The Hour Has Come

This is Sam from the Masking Journey Podcast, and our goal with the podcast has helped you to try to find your way in this difficult world. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

This is the Truth Network. Do you feel like your efforts to reach God, find God, and please God are futile? Do you feel like your faith is dead or alive? Today, Pastor Russ Andrews will walk us through Scripture to answer these questions. Join us on Finding Purpose, a local triangle ministry glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living.

For more information and to connect with Russ Andrews and Finding Purpose, you can visit us online at findingpurpose.net or connect with us on Facebook. Now let's listen to Russ Andrews as he teaches us how to be a Christian without being religious. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank You so much for sending Your Son into this world to be the perfect Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world. Lord, we thank You for the cross.

We cling to the cross. Without the cross, Lord, there would be no hope for any of us. So, Lord, we praise You for the cross. We thank You for Your willingness to submit to Your Father's will and go to the cross, take upon Yourself our sins. We love You, Lord Jesus. We thank You for bringing us here tonight, and I pray, Lord, that Your Word will go forth now and accomplish the purpose for which You intend. It's in Your name that I pray.

Amen. So tonight we're going to talk about the cross. You see, from the moment Jesus was born, He lived and moved according to this Father's plan, according to God's time schedule. John chapter 7 verses 1 through 8 says, After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea, because the Jews there were waiting to take His life. But when the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus' brothers came up to Him and said, and the guys, they were mocking Him, You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret.

Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world. For even his own brothers did not believe in Him. Therefore, Jesus told them, The right time for Me has not yet come. For you, any time is right.

The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that what it does is evil. You go to the feast. I'm not yet going up to this feast, because for Me, the right time has not yet come. In John chapter 12 verses 23 and 27, Jesus said, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?

No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name. See, one of the things we learn about the Bible, from the Bible, about God, is that He's a God of order, precision, and timeliness. He does everything according to His divine plan that was conceived in His mind before He even created the world. He moves history along by His providential will and sovereign power. He is in total control, which is why we shouldn't worry about what tonight?

The election. After all, history is His story. All of God's actions occur based upon His schedule, His divine clock. He's never ahead of time, and guess what? He's never late.

J.I. Packer said, He knows and foreknows all things, and His foreknowledge is foreordination. He therefore will have the last word both in world history and in the destiny of every man. Tonight's message is entitled, The Hour Has Come. Man, this was the very hour that the Son of Man would bring glory to His Heavenly Father, and this was the hour for which Jesus was born.

Now I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to Mark chapter 15, and let's look at this hour. Beginning with verse 21, we read that a certain man from Cyrene Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull, and then they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it, and they crucified Him.

Dividing up His clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was the third hour, that's nine in the morning, when they crucified Him. The written notice of the charge against Him read, The King of the Jews. They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left.

Now some of you may have noticed in some of your chapters there that verse 28 is not listed there, and the reason is that some manuscripts don't contain a particular verse, and some do, and this is the verse that is left out in most manuscripts. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, He was numbered with the transgressors. Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, so you who go, so you who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself. In the same way the chief priest and the Pharisees and the disciples in the same way the chief priest and the teachers of the law mocked Him among themselves. He saved others, they said, but He can't save Himself.

Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe. You think they would have believed? Remember when Jesus said, even if a man were to rise from the dead they still would not believe. And He later did what?

Rose from the dead. Those crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him. At the sixth hour that would be noon, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eloi Eloi lama sabbathami, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When some of those standing near nearby heard this they said, listen, He's calling out to Elijah. One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick and offered it to Jesus to drink.

Now leave Him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take Him down, He said. And with a loud cry Jesus breathed His last. And at that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion who stood there in front of Jesus saw how he died he said, surely this man was the Son of God. And tonight what I want to do in our Romanian time is I want to show you why this hour was and is the most important hour in the history of the world. First, this hour fulfilled the most important prophecies found in Scripture. Second, this hour opened the doorway to heaven. Third, this hour both satisfied the justice of God and appeased His wrath. Fourth, this hour men resulted in the redemption of mankind. And finally, this hour makes it possible for any man to come into the very presence of God and have peace with Him. This hour is the most important hour in the history of the world because of one object.

