We are at a point now where it
cannot be denied that God is doing something great. In times
of great things, like we're experiencing here, God is doing great things. The attention, I believe, of
the United States will center on what's happening here one
day. I actually believe that. That's how big our God is. And
if the United States is going to turn around, I believe we
can lead the way in showing them how. Social issues are never solved
without Jesus Christ. So when great things are happening,
this is one of my rules. Go back to the cross. That gory,
ugly hill called Calvary, Golgotha, there where criminals were crucified
and there where God incarnate was put on a cross. It's gory. It's ugly. It's not very religious,
really. but God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross. Don't ever forget that. Drive
a stake down at Calvary. Put your tent up right there
and determine that you're not going to go away from the bloody
cross of Jesus Christ. It's really nothing but the blood,
right? There's power in the blood. It's not a pretty picture at
all, and most present-day churches and religious folks are not exalting
that cross, and that's what I want to do today. Twenty years ago,
when the sanctum bought this building for approximately $400,000, There was two or three crosses
on the building, the largest one being on the pinnacle out
front that now Royal Roof has replaced outside there. And most of you know that during
that time when Sanctum was trying to get their liquor license 65
feet from my front door, I did everything I could to stop it.
Got death threats. Just all kinds of things. I thought
they were going to hang me up at City Hall. Lots of ugliness
taking place. When sanctum moved in the idols
of satanic worship, I protested to the Liquor Commission that
they should be made to take the cross down. You see, idols like
that and the cross just don't go together. The Liquor Commission
ruled in my favor. Although we kept them from getting
their liquor license for nearly a year, they finally pulled some
shenanigans and actually some of the Republican folks influenced
the Liquor Commission. See, you thought I was all Republican,
didn't you? So the Liquor Commission finally
ruled in my favor and made them take down the three crosses.
For many years, the old gospel flag has not been flown over
this building. Two weeks ago, the old gospel
symbol was lifted high once more. And thank you, Danny Davis and
Royal Roofing for putting that up there. When I talk about the
cross, I do believe there is a word of caution, though. We
have to be careful here. For a cross around your neck
is not the same as Christ in your heart. Isis cut off the heads of 20-some
men with gold chains around their necks bearing a cross on the
gold chains. Here's how serious it is. And
those men went to hell. Unless that cross was in their
heart along with the Isis murderers Graven images superstitions Simply
are not to be worshipped. We're to see Christ and when
we look to the cross We are to see a crucified Redeemer We are
to see blood The songwriter put it well. The
man who wrote Amazing Grace put it this way. I saw one hanging
on a tree in agony and blood. He fixed his languid eyes on
me as before his cross I stood. Oh, can it be upon a tree? The Savior died for me. My soul
is thrilled. My heart is filled to think he
died for me. That's cross-thinking. Think about it. Just let that
sink in a moment. Those of you who are believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have believed that he died for
you. On a hill far away stood an old
rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old
cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was
slain. At the cross, at the cross where
I first saw the light, Oh, what a glorious light that is when
it breaks in upon your soul that it was for you he died, for you
he suffered and bled. The cross. We must not get all
hopped up here about a new parking lot and 45 houses and renovating
this church building and all of that and forget this. that
a Savior invaded history. The God-man, God, come to earth! What a miracle! The unspeakable
gift of God's Son for the likes of us. That must always be sinner
here. Always be sinner here. You know,
there never has been a time in the heart of God when there was
not a cross. And if God's going to be happy with you and me,
it has to be that way with us too. Think about this. I know
you. You know this verse, for God
so loved mankind that he gave his only begotten son, whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You
see the message of the Bible. When I'm long gone and you're
attending service here, if the preacher does not preach this,
throw eggs at him. Some of you will do that now.
I'm only kidding. The message of the Bible. is
a message of substitution. Learn that word, learn to say
that word. What I would like to know is
if these guys who are running for president and this lady who's
running for president, do you know the word substitution? Do
you know the words vicarious suffering? Do you know the word
propitiation? Do you know something about God
is holy and God is a just God, and you can't go to heaven without
justice being satisfied. And think about this, the just,
he was, you know, dying for the unjust that he might bring us
to God. Think about it. He saved the
likes of you. You sorry no good for nothing. I know some of you go to church
every Sunday, but I know you curse on Monday. I know you're
not nearly as good as you act. You put on a facade of religiousness,
but there's a worm in the apple. Inside, you're full of dead men's
bones, and God has saved you. Every person in here who has
been saved out of religion ought to be shouting today, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross. Every Baptist, Catholic,
and Presbyterian ought to be pointing to the cross, not their
denomination. When I looked out my office window
over at Grace Centers of Hope the other day and I saw that
copper cross shining in the noonday sun, I shouted, hallelujah, what
a savior. I saw him on that cross. I thought
about an old song that we used to sing in the church. I have
a message from the Lord, hallelujah. The message unto you I'll give,
it is recorded in his word, hallelujah. It's only that you look and live. Look and live, my brother. Look
and live. It is recorded in his word. Hallelujah. It's only that you look and live.
