Today we have Aaron Greenleaf
with us. We're very thankful for you and
your love of the gospel, Christ's love for you and your love for
God's people that brings you here today. We're thankful for
you and thankful that he strengthened you for the task and for the
burden. And we look forward to hearing the message that Lord's
laid on your heart. Isaiah chapter 40. We'll read through the first
eight verses. You know, when I was looking
at verses to read, both before Sunday school and for the message
this morning, obviously Joy and the Connolly family were all
on my mind. I was looking for verses of comfort,
because that's what was on my heart. But this also pertains
to us as we listen. This pertains to Aaron as he
brings the word, I haven't read anywhere in the scriptures where
the Lord removes the burden. Um, and, and grief is a burden.
Um, there's so many things about this physical life that we just
don't understand. And it's a burden. Um, standing here, you know,
Aaron's one of the strongest men I've ever met and he's not
strong enough to stand here, but the Lord strengthens you
for the burden, correct? He doesn't remove the burden. And I was
looking for, for scriptures like that this morning and naturally
thought immediately by Isaiah chapter 40. 8 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably, speak ye
to the heart, to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him
that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall
be exalted. Every mountain and hill shall
be made low. The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
places plain. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed. For all
flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it. The voice said, Cry. He said, What shall I cry? All
flesh is grass. All goodliness thereof is as
the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely
the people is grass. The grass withereth and the flower
faded, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Lord bless
his word. Let's pray together. Our Holy Heavenly Father, we
pray that as we meet together in this place, certainly a happy
time and a joyous time of praise of the good news of the gospel
of Christ and also a somber time. that we remember and see Christ
again for a moment according to your will. How his work and
his death, his perfect sacrifice, his sinless blood removed the
barrier and accomplished justice so that your children may come
to a throne of mercy with boldness and be accepted. I pray that
you be with us as we hear this morning and pray that He be with
our brother as he delivers your word. Strengthen him for the
task. Give him clarity of recollection of his studies and a word from
you. We pray this thankfully in Christ's
name for his sake. Amen. Okay, brother. Morning, everybody. Obviously, the circumstances
that brought me here today, very sad, but I'm very happy to be with
you. I think it's been over a year since I've seen you the last
time, so it's a real pleasure for me. If you would turn to
Judges chapter 19. Judges 19. If you are not familiar
with this passage of scripture, I'll give you a disclaimer. It's
very dark. And it deals with some very uncomfortable topics.
We're going to deal with abuse, murder, rape, all those different
things. And when I read this, read several
times throughout the years, I always thought the same thing is that
this really happened. This is not just a story. This really
happened. It happened because men, we are
evil. This is what we do. The Lord
removes his hand. It happened according to the
purpose and the will of God. And it's recorded in scripture, particularly
though, this very dark event for this purpose, that we might
get a glimpse, just a tiny glimpse of what Christ's suffering was
like on that cross. So when those strong emotions
come and those dark times in the scripture come along, keep
in mind that what you're feeling, that is completely by design.
And we might scratch the surface, we might know something of his
sufferings. So we'll read the first 30 verses, which is the
entire chapter. And I'll give you four points
after that, the gospel according to Judges 19. Pick up in verse
one. And it came to pass in those
days when there was no king in Israel, and there was a certain
Levite sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim, who took to
him a concubine out of Bethlehem, Judah. Concubine is just a lesser
wife for the most part. Verse two, and his concubine
played the whore against him and went away from him under
her father's house to Bethlehem, Judah, and was there for whole
months. And her husband arose and went
after her, listen to this, to speak friendly under her and
to bring her again, having his servant with him and a couple
of asses. And she brought him into her father's house. And
when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet
him. And his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him,
and he abode with them three days, so they did eat and drink
and lodge there. And it came to pass on the fourth
day, when they rose early in the morning, that he rose up
to depart, that damsel's father said unto his son-in-law, Comfort
thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your
way. And they sat down and did eat
and drink, both of them together, for the damsel's father had said
unto the man, Listen to this, be content, I pray thee, and
tarry all night, and let not thine heart be merry. And when
the man rose up to depart, his father-in-law urged him, therefore
he lodged there again, and he rose early in the morning on
the fifth day to depart. And the damsel's father said,
comfort thine heart, I pray thee, and they tarried until afternoon,
and they did eat both of them. And when the man rose up to depart,
he and his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the
damsel's father, said unto him, behold now the day draweth toward
evening. I pray you, tarry all night.