What is that object? The cross. The cross. The crucifixion is the climax of history.

A.W. Tozer said the cross of Christ is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men. Now here's the first truth that I want us all to focus on. God prophesied about the cross in the very beginning. In Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, which is known as the proto-Uongelion, which means the first gospel, we find the very first mention of the gospel in the Bible.

In this one verse, we basically see the entire gospel. But we learn in this verse that after Adam and Eve sinned, God judged the world. He judged the woman and what? Childbirth. He judged the man and his what?

Work. He judged the earth. And He also judged the serpent. In Genesis 3 15, we see exactly how God judged Satan. God said to Satan, the serpent, and I'll put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and hers.

He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. So right here, men, we see war breaking out between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Let me ask you a question. Can you see a veiled reference to the cross in this verse? Let me try to explain it. First, who exactly is the seed of the woman?

By the way, that word, that seed is singular. Who's it pointing to? Jesus. Go to the gospel of Luke chapter 3 and you'll see that Luke traces the lineage of Christ all the way back to Eve. Galatians 4 4 says, but when the time had fully come, God sent his son born of a who? Woman, a virgin. Isaiah 7 14 says, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin will be with the child and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel, which means what? God with us.

God with us. Listen, this miraculous sign to all mankind was that this child was the promised seed of the woman. That's what the virgin birth was all about. It was a sign from God that this baby Jesus was the promised Messiah. He was the promised seed of the woman. In Genesis 3 15, God told the serpent and you will strike his heel.

Some translations say you will bruise his heel. So when did this happen? It happened when those Roman soldiers took those those wrought iron nails and drove them through the wrist of Jesus and through his heels and it was a bruising blow, but it was not a fatal blow.

Why? Because three days later Jesus did what? He arose from the grave. You see at the cross Jesus was victorious over sin, death and Satan. The seed of the woman delivered a fatal blow to the seed of the serpent when Jesus crushed his head.

Where? At the cross. Colossians 3 15 says, and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. So let me ask you, can you see the gospel message in Genesis 3 15? And do you understand why it's now called the proto-Euangelion, the first gospel? It's the first mention of the gospel in the Bible and the gospel is all about the cross.

Never lose sight of the cross because your salvation and my salvation depended upon what Jesus would do on the cross. Now listen, I want to share with you a few more prophecies that were fulfilled from the Old Testament at the cross and I want you to really notice the accuracy of scripture. This is when you really begin to realize how supernatural the Bible is, that it was God-breathed, that it was inspired by the Holy Spirit. In Psalm 22 verse 18 which was written a thousand years before the birth of Christ, David wrote, they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. Mark 15 verse 24 says, dividing up his clothes they cast lots to see what each would get. In Isaiah chapter 53 verse 12, 700 years before the birth of Christ, Isaiah prophesied he was numbered with the transgressors.

Mark 15 verse 27 says, they crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. Psalm 22 verses six through eight, David writes, but I'm a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me.

They hurl insults, shaking their heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him since he delights in him. Mark 15 verses 29 through 32 says, those who pass by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, so you who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself. In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves.

He saved others they said, but he can't save himself. Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe. And those who were crucified beside him also heaped insults on him.

In Psalm 22 verse 16, David said, they have pierced my hands and my feet. Mark records for us in 15 verse 24, then they crucified him. Do you see the accuracy of Scripture? There's no other religious book in the world that contains predictive prophecy. Not the Quran, not the religious books of Hinduism or Buddhism, not the sayings of Confucius, not the book of Mormonism.

