from back to 1 Corinthians 1. I had planned on bringing another
message on the miracle of Christ and make a spiritual application
from it, but this message here has been on my mind for a few
weeks. I find those are the best ones to preach, the ones that
have been working on me, not the ones I work on. You can tell
the ones I work on. But the ones that work on me,
I have learned, are the messages to preach. And I have been thinking
about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ for weeks now. The cross of our Lord speaks
volumes to those who are saved by it. You know, when you and I read
the Scriptures and we read of Christ crucified, we read of
the cross. I went back this morning and
I read in Matthew where He was taken to the cross, where they
took Him to the hall and then they put the crown of thorns
on Him and they mocked Him and spit on Him and slapped Him and
then took Him out and crucified Him. I thought, my, what a scene. What a scene. But that's all
from me. That's for me. It's more real to me right now
than ever before that a man named Jesus Christ was put to death,
executed for me on my behalf. And I might stand in God's presence,
and I might not fear when I cross over Jordan, when I have to go
to the grave, and I go stand before God, the books are clear. Everything's alright. Because
the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross and took my hell, took
the wrath I deserved. And that's more real to me now
than it was 40-some years ago. And I want us to look at the
cross This morning, the whole gospel was bound up in the cross.
The gospel is not about the ability of Christ to heal diseases. As we read the gospels, we see
these miracles. He gave sight to the blind, He
enabled the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and He raised the
dead. But the gospel is more than that. The gospel is about
who came into this world and died on that cross, rose again
and went back to glory. The whole gospel is bound up
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory in anything save the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the central message of
the Word of God. from the Old Testament all the
way through the New Testament. It's the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Is Christ crucified? As Paul said to the Corinthians
there in chapter two, And I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, philosophy, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, Except this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The cross of Christ, that's what
it is. Now, first of all, at the cross, at the cross, and
you know I'm not talking about a piece of wood, you all know
that, you've been well taught, you know, talking about the sufferings
of our Lord. At the cross, that is where we
learn the truth. If you take away the cross, if
a person is ignorant of the cross, they don't know the truth. It's
interesting over in, turn over to John chapter 18. In John 18, let me see, verse, Let me go to verse 37. Pilate
therefore said unto Christ, Art thou a king? Then Jesus answered,
Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Everyone that is of the truth
heareth my voice. My voice. Pilate saith unto him,
What is truth? You see, apart from the cross
of Christ, you don't know the truth. You don't have a foundation. You have absolutely no foundation
for life. You have no foundation for the
reason that God has created all of this apart from the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is at the cross that we learn
the truth. The cross preaches the clearest
message of the character of God and the grace of God. You cannot
understand and really know the true character of God apart from
the cross. You and I cannot know the true
meaning of grace apart from the cross of Christ. Can't do it.
It is at the cross where mercy and truth meet together. It's where righteousness and
peace kiss each other. It's at the cross. It's where
God can meet the sinner and save the vilest of sinners and be
a just God in doing so. God can save wretches like me
and you at the cross and nowhere else. Nowhere else. It is at the cross where we learn
the truth about sin. Sin, it's not me doing some bad
things, it's not bad habits. Sin is not bad habits. You know,
a drunk, an alcoholic can quit being an alcoholic, but he's
still a wretched, sinful man or woman. That doesn't change
who I am. I may change what I do, but I
don't change who I am. We learn the truth about sin
at the cross. Sin in all its ugliness and evil
is revealed at the cross. When you think of the evilness
of sin, don't think of somebody I hear like a Charles Manson
or somebody that's doing the most hideous things. Don't think
of that. Go to the cross and look what
we did to God's Son. Now there's where we find out
who we are. It's when we go to the cross
and we see our natural enmity and hatred of God. And notice
I didn't say their, it's our. They represent us. They represent
us. You've got the Jews and the Gentiles,
the religious world and the pagan world, all turned on God. And there at the cross, we see
that. We see sin in all its ugliness. And we see sin, listen, Scripture
says this, for the wages of sin is death. How bad must sin be
for the wages of it to be nothing but death? Nothing but death. God said in Ezekiel 18.4, He
said, Behold, all souls are Mine. Whether you believe God or not,
you're His. You're in His hands. Whether
you believe Him or not, He's got you. Whether He's got you as your
Savior or your Judge, it's one or the other. But all souls are
Mine as the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the Son is
Mine. And the soul that sinneth, it
shall die. It shall die by the devastating
effects of sin. Who can describe the evil of
sin? Only God knows. Only God knows
the full measure of the evil of sin. You and I don't know
it. We don't know it. We haven't been there. God knows
it. Have you ever thought this? Because
I have. I have. But I know better. I
thought it, but I know better. Have you ever thought that eternal
punishment, eternal torment was a bit much? Have you ever really
thought that? Have you ever thought for God
to put a man or a woman in hell And they are under the absolute
torment of God forever and ever and ever. You and I can't grasp
that. We can't grasp that kind of punishment. But that's how evil sin is. And
that's how God sees sin. And you know what I and you are
by nature? Sin. We don't just do some sinful
things. The Word of God teaches us we
are sin. And at the cross, we learn something
about the truth about sin, what it is, the evilness
of it. At the cross, we learn the truth
about ourselves. When the Creator came into the
world, you would think we would have rejoiced, wouldn't you?
