The Weight of the World

When Jesus was issued the cross to carry, He was taking the weight of the world on His shoulders. The sin weight. Scripture says He carried it by Himself in John 19: So they took Jesus away. 17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called the Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). In Matthew's account, the following happened. Matthew 27:32 Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. 33 And they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). In Luke's account, the following. Luke 23:26 And when they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, as he was coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus. It wasn't the physical weight of the physical cross that Jesus was carrying. It was the sin weight of the world being carried by Jesus, who never sinned. Jesus did not have to pay for His sin because He was perfect and never sinned. He carried that weight for you and me, and His sacrifice was what needed to happen to pay the price for MY sin. I Praise You, Lord. I Praise You, Lord.

Humiliation (def) - to reduce (someone) to a lower position in one's own eyes or others' eyes: to make (someone) ashamed or embarrassed. Here is how they humiliated the Son of God. John 19:28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. 29 They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it. 31 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. His humiliation became a celebration for us and we live in the grace today. His grace is sufficient, and He paid the debt I owed, because I couldn't pay that debt to make me right with God.

Jesus took the weight and carried it to completion. When He said, "It is finished," it was truly finished. Complete forever. Today, He offers this salvation to all who would receive the gift of salvation and trust Him by faith. Faith is enough, no matter what the world may tell you. Paul wrote this to the church at Ephesus, and it is still true today. Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Won't you trust Him today?

Today's Message,

David Warren