Behold, the day groweth to an end. Lodge here, that thine heart
may be merry, and tomorrow get you early on your way, that thou
mayest go home. But the man would not tarry that
night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jabuz,
which is Jerusalem. And there were with him two asses
saddled. His concubine also was with him. And when they were
by Jebus, the day was far spent. And the servant said unto his
master, come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into the city
of the Jebusites and lodge in it. And his master said unto
him, we will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger that
is not of the children of Israel. We will pass over to Gibeah.
And he said unto his servant, come and let us draw near to
one of these two places to lodge all night in Gibeah or Ramah.
And they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down upon
them when they were by Gibeah. which belonged to Benjamin. And
they turned aside thither to go in, and lodged in Gibeah.
And when he went in, he set him down in a street of the city,
for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging.
And behold, there came an old man from his work out of the
field at Even, which was also of Mount Ephraim. And he served
during Gibeah, but the man of the place were Benjamites. And
when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the
street of the city. He saw Levi. And the old man
said, whither goest thou? And whence comest thou? And he
said unto him, we are passing from Bethlehem, Judah, toward
the side of Mount Ephraim. From thence am I, and I went
to Bethlehem, Judah, but I am now going to the house of the
Lord. Make note of that. He identifies where he's going.
He's going to the house of the Lord. That's Shiloh, Ephraim.
And there is no man that receiveth me to house. Yet there is both
straw and preventer for our asses, and there is bread and wine also
for me and for thy handmaid. And for the young man which is
with thy servants, there is no want of anything. And the old
man said, peace be with you. Howsoever, let all thy wants
lie upon me, only lodge not in the street. So he brought him
into his house and gave preventer unto the asses, and they washed
their feet and did eat and drink. Now this is where things get
dark. Verse 22. Now, as they were making their
hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of
Belial, beset the house, round about, and beat at the door,
and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring
forth the man that came to thy house, that we may know him.
And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and
said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly,
seeing this man is come into mine house, do not this folly.
Behold, here is my daughter, a maiden, and his concubine. Them I will bring out now, and
humble ye them, and do with them that seemeth good unto you. But
unto this man do not so a vile thing. Talk about a lack of fatherly
protective instincts. Take my daughter, take his concubine.
Look at verse 25. But the men would not hearken
to him, so the man took his concubine and brought her forth unto them,
and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning.
And when the day began to spring, they let her go. Then came the
woman in the dawning of the day and fell down at the door of
the man's house where her Lord was till it was light. And her
Lord rose up in the morning and opened the doors of the house
and went out to go his way. And behold, the woman, his concubine,
was fallen down at the door of the house and her hands were
upon the threshold. And he said unto her, up and
let us be going. But none answered. Then the man
took her up on his ass. And the man rose up and get him
under his place. And when he was coming to his
house, he took a knife and laid hold on his concubine and divided
her together with her bones into 12 pieces and sent her into all
the coasts of Israel. And it was so that all that saw
it said there was no such deed done nor seen from the day of
the children of Israel came up into the land of Egypt until
this day. Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds. It's an interesting message. The gospel according to Judges
19. First couple verses, you have
this sojourning Levite. And here are the circumstances.
He had entered into a covenant with this damsel. She was his
concubine. He was her husband. He had entered
into this covenant with her and she rebelled. She was disloyal. She ran away to her father's
house. She was not faithful. And by
law, as you read through the Levitical law, this is what that
sojourning Levi could have done. He could have went and got her
and brought her under the law and she was to be stoned. That's
what the law said, but that's not what he did. and that's not
what his intention was. Look down at verse three again.