You would think when God Almighty became incarnate and walked among
us, that we would have rejoiced,
that we would have ran to Him, that we would have asked Him
to teach us. But you know what we did? We nailed Him to a cross. We nailed Him to a cross. That's
the human race. We slew the Son of God. Listen
to Acts 2. We've seen this here a few weeks
ago. You men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by Him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also
know, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and full
knowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified. God gave you the opportunity
to express your gratitude, your love, and here's what came out. Hatred. Hatred. And I want to make a note here
on something because this is something I've learned over time. Making someone feel bad about
themselves and you're no good, you know, you're just, we're
rotten, we're just wicked. If you do that apart from the
cross, all you're going to do is lead that person to despair.
That's how people go and commit suicide. They have no foundation
for why they feel like they feel. They have no foundation for The evil that's in the world
and what they see in themselves, they feel themselves to be a
loser. I tell you what, in light of the cross, I understand that.
I understand that. I understand what I am in light
of the cross. But if you take the cross away,
that's nothing but despair. That leads to nothing but despair. I tell you, if I'm going to talk
to somebody anymore, if I talk to them and I tell them that
we're no good, that the Word of God says that there's none
good, no, not one, I'm going to do it in the light of the
cross. The cross of Christ. Because
there is One that's good. And there is One who can make
me good. There is One who can make me righteous. Listen, the cross reveals the
truth about God. You cannot learn the truth about
God apart from the cross of Christ. You can't do it. You cannot do
it. It is at the cross where we see
the true character of God. He is a just God and will by
no means clear the guilty. I mean, He will not let one sinful
thought go. He will not let one sinful thought
go. Sin must be punished. Even when
it's found on His Son, our sins were laid on Him. Now
you know we make excuses for our children far more than we
will for anybody else's. God didn't. He didn't. What's it say in Romans? He spared not his own son. He didn't spare him one blow.
He didn't spare him one ounce of wrath. Jesus Christ had to
drink the dregs of God's wrath completely dry. I mean to the
last drop in the cup. God is a just God. But at the cross we also learn
this, we learn the truth about the grace of God. When God gives
us sight, when He gives us eyes to see, one of the things we
see is we don't deserve what He's giving us, He's giving that
to Christ. And He gives us what we don't
deserve, which is exactly what Jesus Christ deserves. We have what Christ deserves. All things are what? Yours in
Christ. You and I are getting what He
deserved and He got what we deserved. Oh, you can't understand grace
until you go to the cross. Then we learn the truth about
the love of God. Oh, the deep, deep love of God. John 3.16, the most misquoted
verse probably in the Word of God. John 3.16, For God so loved
the world. Let me show you who that is.
Turn over to John 17. I'll show you who he's talking about. John 17. Look in verse 6. Look in verse 5. And now, O Father,
glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I
had with Thee before the world was. I have manifested Thy name
unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest
them me, and they kept Thy word, but I... You chose them out of
the world. Out of the world. God so loved
the world, He loved Gentiles as well as Jews, that He gave
His only begotten Son to die for them, live for them, die
for them, that whosoever believeth, and that word means continually
believes until the end, until you die, whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It's at
the cross we learn the character of God, the grace of God, the
love of God. Everything about God we learn
at the cross. And then the cross reveals what
God has saved us from. We learn at the cross what he
saved us from. We learn of the character of
God, we learn the character of sin, which is us, but we also
learn what God has saved us from. which is our sins. Our sins. I've got a lot of them.
You've got a lot of them? We can't count them. There are
so many. Matthew 1.21, "...And she shall
bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. For He shall
save His people from their sins." There are many, many sins. And
then here's something else He saves us from, and we learn it
at the cross. He saves us from the wrath of God. He says in
Psalm 85, 3 and 4, Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Well, when did He do that? When did
God take away His wrath? After He took it out on His Son.
Now listen to this. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath, thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine
anger. Why? Because he's satisfied now. It's
over. The battle's over. Tell her her
warfare is ended. And notice this in verse 4 of
Psalm 85, Turn us, O God, of our salvation. You see, God has
turned from the fierceness of his anger because he took it
out on his son, and now I need God to turn me to him. He's reconciled
to me, now I need to be reconciled to him. Scott Richardson would
say, lay down your shotgun. I need to lay down my shotgun.
God's reconciled to me, be you reconciled to God. Where? At
the cross. At the cross. I want you to listen to Nahum.
In Nahum chapter 1, God is jealous and the Lord revengeth. The Lord
revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance
on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies. And the
Scripture says that you and I were enemies, where? In our minds,
by wicked work. We were enemies. And the wrath
that God took out on His enemies, and you and I were enemies at
one time, He took it out on His Son, Jesus Christ, at the cross.
