DATE: – SUNDAY 1ST MARCH, 2020
TOPIC: – BEHOLDING THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST
BIBLE PASSAGE: – Matthew 27:27-56
MEMORY VERSE: – “And they crucified Him, and parted His garments, casting lots; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet “They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots” (Matthew 27:35).
INTRODUCTION: – The Roman Soldiers were the ones authorized to carry-out the death sentence which had been passed by Pontius Pilate, and into the hands the governor delivered the Saviour (Matt.27:26,27,54; Jh.19:23).
With gross abuse they executed their task. Adding insult to injury, they exposed the Lord Jesus unto the indignities of a mock coronation – robbing them in scarlet, crowning Him with thorns, hailing Him as King of the Jews. Giving full expression to their enmity, they spat upon Him, smote Him with a reed and mocked Him. Restoring to Him His clothing, they conducted Him to Golgotha and affixed Him to the cross. Having gambled for His garments, they sat down to watch Him – to frustrate any attempt at rescue, which his friends might make, and to wait until life was extinct.
LESSON OUTLINES
A) What Did The Soldiers See As They Sat Down To Watch?
1) The beheld the most amazing event of all history, the most awe-inspiring spectable ever set before the eyes of men, the most tragic and yet most glorious deed ever per-men, the most tragic and yet most glorious deed ever performed. They beheld God incarnate taken by wicked hands and slain-yet at the same time the Redeemer voluntarily laying down His life for those who have forfeited every claim upon Him. To these soldiers it was an ordinary event – the execution of a criminal. And thus it is with most of those who hear the Gospel, it fails upon their as a religious common place. To those Roman soldiers, at least for a while, Christ appeared to them only as a dying Jew. Thus it is with the multitude today – to them the Lamb of God posses neither form nor loveliness, and when He is set before them in the mirror of the Word, they see in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. His peerless person has no attraction for them – His righteous claims are dis-regarded – His scepter is flouted-for His atoning blood, they feel no need.
2) They beheld the incomparable perfections of the crucified One. How immeasurably different the department of the suffering Saviour from what they had witnessed from others in similar circumstances! No cursing of His lot, no reviling of His enemies, no maledictions upon themselves. The very reverse – His lips are engaged in prayer! “Father” He says, “forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). How amazed they must have been as they hear that Blessed One on the tree making intercession for the transgressors (Isa.5312). The two thieves who were crucified with Him mocked the Redeemer (Matt.27:44), but at the eleventh hour one of them was “granted repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18) and turning to Jesus he said “Lord remember me when thou comest into Thy Kingdom” (Luke 23:42).
The Lord did not decline his appeal and he say he had sinned beyond the reach of mercy but answered, “verily, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Lk.23:43).
Thus, they witnessed an unparalleled display of sovereign grace unto one of the greatest of sinners.
3) They beheld most mysterious phenomena. They had sat down to “watch Him”, but after a while they were no longer able to do so. At midday it suddenly became as midnight (Matt.27:45). It was as though the sun refused to shine on such scene, as though nature itself was mourning over such a sight! During those three hours a transaction took place between Christ and God, which is infinitely too sacred for finite eyes to gaze upon – a mystery which no mortal mind can fully enter into.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The Roman Soldiers sat to watch Him but they saw more than they expected for as soon as the Saviour committed His Spirit into the Father’s hands; the veil of the temple tore into two, the earth quake, the rocks rent and the graves were opened (Matt.27:51-52). No ordinary sufferer was this. It was the Creator of heaven and earth expiring – and heaven and earth here expressed their sympathy such that the centurion exclaimed, “Truly, this was the Son of God” (Matt.27:54).
QUESTIONS
- What was the primary purpose of the soldiers sitting and watching?
- Enumerate what they saw?