And her husband arose and went after her to speak friendly unto
her and to bring her again. Now the type in the picture is
so incredibly clear right off the bat here. Lord Jesus Christ
entered into a covenant with his father and with his people,
his elect, before time ever began. Before the world ever began and
eternity passed, he entered into that covenant where he agreed
to be surety for his elect. And then this thing called time
happened. And in time, what happened? We rebelled. We were unfaithful. We were disloyal. We wanted separation,
just like this damsel running back to her father's house. We
wanted away from God. That was the temptation that
worked on Adam and Eve. You'll be your own gods. You'll
be independent. We want to get away. And by law,
what do each one of us deserve? punishment, judgment by law. But the Lord Jesus Christ came
to this earth with a gracious purpose for his people, not to
bring us before the law that we might be punished, but to
justify us by the law. Now that word there in verse
three, friendly, to speak friendly unto her. You know what the direct
translation of that word is? It's heart. Where did we just
read that? Isaiah chapter 40. I'll read
to you again. Perfect scripture, gentlemen.
Isaiah 41 and two. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Speak this to her heart, that
her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she hath received double for all her sins. So now the
message of the gospel is not go, Do evade punishment. No, that's not the message. The
message is sinner. Sinner. That's who the audience
is. Sinners. Sinner. Your warfare has already
been accomplished. Your enemies, your sins, Christ
put them away. Your iniquity has been completely
and utterly poured in through his blood. And you're not just
neutral. It's not just that you've been made to be sinless. No,
it's not that you've received double. You have absolutely no
sin in Christ because he put your sin away through the blood
of his cross and you have his very righteousness. Everything
you need to be meet for fellowship and acceptance with God, you
have. And you have that right now.
The message is not go and do. The message now is come. Sinner, come to Christ. Do it
right now. Not for salvation, because of
it. because of it. That's why. What we have here
in this story is that the only obstacle to coming to Christ
is self-sufficiency. That's the only obstacle. Look
here in verse 19. This is the Levite speaking to
the old man in the city and the old man had asked him, where
are you from? Where are you going? What's going
on here? And he said, well, we're from Bethlehem, Judah, and we're
heading off to Ephraim. We're gonna go to the house of
the Lord. We're going to Shiloh. And here's the thing, nobody's
taking us in. Hebrew hospitality has failed
us at this point. And here's the reason. I'm gonna
give you the reason why I think nobody's taking us in. Look at
verse 19. Yet there is both straw and preventer
for our asses, and there is bread and wine also for me and for
thy handmaid and for the young man which is with thy servants.
There is no want of anything. Says, old man, here's the reason
no one's taking us in. They think we're freeloaders.
They think if they take us in, we'll eat all their food, we'll
drink all their wine, that we'll use up all their supplies for
their animals on ours. They think we're freeloaders.
We're completely independent. We can provide for ourselves.
Everything we need, we brought with us. We need absolutely nothing
from them, but that's the reason they think we're freeloaders.
And he's corrected here. Listen to how the old man corrects
him, in verse 20. And the old man said, peace be
with thee. Howsoever, let all thy wants
lie upon me, only not lodge not in the street. You know what
he's saying to him? He's saying, you can stay with me. There's
only one condition, only one. All that food you brought, all
that wine you brought, All that preventer you brought for your
asses and things like that, you gotta leave that at the door.
And when you come into my house, you eat only my food. You drink
only my wine. You use only my preventer for
your asses. You have to rely on me for absolutely
everything you need. That is the only prerequisite
from coming into the house. Everything you got, you gotta
leave it at the door and you gotta rely on me 100%. Y'all know the
teaching there. What's the one prerequisite for
coming to Christ? Let me read you this. And the spirit and
the bride say come, and let him that heareth say come, and let
him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will. I love that language. Whosoever. And I am a willing
whosoever. I am willing to be saved by this
Christ under these circumstances to his glory and by everything
he has done and not of me at all. I'm willing. I am a willing
whosoever. But listen to this. Whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. That's the one
prerequisite. You have to have nothing to pay
with. You know who this is easy for?