How many of you have heard that song? Well, well, four of you. You're going to hear it. Somebody said to me, what kind
of music do you sing there? Oh, bloody music. You see, we are not going to
go away from the cross here. As long as I have breath, we're
going to sing old hymns that center on the blood of Jesus
Christ. Here's something startling for you that I heard as a kid. Old pastors used to say this.
I've heard it several times. The Virgin Mary, unless she had
Christ in her heart as well as at her breast, she went to hell.
You want me to tell you how important it is that you have Christ in
your heart? She gave Christ nourishment from her breast, but she called
him God my Savior. The one who gave birth called
Jesus Christ her God and Savior. Is he yours? There's never been
a time in the heart of God when there was not a cross. He's always
intended there to be a cross. He's the Lamb of God slain from
the foundation of the world. Don't ever forget it. The message
of the Bible is the message of substitution, vicarious suffering,
a substitutionary death, a payment, a propitiation, the just dying
for the unjust that he might bring us to God. That's the truth. On a hill far away stood an old
rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And the writer said,
when I surveyed the wondrous cross on which the Prince of
Glory died. I noticed that several of you,
as Greg read the scripture, you began to put them together. You began to see what the message
was really gonna be about. Moses lifting up that brass serpent
in the wilderness. All through the Bible you find
the cross, not just in the New Testament, in type and emblem,
you find this message, somebody's coming, somebody's coming, and
then one day, behold, the Lamb of God, He's come to take away
the sin of the elect world. What did he mean by the cross
when Paul said that? Paul said, I'm determined not
to know anything among you. I guarantee you if you come next
week, next Sunday, you're going to hear the cross preached. You're
going to hear the same message day in and day out from this
pulpit because I believe it's all there. I know, I know. All 50 years of my life, religious
people have tried, and not religious people alone, but good people,
have tried to influence me to change my message. And you know
what? A couple times I tried and fell
flat on my face. You know why? Because I believe
there is only one message. There's only one Savior. There's
only one Redeemer. There's only one who could take
away our sins. He's the way, the truth, and
life. He's the lily of the valley, the fairest of 10,000, the bright
and morning star. And when I went to Washington
in the House of Representatives, I did not back up. I had one
message. Remember this, there's only two
religions in the world. Just mark this down. They are different flavors, but
there's only two religions in the world. The religion of human
achievement, what man does. And the religion of divine accomplishment,
what God did. And that's what I major on, what
God did. The cross, the satisfaction. That's a good word for you to
learn. Jesus Christ rendered satisfaction, justice. Every sin and disobedience must
receive a just recompense of reward. Every sin you've ever
thought, every sin you've ever committed has to be paid for. And you and I are bankrupt. God
demands justice. And the message of the cross
is that there was one who came and drank the cup of justice
dry and inverted the cup and said, it's finished, it's accomplished,
I have paid their price. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. If I could jump
six foot high, I'd jump right now. I mean, that's the way I'm
feeling on the inside. What did he mean, God forbid,
that I should glory save in the cross? Well, he meant this. Christ
became sin for us, he who knew no sin. You know, it's a great
story about Abraham Lincoln. He was probably one of the best
Republicans, if there is one. He freed the slaves, you know. That's kind of neat. Anyway,
he went from the little log cabin all the way to the White House.
I want to tell you a greater story. There was one who came
from the great White House down to the little log cabin. That
was Jesus Christ. Though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be
made rich. Hallelujah, what a Savior. I'll tell you what He meant by
the cross and glory in the cross, free justification. Some of you
are working so hard and doing such a miserable job to take
yourself to heaven. You're trying to get good enough.
that God will say, okay, come on in, but you just made it by
the skin of your teeth. Justification is free. Justification
is a legal term in which the almighty judge brings down the
gavel, not guilty, not today, not tomorrow, not forever, not
guilty. And it's free. It's all free. Being justified freely. Do you
know what that means? That means without a cause. You've
been justified by Almighty God without a cause. In other words,
you haven't done anything for this justification. God didn't
see you do something and say, oh, finally, they've come up
with something. you freely justified. Isn't that something? It's called
undeserved. It's called amazing grace. It's
called unmerited favor. You're going to heaven, but you
don't deserve to go. You know where you deserve to go.
And I did too. but I'm not going. My sin debt
has been paid in full and he saved me by his amazing grace.
And that's why we sing around here. My chains fell off. The price has been paid. Now,
lastly, because I am watching the clock, let me tell you this,
by the cross, and the dying of Jesus Christ.