The Lord is slow to anger, He is great in power, and He will
not at all acquit the wicked. When Christ was made to be sin
for us, He was made to be guilty. He was made to be guilty, and
God did not acquit Him. The Lord hath His way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His
feet. Who can stand before His indignation? And who can abide
in the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by Him. That's the wrath our
Lord took at Calvary." What has He saved us from? Our
sins, His wrath, and eternal torment. Matthew 13, as therefore the
tares are gathered and burned in the fire, the tares are always
among the weak, and they are going to be gathered and burned
in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son
of Man shall send forth His angels, they shall gather out of His
kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and
shall cast them into a furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth. You're safe from that. God has
saved you from that eternal torment. That rich man, I cannot get this
out of my head. He's still in torment. He's still thirsty. And I'm not going to be. You
know why? Because one day, Jesus Christ cried, I thirst. I thirst. And now I don't have to. His
tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth. Mine doesn't have
to. His back was striped. Mine won't
be. By his stripes you were healed. Saved from eternal torment. The
things I'm talking to you about this morning is real. It's real
now, I'm telling you. We need to live in the reality
of it, because it's real. And then at the cross, we learned
what we've been saved to. We learned something of the character
of God. We learned the truth about sin.
We learned the truth about ourselves. That's where we learned the real
truth about ourselves. We learned what we've been saved from. But
now, if God has saved us from something, he's also saved us
to something, hasn't he? Well, He saved us to the adoption
of sons. God has adopted us as His sons. We are sons of God in two ways,
by adoption and by birth. Ephesians 1.5, Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. It was God's good pleasure to
make you His son. He didn't do it because He gave
you a chance and you accepted the chance. No, He chose you, loved you,
the reason is found in Him. It's found in Him. And it was
His good pleasure to make you His sons and daughters." His
good pleasure. Romans 8, For as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received
the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. That's why you can't keep from
crying. You can't not keep from calling
God your Father. You can't keep from it. The Spirit
of adoption is in you. And you and I call on Him as
our Father. And then we've been saved to
a godly life. A godly life. Ephesians 1 verse 4, "...according
as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." Not
just holy as he sees us in Christ, but to live out this life in
a godly manner. It says in Ephesians 2.10, For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And that's before we leave this
life. That's why we are here. If these things are missing,
it's because God has never saved us. You know, I want to tell
you something. Believing the doctrines of grace
will not make you gracious. Believing that God is love will
not make you love. It's the love of God shed abroad
in the heart that'll cause you to love one another. It's tasting
that the Lord is gracious that'll make you gracious. And I'm telling
you, there's a real difference, because there are people who
just get ahold of the doctrine. As a man said to me one time,
he said, once I heard the doctrines of grace, it changed my whole
theology. Well, you can't do that without changing God's.
You can't change your theology and not change God. It leads to a godly life. It
leads to love. It leads to graciousness and
kindness and gentleness. If those things are missing,
you've never been to Calvary. You've never been there. Romans 8.29, For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, to be like His Son. How is Jesus Christ? What's He
like? What is He like? He said, I am meek and lowly,
didn't He? This man receiveth sinners, and
he eateth with them. He is kind and gentle, the way
he handled people. He was holy and righteous. And then we are saved, listen,
to the praise of His glory and grace. Ephesians 1, in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory,
who first trusted in Christ. We are saved to the praise of
the glory of God. Listen to this, Ephesians 2.7. I didn't turn to all these because
it would take too long. But Ephesians 2.7, that in the
ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. In the ages to
come, when this is over with, listen, when this is over with,
throughout eternity, God is going to display you as trophies of
His grace. You, you whom the Lord has saved,
are trophies of His grace. And He's going to display you
as trophies of His grace throughout all eternity. He saved you through
the praise and glory of His grace. He didn't save you because you
impressed Him. Or if I've done anything, I've
depressed Him. To the praise and glory of His
grace. And then last of all, He saved
you to eternal life. You have eternal life, the life
of God. I can't begin to really imagine
what that really is, eternal life. Eternal life, our Lord
said, is to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Eternal
life is the life of God. You go over in 1 John 1 and you
can find that. Listen, in John 3, verse 36,
"...he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." You
have everlasting life. In all seriousness, now I have
not come up to that hour of death, but I do know this, I'm not going
to die. I don't know what that hour will
be like, but I know this about me and I know this about you
according to the Word of God. We are not going to die. We have
everlasting life. Now, everlasting is not hard
to understand. It's just not hard to understand.
You don't need a dictionary for that. And a person in here needs
a dictionary for everlasting. It will never end. Death will
never come into mind again. I'll never forget when Henry
and I was walking away from a grave of a good friend of ours. And Henry looked at me and he
said, I'll be glad when we quit dying. When we quit dying and
I don't have to do a funeral no more. Death is gone. Right now, everyone's
sitting here listening. You know this one thing's hanging
out there, don't you? You know it. You know it. You know that you've got to die
to this life. You know that you've got to leave
this life. You've got to leave this life. But you and I, when this
body is laid in the ground and we just go to be with the Lord,
that's over with. I can't imagine that. Sin is
over with. Crying, sorrow, pain that is
caused by sin, it's over with. Where did we learn all this at?
If we've really learned it, if we really have learned it, and
we're not just believing some facts that we've heard, but we've
really learned it, it's burned into our heart, we've learned
it at Calvary. We've learned it at Calvary.
At the cross is where we learn the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. All right.