DATE: – SUNDAY 8TH MARCH, 2020
TOPIC: – BEHOLD THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST (Part 2)
BIBLE PASSAGE: – Luke 23:32 – 49
MEMORY VERSE: – “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father into Thy hands I commend My Spirit; and having said thus, He gave up th ghost” (Luke 23:46).
INTRODUCTION: – It was John the Baptist that first proclaimed to his hearers “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (Jh.1:29).
Thus, presenting Jesus Christ as a type of Lamb use in Old Testament sacrifices especially the Passover, but provided by God Himself to pay the death penalty that all humanity deserved for rebellion against God (Isa.53:7). By beholding Him crucified, we see Him broke the power of guilt and sin and opened the way to God for all who accept Jesus as forgiver of their sins and Leader of their lives.
LESSON OUTLINES
A) What I See As I Behold Him Crucified
1) I perceive here, an unveiling of the character of man (Eph.5:13). Now Christ is the true Light (John 1:9), the essential, divine, all-revealing light; consequently all men and all things stood exposed in His presence. The worst things predicted in the Scriptures of fallen human nature, were verified and exemplified in the days of Christ. God says that the heart of man is “desperately wicked” (Jer.17:9) and it was demonstrated to be such by the treatment meted out to the Beloved Son of God. Scarcely was He born into this world than a determined effort was made to slay Him. Though He constantly went about doing good, relieving the distressed and ministering to both the souls and bodies of the needy, yet so little was He appreciated that He had to say “The foxes have holes……… but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head” (Matt.8:20). On one occasion, “they besought Him that He would depart out of their coast” (Matt.8:34).
But not only was Christ unwelcome here, men hated Him and that “without a cause” (Jh.15:25). He gave them every reason to admire and adore Him but they had an inveterate detestation of Him. The Word of Truth declares that “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom.8:7). Men do not believe it, in fact most of them pretend the very opposite. Nevertheless, at Calvary, they gave proof of their hatred of God. Multitudes go through the form of paying homage to God, but it is a “god” of their own imagination.
They hate the true and living God, and were it possible they would rid the universe of His existence. This is very clear form their treatment of Christ, for He was none other than “God manifest in the flesh” (1Tim.3:16) and Him they hated and wounded to death, and nothing short of His cruel death by crucifixion would appease them.
Here at Calvary the real character of man was revealed and the desperate wickedness of his heart laid bare. There it was shown that he was capable of the blackest of all crimes. Then let us not be surprised that the history of mankind is written in tears and blood.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The height of the wickedness of mankind was manifested in the dastard act of rejection and crucifixion of Christ at Calvary. Beholding Him crucified is to see what the Son of God went through in the hands of His creation.
QUESTIONS
- What can you see as regarding the character of mankind as you behold the crucified Christ?
- What did man profited in crucifying Christ at Calvary?
DATE: – SUNDAY 15TH MARCH, 2020
TOPIC: – BEHOLDING THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST (Part 3)
BIBLE PASSAGE: – John 19: 13 – 34
MEMORY VERSE: – “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2Corinthians 5:21).
INTRODUCTION: – The ninth stage of Christ’s sufferings was perhaps the worst and most fearful. It’s not only involved physical torture, but also the Spiritual anguish of an unimaginable sense of separation from God, which is the ultimate consequence of our sin. The cry of the Lord in Aramaic “My God …… why hast Thou forsaken me” (Matt.27:46) mark the climax of Christ’s suffering for a spiritually lost world. The cry indicates Christ experienced the separation from God that was in stire for all mankind as a result of sin. This sense of separation was intensified because Christ; as our substitute, actually took upon Himself the full weight of guilt and punishment for every sin that has ever been or ever will be committed (2Corint.5:21).