No other religion has a book like the Bible. Let me pause for a moment and remind you again that Psalm 22 was written around 1000 BC. Rome did not come into existence for another 250 to 300 years and it was the Romans who perfected crucifixion into the most horrible type of execution an evil mind can conceive and it points men to the depravity of the human heart. The criminal was scourged usually the place of execution and forced to carry the cross beam to the spot where poles had already been erected. His criminal charge was then written on a plaque and nailed above his head on the pole. The prisoner was commonly tied or sometimes nailed to the cross beam with the nails hammered through the wrist of the criminal since the bones in the hand could not support the weight. The beam was then raised and fixed to the upright pole. If the executioners wished a particularly slow and agonizing death, do you know what they did? They would place a block on the pole where you could sit or a place for your feet to support you. Death came about through loss of blood circulation followed by coronary collapse.

It could take days for a man to die so often what the soldier would do is would bring a club and break the criminal's legs which caused massive shock and it expedited death. I wasn't aware of this but usually a body was left on the cross to rot but in some instances the body was given to relatives or friends for burial. That's what the Lord went through for you and me. The prophet Amos who lived 750 years before the birth of Christ prophesied in Amos chapter 8 verse 9 and listen to this. In that day declares the sovereign Lord I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

When? At noon. What day was Amos pointing to? He was pointing to the very day Jesus was crucified on the cross. Mark 15 33 says at the sixth hour noon darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And so for three hours men during the middle of the day darkness covered the land of Israel.

This was truly a miracle of God and it's reminiscent of what God did when he sent the plague of darkness over the land of Egypt during the time of Moses. So why did God send this darkness? Well it's because darkness is symbolic of our separation from God who is the source of light and life. You see things need light to live. We need light to live.

And Jesus said what? I am the light of the world. Do you want to have life? And I don't just mean eternal life. I mean life, peace right now. Jesus is the only source of that.

But during this hour darkness covered the land. I believe this is because in this very moment I believe that Jesus took upon himself your sins and my sins. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, God made him who had no sin to be sinned for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Man this is such an important verse to understand. See Jesus never committed any sin. He was the perfect Lamb of God. However at the cross Jesus took our sins upon Himself and He endured the punishment that we deserve, namely death and eternal separation from God. However by a marvelous exchange God had made it possible man for you and us to receive Christ's righteousness. And Jesus took upon Himself our sins so that we can have faith in Him. We can have fellowship with God who becomes our Heavenly Father the moment we believe. And I'm going to tell you something guys the older I get the more I love that fellowship with my Heavenly Father.

I find myself talking to Him all day long and He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own. See this is the Gospel and this is what the cross is all about. And this is why this hour is the most important hour in the history of the world. In Psalm 22 verse 1 David writes, my God, my God why have you forsaken me? In that hour when Jesus when darkness covered the land Jesus cried out to His Heavenly Father, my God, my God why have you forsaken me? This cry I don't believe was one so much of physical pain even though Jesus was certainly going through excruciating pain but I believe it was the pain of a soul that feels forsaken. Tim Keller captures this moment in his book King's Cross. He writes this forsakenness, this loss was between the Father and the Son who had loved each other from all eternity. This love was infinitely long, absolutely perfect and Jesus was losing it. Jesus was being cut out of the dance. Jesus the maker of the world was being unmade.

Why? Because Jesus was experiencing our judgment day. My God, my God why have you forsaken me?

It wasn't a rhetorical question but the answer is for you and for me, for us. Jesus was forsaken, Keller writes, by God so that we would never be forsaken. The judgment that should have fallen on us instead fell on who?

Jesus. The prophet Isaiah said 700 years before Christ was born and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of His own. You see this was the Father's will to literally crush His Son with our sin.

Danny Aiken makes an interesting point. Why did Jesus say my God instead of my Father? Because in this one moment in all of time and eternity, Jesus views Himself and knows Himself not as the Father's Son but as the sinner's sacrifice. Mark 15, 37 says, with a loud cry Jesus breathed His last. This final cry was no doubt the cry that was recorded for us in John chapter 19 verse 30 when Jesus said it is what?

Finished. And with that final cry, man, the price had been paid. Atonement was accomplished. The work of salvation was done. The door to heaven now stood open. The Father of all prodigals now stood looking at the horizon, waiting to see if anyone was coming home.