There's only one demographic of person that this is easy for.
sinner. Somebody who doesn't have anything.
Somebody who can't bring anything to the table. I've got no good
works. I've got no good intentions. I have a heart that is just black
and evil before God. The call is this, leave everything
you've got at the door and trust Christ. That's great for me because
I don't even have anything to leave at the door. Absolutely
nothing. All I have is Christ in him crucified. Turns out if that's what you
have, that's all you need. That's everything. Now, we have
a warning in here about enticements. Now, I want you to consider this.
The Levite went to go get his bride, his concubine. He went
down to her father's house, and his father-in-law was very happy
to meet him, very interested in spending time with him. So
he brings him in, and he entertains him, and he gives him food and
drink, and the Levite spends more time there than he initially
thought that he would. Now, he has a purpose. He's traveling. He has a place he is going to
go. He has come to get his bride, and he tells the old man later
on, we're going back. We're leaving from Bethlehem,
Judah. We're going back to Ephraim. We're going to the house of the
Lord. That's at Shiloh. Shiloh is where the tabernacle
is. Shiloh is where the Ark of the Covenant is. That's where
God was worshiped in these times. Christ, Shiloh is Christ. I'm going to Christ. I am coming
to Christ. But his father-in-law does not
want him to go. He tries to keep him from coming
at all costs. And I want you to notice the
enticements that the old man uses. Look at verse 18. Or no,
I'm sorry, look at verse five. And it came to pass on the fourth
day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up
to depart, and the damsel's father said unto his son-in-law, comfort
thine heart with the morsel of bread. He says it again, look
at verse eight. And it came to pass on the fourth
day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up
to depart, and the damsel's father said unto his son-in-law, Comfort
thine heart with a morsel of bread." What's the enticement
he's using? He's saying, you want to go to
Ephraim, you want to go to Shiloh, but we're having a good time,
right? I'm feeding you, right? I'm entertaining
you, right? You've got plenty to drink, you're having a good
time, you're comfortable, aren't you? That's the opposite of comfort. I'm comfortable. I don't have
any needs. All my needs are met. What he's saying is you're comfortable,
right? You don't need to go to Shiloh. You don't have any needs. The Lord had a lot to say about
this. Turn over to Revelation 3 for a moment. Revelation 3, look at verse 14.
We're talking about need here. Listen to what this says. And
unto the angel of the church of the Latticeans write, these
things saith the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning
of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot. I would that were cold or hot,
so then because there are lukewarm, comfortable, and neither cold
nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest,
I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou are
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Three states
are mentioned here. Number one, cold. And you know
what that's like. Unbelieving. Unloving. Can't see Christ. Can't detect
his presence. Cold. Separated. The Lord says,
that's not a bad thing. It's actually good. You want
to know why? Because you have a conscious need. I need you
to come to me. I need you to do something for
me. I need you to give me this gift of faith. I need you to
put love in my heart. Build this fire in me. Give me
a zeal for your glory, because I can't muster it. I can't come
up with it. He says that's a good place to
be, because you're in need. A needy man comes to Christ.
Hot. That's where we like to be, isn't
it? Still a feeling of discomfort,
though. You see something of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
taste something of his grace. What do you want more of? Give
me more. give me more mercy, give me more
grace, let me see your person more, may you get the maximum
glory, may I live for that glory, give me everything. As soon as
you get a taste of the Lord Jesus Christ, you just want more and
more and more, and you burn with this white hot zeal for his glory,
his absolute glory, and we love being in that state. We absolutely
love that. It is a sensation of, I best describe this as being
full and being hungry all at the same time. Completely satisfied,
but completely ravenous for his glory and his person all over
again. We love being there. And the Lord says, both of those
are great. Cold, that's fine. You're needy. Hot, that's fine. You're needy. You want more.