LESSON OUTLINES
A) What I See As I Behold Him Crucified
1) I see here, an unveiling of sin. Sin! that “abominable thing” which the Lord hates (Jer. 44:4) but which is regarded so lightly by those who commit it. Sin! which caused our first parents to be banished from Eden and which is responsible for all the wants and woes that are in the world today. Sin! which produces strife and bloodshed and has turned this “land of the living” into a mammoth cemetery! Sin! that hideous monster we so much dislike hearing about, and which we are so ready to gloss over and excuse. Sin! over which Satan employs all his subtle arts to render attractive, setting it forth in the most appealing colours and win some garbs.
One of the great designs of the Incarnation was to bring to light the hidden things of darkness. The personal presence lere of the Holy One acted like a brilliant light being turned on in a long-neglected room, revealing its squalor and filth (Jh.15:22).
As evil as man has shown himself all through his history, the coming of Immanuel to this earth brought sin to such a head that all that which had gone before was relatively but a fulfilling thing when compared with the monstrous wickedness which was done against love incarnate. In the treatment which the Son of God received at the hands of men, we see sin in its hideous reality, revealed in its true nature as contempt of God, rebellion against Him. Here at Calvary we behold the climax of sin and the fearful and horrible lengths to which it is capable of going! That which germinated in Eden culminated in the crucifixion at Calvary.
We see also the fearful wages which sin pays – death, departure from god. Since Christ hung there as the sin-bearer of all who believe in Him, He received the punishment which was due unto them.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
We cannot even begin to comprehend the sense of abandonment and isolation that Jesus from God felt as He hung on the cross. He, we see God the Son, the Creator of the universe (Jh.1:1-3), not only rejected by His creation, but also isolated from the One who is everywhere. Even though He had never sinned, God made Him “to be sin for us” (2Corint.5:21, Isa.53:4-5). He died, forsaken so that we would never have to be forsaken.
QUESTIONS
- What is the significance of Christ’s death on the Cross in relation to our sin?
- Why was Christ forsaken on the cross?
DATE: – SUNDAY 22ND MARCH, 2020
TOPIC: – BEHOLDING THE CRUCIFIED (Part 4)
BIBLE PASSAGE: – Mark 15:16 – 41
MEMORY VERSE: – “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45).
INTRODUCTION: – God so loved the world (Jh.3:16). This is the heart and purpose of God for mankind. This is the great truth that motivated God’s plan of Salvation for mankind. God’s love is deep and wide enough to accommodate and embrace all persons (1Tim.2:4).
Thus, He gave His ONLY Begotten Son (who also gave Himself willingly) as an offering to pay the price for the sin of all humanity. This act was one of complete, under-served-ineffable love.
LESSON OUTLINES
A) What I See As I Behold Him Crucified
1) I Perceive An Unveiling Of The Character Of God
The heavens declare His glory and the firmament shows His handiwork, but nowhere are His perfection more solemnly and illustriously displayed than at the cross.
* See here His ineffable holiness. The holiness of God is the delight He has in all that is pure and lovely; and therefore does His nature abominate and burn against whatever is evil. God hates sin passionately wherever it is found and He made no exception of Christ when He beheld it lying by imputation upon His beloved Son. There God had “laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa.53:6). He dealt with Him accordingly pouring out His Holy wrath upon Him. God “is of purer eyes than to behold evil ………” (Hab.1:13) and therefore did He turn His back upon the sin-bearer-the Saviour Jesus Christ. “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” The suffering Saviour cried, and then answered His own query. “Thou art Holy” (Psa.22:1,3).
* See how God’s inflexible justice. The pronouncement of His law is “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” Ezek.18:4) and no deviation from it can be made, even when it concerned His only begotten Son, bearing the sin of humanity, for Jehovah has expressly declared that He, “will by no means clear the guilty” (Ex.34:7). But will He not make an exception of that One whom He testifies is the Lamb “without blemish and without spot”? (1Pet.1:9). No, for though Christ was sinless both by nature and by action, yet because the sins of His people had been laid upon Him, God “spared not His own Son (Rom.8:32). Because sin was transformed to Him, punishment must be visited upon Him, and therefore did god cry, “Awake, O Sword…..” (Zech.13:7). God would not abate one iota of His righteous demand or allow sentiment to sully the fair face of Hus government. He claims to be par excellence the Judge who is without respect of persons” (1Pet.1:17), and fully was that demonstrated at Calvary by refusing to exempt the Person of His Beloved Son, the one in whom His Soul delegated (Isa.42:1), when occupying the place of guilty.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
God is holy, He will never meddle or condole sin. In fact He hate sin and detest anywhere it appears. That is why He is inflexible in His judgment of sin, He does not respect the person of a sinner no matter who he is.