And guess what? He's still waiting and He's still looking. So let me ask you, is He still waiting for you?

Have you come home to the Father? You see in that moment when Jesus took His last breath, the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. You need to understand that veil was about as thick as the width of your hand and it was tall and it was wide and they said a team of horses could not pull it apart.

Did you all know that? And in that moment it was torn in two from top to bottom. Do you know what was behind that veil? The Ark of the Covenant. It was the most holy place. It was where God's presence resided and no one was allowed to come behind that veil except for the high priest and he can only do it once a year on the day of Atonement and he had to be made holy first because you see nothing unholy can come into the presence of God. The reason that veil was torn in two from top to bottom is because salvation is solely a work of God and the moment Jesus cried out, it is finished, He gave us access to His Heavenly Father so that we could come to our Heavenly Father and ask Him to forgive us and He calls us His Son and we can cry out Abba Father. Religion says what?

Do. Jesus says what? Done because it is finished. From the hour when He cried it is finished until this hour men right now the doorway to heaven is still open and Jesus meant I can see Him right there right now crying out to us, come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle in humbling heart and you will find rest for your souls. For He says my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I tell you what guys there's nothing better than having rest for your soul.

It's indescribable. It's the peace that passes all understanding. A story has been told that centuries ago on the south coast of China high up on a hill overlooking a certain harbor Portuguese settlers built an enormous cathedral and they believed that it would weather time and they placed upon the front wall of this cathedral a massive bronze cross that stood high up into the sky. Not too many years later a typhoon came and God's fingerwork swept away man's handiwork and all that cathedral was pushed into the ocean and down the hill it went except for that bronze cross that stood high. Years later there was a shipwreck out a little beyond that harbor some died but a few lived. One of the men that was hanging on to wreckage from the ship was moving up and down you can almost see him going along with the crest of the ocean as the swells were moving and he became disoriented and as you can imagine frightened. He didn't know where land was but as he would come up on top of the crest of a wave he could see that cross in the distance even though it was tiny at first.

That man's name was Sir John Bowring. When he finally made it to land and lived to tell the story he wrote the now famous hymn. In the cross of Christ our glory towering o'er the wrecks of time all the light of sacred story gathers round its head sublime. When the woes of life o'ertake deceive and fears annoy never shall the cross forsake me lo it glows with peace and joy.

What was John Bowring trying to communicate? He's trying to tell us men that we have a cross. In that cross we have an altar and when all of life seems to crush it on top of us like the like right now we just need to look at the cross and remember the empty tomb and call to mind the fact that a man is neither on that cross nor in the tomb but he lives and he stands ready and able to give us victory man through whatever you're going through. Jesus wants to give you victory but you have to come to the cross. You have to be able to place your trust in him. You have to not just believe with your mind but you've got to believe with your heart and in a world of darkness like ours what we need to do men for such a time as this is is we need to fix our eyes upon Jesus who is the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of God.

Consider him men. Think about Jesus who endured such opposition from sinful men so that we will not grow weary and lose heart. Let's pray. Heavenly Father thank you for your word. Lord I thank you so much particularly tonight that we know that your word says you're in control of all things.

History truly is your history. Lord we look forward to the day when you return but in the meantime dear God help us never to lose sight of the cross. Help us to keep ours on the cross all the way to the finish line and Lord I pray for each man here that you will draw them to yourself that you'll give them that peace that soul rest that we sang about tonight that they might know that they belong to you and that their salvation is secure. In your name I pray.

Amen. Being a Christian is not about being religious but about having a dynamic alive relationship with Jesus Christ. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with pastor Russ Andrews a local triangle ministry glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living. You can discover more about finding your purpose in life by checking out the resources at findingpurpose.net or connect to Finding Purpose on Facebook. Pastor Russ would also like to extend a special invitation for you to join him and over 300 other local triangle men to study God's word together every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in downtown Raleigh. Find out more at findingpurpose.net.