He Bowed His Head And Died

Many of you have told me over the years how much you love the hymn "The Old Rugged Cross" which we just finished singing. It is a powerful hymn that reminds us that the cross is one of the most provocative symbols in human history. It is, as George Bennard wrote, "an emblem of suffering and shame." But over the centuries the cross has been sanitized, and you may even be here today wearing a cross of gold around your neck. Or you may have a cross hung on the wall of your home, but the cross around your neck is polished and clean. The cross on the wall at home is not soaked in crimson blood. But more important than the image of the cross's brutality, is the message of the cross -- that Jesus suffered and died in the place of sinners. He was forsaken so that we might be forgiven, and that is what Mark shows us in this passage, so let's look at these verses together and behold again the sin-bearing wrath-satisfying death of Christ in our place.