QUESTIONS
- Can God change His standard for anyone?
- Why did God not spare His Beloved Son?
DATE: – SUNDAY 29TH MARCH, 2020
TOPIC: – BEHOLDING THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST (Part 5)
BIBLE PASSAGE: – Luke 23: 24 – 49
MEMORY VERSE: – “And the people stood beholding. And rulers also with them derided Him, saying, He saved others, let Him save Himself, if He be Christ, the chosen of God (Luke 23:35).
INTRODUCTION: – One of the surest proofs of the presence of darkness and corruption in the human heart is the fact that people take pleasure in violence, blood letting and death. We see it in the Roman and Greek arenas, where spectators cleared as people fought and killed each other. We sense it in the onlookers who watched Jesus die a horrible death. We see the evidence of it in the history of the persecution of Christians and others.
The Lord Jesus died to change this attitude of the heart and to show true love for life and humanity. He wants us to see the impact of sin on human life through the eyes of compassion and to hear the groaning of suffering people with a willingness to respond to their hurts and needs.
LESSON OUTLINES
A) What I See As I Behold Him Crucified
1) I see here God’s amazing grace (Rom.5:8). Had He so pleased, god could have consigned the whole of Adam’s race to everlasting woe. That is what each of us richly deserve. And why should He not do so? By nature we are depraved and corrupt; by practice incorrigible rebels with no love for Him and no concern for His glory. But out of His own goodness and graciousness, He determined to save a people from their sin, to redeem them by Christ (Eph.1:6). He determined to pluck them by Christ (Eph.1:6). He determined to pluck them as brands from the burning that they might be the eternal monuments of His mercy. And because it was wholly outside of their power to make atonement for their fearful crimes, He Himself provided an all-sufficient sacrifice for them. He is “the God of all grace” )1Pet.5:10) and innumerable tokens and proofs has He given of this. But nowhere were the “riches of His grace” (Eph.2:7) so lavishly and so wondrously displayed as at Calvary.
2) I see here God’s manifold wisdom: – The Word of Truth declared “There shall in no wise enter into it …..” (Rev.21:27). Then how is it possible that I can ever gain admittance into the heavenly Jerusalem? How can it be that one so completely devoid of righteousness, could ever receive the divine approbation? The law says “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” and I have sinned and broken the law, How then can I escape its penalty? Since I am a spiritual pauper, how can the necessary ransom be procured?
Those are problems that no human intelligence can solve Nor is the knot to be cut by an appeal to the bare mercy of God, for His mercy is not an attribute which over-rides His justice and integrity. But at the cross, the divine perfections shone out in glorious unity like the blending of colours in the rainbow. There “mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Ps.85:10). God’s justice was satisfied by Christ and therefore His mercy flows freely to all who repent and believe.
God’s grace reigns “through righteousness (Rom.5:21), and Christ’s blood can cleanse the foulest. The wisdom of God appears in Creation and Providence, but nowhere so grandly as at the cross.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
It is only in the person of Christ I stand approved before God, for I am clothed with His meritorious perfections (Isa.61:10). The whole ransomed Church of God can say of Christ (Isa.53:5, 1Pet.2:24). And faith individualized it and declares “I am crucified with Christ ….. who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20-21). Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
QUESTIONS
- How does grace flow from Calvary?
- Illustrate the wisdom of God from Calvary point of view.