He said, this one is the problem with warm. Comfortable. Comfortable. I'm doing okay. I go to church. I'm a pretty
good neighbor. I read my Bible every once in
a while. I haven't committed any felonies in the last 19 years.
At least that's what my background report says. I'm doing okay. Everything's fine. There's nothing
to worry about. Lukewarm. Lukewarm never comes. They might talk about it. They
might think about it. They might consider it. Remember
this, Acts 24, Paul was preaching to Felix. And what he had to
say to Felix caused Felix to tremble. That's what the scripture
actually says. And then Felix says, I don't want to talk about
this right now. I'll call you for you when a more convenient
season comes along. I want to hear more about this,
but just not right now. It never came. That more convenient
season never came. The enticements of this life,
comfort, everything's okay, but you don't know that you're wretched
and you're poor and you're miserable and you're blind. I think this
is one of the most compelling scriptures in all the book. This
is 2 Corinthians 6-2. Listen to this. For he saith,
I have heard thee in the time accepted, and in the day of salvation
have I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. When should I come to Christ?
right now. There's an exigency in this thing.
We need to understand that. Whatever happened yesterday is
what happened yesterday. It's gone. That is an event that
happened in time and it is over. We have no idea what's going
to happen tomorrow. We don't even know if there's going to
be tomorrow. When is the time to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? It's to do it right now. No comfort, no enticements. Push
it all away. Whatever is holding you back,
get rid of it. Move on. It's time to get to Shiloh. The
clock is ticking right Now I do enjoy this. I like reading this
here. Look at verse 18. This is the
remedy for lukewarmness. It says, I counsel thee to buy
of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and
white raiment thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of
thy nakedness do not appear and anoint that eyes with high salve
that thou mayest see. Now there are two keywords there,
counsel and me. I counsel thee to buy of me. That counsel is not good advice.
This is the determinate counsel of God, where he sovereignly
acts upon a man. And when he counsels a man sovereignly,
he always counsels him of the exact same thing, of himself.
So thankful for this. It took this Levite a while.
He wanted to leave after three days. Then four went by. Then the fifth day came. He stayed
longer than he wanted to. But you know what? He came. and
this is what the Lord does for all his people, in the appointed
time, may linger for a long time, right? May sit in this lukewarmness
for a very long time, but if you belong to him, he is coming
for you, and you're coming to him. I will counsel you, I will
reveal Christ to you, and in seeing him and who he is, you
get to see yourself, and what you find is this, that you're
wretched, and you're poor, and you're miserable, and you're
blind, and you're naked. You know what a man who has all
those attributes does? He comes to Christ. He does it
immediately because there's an exigency in the whole thing.
And oftentimes this counseling session is not very comfortable. Look at verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent.
My pastor has said this over the years, and I've always appreciated
it. I think it's very human. He said, I'm trying to get out
of every trial I possibly can. I'm not one of these guys who's
begging for it. He's like, but I'm thankful for what the Lord
brings in that trial. This is how the Lord counsels.
It's oftentimes through trial and tribulation, but it's always
for our good. It's always to draw us to Christ. And I'll tell
you what, whatever it takes, if I'm stuck in this lukewarm
position where I have no need and I have not come, the Lord
shot me out of that. bring me out of that and bring me to Christ.
Now, third point here is this. For Christ to provide everything
for his people, he had to pay the cost. Now go back to your
text. I want to reference a few things here in Judges 19. Let's go back to that dark night
in Gibeah. This mob encircles the old man's
house. And I call out, said, bring this
man out to us. We want to know him. We want
to humiliate him. We want to abuse him. They're
speaking of the Levite. Bring him out. This wicked mob
surrounds this house. Bring him out. We want to humiliate
him. We want to abuse him. We want to murder him. They cry
for his death. And the whole thing's sickening.
