any human being, I do believe. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Christ, the Son of the living God.

Those that the woman witnessed to there in John chapter 4 said, We know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. Now you can just keep on in your thinkings when it comes to that meditation of the Christ. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He is the eternal Son of the eternal God.

And someone asks you, who is God? What is God? You can never give them a better answer than the Lord give to Moses. And what did he say? Moses, you go and tell them that I AM hath sent thee. That's who God is.

The ever existing one. I AM that I AM. The one who ever was, who ever will be.

No change with Him. I think of this for just a moment. The Savior.

We love to speak of our Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. What a wonderful Savior to me.

Walks with me, talks with me, this friend so dear. There's a man named John Newton. Great saint of God.

When he was very old, he had forgotten so many things, he couldn't preach anymore. And this is what he said. There seem to be only two things that I can remember.

The one is this. That I am a great sinner. And the Lord Jesus Christ is a great Savior.

Oh, what a Savior that He died for me. And we can tell you about the Savior as we think about Him as the Savior. The eternal Son of the eternal God.

You know, before He ever left the courts of heaven, He knew all that lay before Him. When He be delivered in the hands of wicked men. And we've meditated on it today.

The cross. The crown of thorns. That we read.

Then came forth Jesus wearing the crown. The Christ. The crown of thorns.

Time is gone here, but we'll close quickly. Year 2000, my father passed away. One of the last things I did with him was I helped him cut down a tree on my brother-in-law's place.

It was a thorn tree. They were long thorns. We cut that tree down and we loaded it with hay.

But I collected those thorns. The hardest thing I ever did. I don't think I cry easy.

But I made a crown of thorns. I took rubber bands. And I will tell you, I cried all the time I did it.

It was the hardest thing I ever did. The crown of thorns. I spoke one time here at La Crosse in the south side to children on that crown of thorns I made.

And another time at Lancaster in the little building there, a sister come to me and she said to me, Don, those children will never forget that lesson on the crown of thorns. He wore the crown of thorns. The cross.

I trust we have come to the cross. My favorite hymn, I would quote it to you. But you know it.

Well, 322. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and poor contempt on all my pride. That's the verse that I need to hear.

And then you know what? I have a second favorite hymn. We just sang it now. When I survey the cross, I begin to sing.

Lord Jesus, I love thee. I love thee for wearing the thorns on my brow. But there is a course to that.

I have rarely ever sung. But I tell you today, I've had some dramatic things happen in my life. And that's the only time I really sing this course.

I think the Lord brings me to those situations. And this is what the course is. Lord Jesus, I love thee.

And it goes on to say, if ever I love thee, Lord Jesus does now. The crown of thorns. The cross.

When I get home to heaven, now that's a wondrous, glorious, grand, beautiful place. Heaven. I don't know what that sphere is like.

But in my human thinking, you know what? I will meet my Savior first of all. That's my one desire. Those women.

Hearts that were beating true to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They stood at the cross. And then the last one we read was the cup.

Whatever curse was mine he bore, there were more than a gall. There in that lone mysterious hour, my cup.