He Died That Day - Part One

 

So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

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"Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha"-and in Latin Calvarius. It means the skull. It means a bone in the head without the flesh, a bone with two eyeholes and a hole for the nose and a grinning jaw. That was somewhat the way this hill was. The people said it looked like a skull, and so they called it Skull Peak -Calvary-Golgotha: "where they crucified him, and two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst" (John 19:16-18).

 

Now here is the most wonderful picture of your salvation and mine, for there in the center is the cross where Christ is and on two sides the crosses of the two thieves. Many years ago I published in a book, Teaching the Word of Truth, a little outline

in which I pointed out the difference between the two thieves. And I tell it to you in the story of an incident that took place during the third or fourth year of our radio broadcast.

 

I was working in my office at the church one morning when the janitor came and said, "There's a gentleman out here who wants to see you." He gave me the man's card and I saw that he was the British sea captain of the Mauritania, which was at that time the largest ocean liner crossing the Atlantic. I came out with his card in my hand and found him standing inside the door of the church.

 

As I came up to him, he said, "Beautiful church you have here."

 

And I said, "Yes it is. I'm very thankful for the people who built it a hundred years ago."

 

"It's a great deal like the Basilica at Ravenna in Italy."

 

"Well, as a matter of fact," I said, "it's an architectural copy and the people that built this room brought workmen from Italy. These marble columns and this tessellated ceiling and the mosaic were all done by Italian workmen."

 

We talked about this for a moment, and then I said, "You didn't come here to talk with me about church architecture did you?"

"No," he said, "as a matter of fact I didn't." As we walked back toward my office, he told me why he had come. "As you see," he explained, "I'm captain of the Mauritania and I go back and forth across the Atlantic about twenty-three times a year." He said, "Every other Sunday on the way down the coast of Newfoundland I get your radio broadcast out of Boston. And last Sunday, when I listened to you, I said to myself, `I've got twentyfour hours when I land in New York. I'm going over to Philadelphia to see that preacher.' So I took the train this morning from New York and I just came down on the off-chance that I might see you."

 

"Sir," I said, "have you been born again?"

 

He said, "That's why I came down to see you."

 

By this time we had reached the prayer meeting room, where there was a chalkboard. I took up a piece of chalk and I said, "Sir, let me put it very simply for you," and I drew three crosses. I said, "Now you know that when Jesus Christ died on the cross there was a thief on either side?"

 

"Yes."

 

Under the first cross I wrote the word in. Then I said, "This man had sin in him. He was a guilty sinner. This man here," and I pointed to the third cross, "also had sin in him." I wrote the word in under each of the two crosses. Then under the cross in the middle I wrote the words not in. "This man did not have sin in Him. Christ was the sinless spotless Lamb of God. Now," I said, pointing to the first and third crosses, "in addition, these men had sin on them." And I wrote on under both crosses.

 

His brow puckered for a moment, and I said, "Do you want to know the difference between sin on you and sin in you? Do you drive a car?"

 

He said, "Yes, I do."

 

"Did you ever go through a red light?" He said, "Yes, I did."

 

"You were guilty, weren't you?"

 

"Yes:

 

I said, "Did the police catch you?"

 

He said, "Well no, they didn't."

 

"But, you had it in you, didn't you?" I said, "and if the police had come and given you a ticket, then you would have had that `sin' on you. That's the difference between having sin in you and having sin on you. Now all of us have sin in us. We are all guilty. And all of us also have sin on us. This first thief had sin in him and sin on him; this second thief had sin in him and sin on him. They were exactly alike."

 

Then I wrote the word on over the cross of Christ. I said, "Christ also had sin on Him. But He did not have it in Him. The sin that He had on Him was my sin." I turned my chalk sideways and I rubbed it through the word on under the first cross and drew a big arrow pointing to the cross of Christ. I said, "God justified this thief and put all the guilt of his sin over here on Jesus Christ. Now, sir," I said, "Christianity is simply this," and I pointed to the center cross, "there is the perfect Christ who came and died for you and me. Here are two types of people," I said, pointing to the other two crosses. "We both are alike, we all have sin in us. And all of us have had sin on us. But now my sin is on Christ. Now, sir, you are either like this first thief or like this second thief. Sin is in you, in me, and it is on yourself or it is on Christ. God says that Christ took your sins. Which are you like?"

 

He was a tall, cultured man of distinction and didn't have to carry on his briefcase the stickers that showed he had traveled more once or twice.

 

His weather-beaten face seemed to have the map of the world on it. His face worked for a moment and you could see that his British calm was greatly moved, and he was intensely trying to keep back tears. Suddenly he put his hand out and said, "By the grace of God, I am like this thief!"

 

I said, "Your sin is on Christ. God says so."

 

He said, "God says so."

 

Then he shot out his hand and took mine and said, "That's all I want. I can go back now."

 

I said, "No, come in and sit down." We sat down and talked for an hour about what to do next in the Christian life. Then we had lunch together and he went on his way back to New York.

 

Now here is a great picture of what happened when the Lord Jesus Christ died. Every person is like one of these two thieves. I tell you in the name of God that your sin is in you. You know that. You know you're a sinner. You know the dirty things you've done, the runaway things you've done. You know what is in you, just as well as I know what is in me. I know how God has forgiven me. I know that my sins have been put upon Christ. When Christ takes our sin, then lives are transformed. This is that which can take a woman who is a tramp and make of her a saint. This is that which can take a man who is vile and can make of him a man of God. Your sin is still in you, but when you become a Christian, your sin in on Christ. And now He can make it possible for the sin that is in you to be kept down by the inward life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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STUDY QUESTIONS

• What does it mean to be delievered from your sin?
• List some difference between the two theives.
• How do we minister with the cross of Christ at the center of our lives?