Here's what every sinner who's concerned about their relationship
with God is told to do. Look. You know salvation's in
a look? Will you look today? Can you
see him wounded and bleeding for sinners pleading, dying,
unheeding, dying for you? Can you see it today? Look. Look,
crackhead. Look, heroin user! Look, sophisticated
church Pharisee! Look! You say, Pastor, I don't know
about all that. It just seems too easy. Then
why don't you do it? Why don't you do it now? Why
don't you believe on Christ? It's all free. Glory in the cross. One other thing, and I let you
go. Did I say that already, one other
thing? I lie a lot up here. What did he mean when he said
I should glory in the cross? He meant this, imputed righteousness. Oh, I bet some of you don't know
about that. Imputed righteousness. You know
what God did in Christ on the cross? Here's what he did. God
took all of the elect sins and laid them on Jesus Christ. Just
gathered them all up. I'm pretty sure that everybody
in here had a few. He collected them all and laid
them on Christ. And then he took out his black
snake whip and began to punish Christ in your stead, in your
place, in your room. And when he had paid the price,
he said, it's finished. What he meant was, here's what
he meant. Are you ready for this? Are you ready for this? He meant,
it's finished. That's pretty deep. It's painful,
in full, not in part, but the whole is nailed to his cross
and I bear it no more. It is well, it is well with my
soul. But that's not all, it gets gooder. He imputed to you perfect righteousness. God put your sins on Christ and
puts Christ's righteousness to your account. You know how good
you have to be to go to heaven? Perfect. God has to see you without
sin, without spot or without blemish, and He does in His Son,
Jesus Christ. That's why He chose us in Christ. He redeemed us in Christ. He
called us in Christ. He predestinated us in Christ,
and He will surely glorify us in Christ. That's why you can't
lose salvation, because it's not yours to lose. It's God's
salvation. Today, before God, though a mess
and a wreck, we stand before him perfect judicially. There's
no judgment. Pastor, aren't you afraid? You
know, Pastor, I'm sure you slip. Slip? I fall. but he's always there to lift
me up. He doesn't follow me around as
his child with his hand ready to slap me. No, no. In the cross of Christ,
I'm free. I'm saved. I'm heaven bound. Amen. It's so true. Glory in the cross. And now I
want to just one more time say to you, Trust Him. Trust Him. Say, Pastor, I don't
trust anybody. I understand that. Believe me,
I understand that. I'm not asking you to trust just
anybody. I'm asking you to trust the God-man
who invaded history, who came to earth, who died in the stand
place of sinners. I wonder if there's a sinner
here. You know, you've been out there in the drug house. You've
wasted most of your life out there. Some of you have thought about
running again. You know, you've thought about it. That's how
bad you are. That's how crazy you are. What can you do to reverse
the course? Nothing. It's time for you to
be still and know that he's God and simply look and live. I guarantee you, you'll never
be the same. You'll never be the same. Now you will hate what
you once loved and love what you once hated. Some of you didn't
want to be here today. Some of you didn't want to be
here today. I think Greg said that. But you came over here
and the best thing in the world happened to you today. You got
saved. Just think about this. You never
have to go back to the drug house or drug dealer again to be high. You can be high today, right
where you are, and when you get up in the morning, nothing's
changed. Or you may have come down a little, but rest assured,
by the time you get here next Sunday, I'm gonna fill you full
of Christ. I'm gonna lift him up. I'm gonna
exalt him. Listen to all these people clapping
in here. You know what? They're happy.
They're happy. Some of you don't know what that's
all about. If you'd come to Christ, you can find out. It's really
not difficult. I'm not asking you to get dunked.
I'm not asking you to do anything. I'm not even asking you to come
up front and get saved. I'm saying, look right where
you are. Can you see him? Right where you are, back there
in the back. Can you look? Just look. That's all, just look. My God. and my Savior. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my
life, my all. I say to you, church, this church,
the church I pastor, I say to you, God is going to do something
here that maybe has not been done in many, many years. And
I want to remind you again, and the reason I'm preaching this
message today is because I want to stay Christ-centered. I want
you to stay Christ-centered. You know, we can believe all
that stuff about how great we are in the free press today.
That four or five pages in a major city newspaper, but it's out
there now. I was looking at my phone just
a few minutes ago, and one of the congressmen is saying, congratulations
on the great article in the free press. People are reading that
article. We must always say when we're in front of people who
ask us, how did that happen? Oh, it was him. It was Christ. It's Christ alone. That's why
Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. I'd sure like to hear that you
looked and that you're alive. I'd like for you to come and
tell me if that happened. Tell us all. I looked. I don't
know much about it, Pastor. I mean, I was raised as a kid.
We never went to church. I never heard the gospel. Let
me look at you directly and tell you this. You know how you got
over there at that place across the street? God brought you over
there. He just let you run and run and
run. I can remember fishing in an
old pond and it was filled with bass, I mean big bass. So I knew
we were going to catch bass. But the farmer that owned the
pond said to me, now pastor, I was his pastor, he said, when
that bass hits that thing, just let it run. Just let it run. You know what God does? He just
hooks you and lets you run. And then you just run till you're
totally exhausted. You've lost everything. And then
he reels you in. Takes all the fight out of you.
Is he reeling you in today? We'd be happy to hear it. Let's
stand together and sing our God's praise.