It's absolutely sickening. You look at what the old man
does. He tries to offer his daughter in the place of this Levite,
this man he's never met before. He tries to offer the Levite's
concubine as a substitute. The whole thing is just disgusting,
and it's unclean, and it makes your gut turn. But if you take
all the emotion out of that, all the emotion out, and you
simply look at the facts and the circumstances, it's this.
She took his place. They cried out for the Levite.
We will abuse him, we will humiliate him, we will murder him. And
she took his place, substitution, Christ. And it shows you something
of the suffering that he endured on that cross. Now, he suffered
for this reason, because he was made the sins of his people and
because God is absolutely just. Absolutely just. Now there's
another story in scripture that mirrors this very much. You might
be familiar with this, Genesis 19. It's the story of Lot being
let out of Sodom. And roughly the exact same thing
happens. These two angels come into Sodom.
They're going to destroy the city. Lot takes them in for the
night. This mob surrounds the house, says, bring these men
out to us. They're actually angels. We want
to know them. We want to abuse them. And in that story, Lot
and his family are just about to be overrun. And those angels
strike that mob with blindness. They take Lot and his family
and they take them by the hand and bring them out of the city.
In that story, it's the very first time the word mercy is
used in the entire scripture. And it shows you what mercy actually
is, where we're taking a man by the hand and dragging him
out to where he wants him to be. In that story, in Genesis
19, it's all about mercy. Do you detect a hint of mercy
in our story? Same circumstances, not a lick
of mercy, That girl suffered all night long and was murdered.
Why? Why is that in here? Why is that
vivid picture in here? Christ and his people. For us
to be saved, for God to show mercy upon us, he could show
absolutely no mercy to his son. We need to understand that. He
is an absolutely just God. For us to be saved, to have the
free mercy of God, we do nothing to deserve it, nothing to earn
it, He is just merciful. He just grabs us and takes us
out of the fire. He could show his son absolutely
no mercy. He had to pour out all his holy
wrath upon him without a speck of mercy. And while I have no
doubt that this gives us some understanding of our Lord's suffering
on the cross, it also shows us this, something about him being
made sin. There's something incredibly
unclean about this story. There's something about you just
want to wash your hands after you read it. It's disgusting.
That's by design. He was a holy man. He's a man
who knew no sin and did no sin, and yet he was made the sins
of his people. We don't really understand how
that works, what that's all about. It's too deep for this human
intellect. But this gives us some understanding of how filthy
it was, how disgusting it was. Listen to these things that the
scripture says about him. Concerning our Lord, he is our warrior.
He is our hero. He is one who cannot fail. But
listen to what it says about him. Isaiah 53 too, it says,
for he shall grow up before them as a tender plant, a tender plant. Hebrews 7.26, for such an high
priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. This was a
good man, a good God, man who has made sin and had the wrath
of God come down upon him so that we might live. That's why
this story is so gross and so vivid. And the last part here,
the message. The Levite takes his wife, his
concubine, he chops her up into 12 pieces and he sends it to
the heads of all the 12 tribes of Israel. And if you read on
from the next two chapters, you find out why he did that. It's
a message. It's a message to all the other tribes. And what
do you think that message was? I demand justice. I demand satisfaction. Get your armies together. We're
going out against Benjamin. We're gonna destroy these group
of people. I demand justice. You know what I thought of? I
thought of Cain and Abel. Listen to this. Genesis 4.10,
the Lord speaking to Cain. He says, what hast thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. What was the cry of Abel's blood?
What did it cry for? justice, vengeance, recompense. That's what it cried. This is
what it says, Hebrews 12, 24, and to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh
better things than that of Abel. What does the blood of Christ
say? What does the broken body of Christ say? What is that message?
Christ and him crucified is our message. What is that message?
Peace. Sinner, you have peace with God
through your Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing you need to do.
It's all been done. Don't come to Christ for salvation.
Come to him because of it. If you're a sinner in need of
mercy, Christ died for you. Come, eat, believe. That is the message of the gospel.
Christ is crucified. I'm going to leave you all there.