In the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter one, the Apostle Paul wrote these words. Let me just
read them to you, beginning at verse 17. He said, for Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ, So we see the preaching of the
gospel is the preaching of the cross of Christ. The cross of
Christ should be made of none effect, for the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness, unbelievers, them
who are perishing. But unto us which are saved,
saved by the grace of God, being saved, this preaching of the
cross, the cross of Christ, is the power of God. Preaching the
gospel, now here's the point I want to start off with. Preaching
the gospel, the good news, is the same as the preaching of
the cross of Christ. And when we say the cross, we're
not talking about the wood. that Christ was crucified, upon
which Christ was crucified. He was crucified upon a literal
piece of wood. Some say a cross, some say just
a beam. It doesn't matter. He was crucified
on a piece of wood. But we're not talking about the
wood. We're not talking about symbols here. We're not talking
about jewelry worn around your neck or anything like that or
tattoos. The preaching of the cross, now
listen to this. The preaching of the cross is
the summation of all gospel truth concerning who God really is. You know, why did Christ have
to go up on that cross? It's because of who God is. Now,
He's the God-man, but it's the summation of all gospel truth
concerning who God is and what God requires to save sinners. Christ went on that cross because
it was required for him to save his people from their sins. And
it also is a summation of who we really are in our sinfulness
and depravity and our need of salvation by grace. Without the
blood of the cross, there's no salvation for a sinner like me.
There's no salvation for sinners like you. And it's the summation
of gospel truth concerning who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He's
God manifest in the flesh. He's the surety, the substitute,
and the redeemer of God's people for salvation by His grace. That's
what this cross is. The preaching of the cross is
preaching the glorious person and the finished, accomplished
work of Christ, who is Himself the revelation of God to men.
God manifest in the flesh. In the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter two and verse one, let me read this to you. Paul writes,
and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God,
for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That's a big statement, isn't
it? Don't want to know anything among you save Jesus. You know
what that tells us? There's absolutely no way that
any true minister of God can overemphasize or preach too much
the cross. The real preaching of the cross.
Paul said the cross was his glory, his boast, his assurance, Galatians
6, 14. But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. The cross is
my, the work of Christ on the cross is my assurance of salvation. And it determines and establishes
my place in this world. The world's crucified unto me,
cursed, that I'm crucified under them. In Ephesians 2 and verse
16, he talks about how believers among the Jews and believers
among the Gentiles are brought together, reconciled both unto
God in one body, the church, how? By the cross. By the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby. That's the power of the cross,
to save sinners and bring us together. In Philippians 2 and
verse 8, It speaks of Christ's humiliation. How he who is God,
the second person of the Godhead, the Son of God, without beginning,
without ending, he being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. That ignominious death, as they
say. In Colossians chapter one and
verse 19, I'm showing you how important this thing is. In verse
19, it says, it pleased the Father that in Christ should all fullness
dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross,
by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven. Reconciliation with
God by the blood of the cross. And then in Hebrews 12 and verse
two, speaking of how we are to conduct ourselves by faith in
Christ, it says, we're looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross. despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. You see, it's
preaching salvation by the grace of God. That's what the cross
is. It's preaching salvation conditioned on Christ, who by
himself fulfilled all conditions, now listen to this, to secure
the complete salvation of all for whom he died. Not to make
them savable. Not to try to save them. The preaching of the cross is
the preaching of righteousness established, the very righteousness
of God that's revealed in the gospel. That's the merit of his
entire obedience unto death, even the death of the cross,
his righteousness, which is imputed to every one of God's people
for their justification. It's the blood of the cross that
brings about the forgiveness of sins. And it's this preaching
of the cross is the source of spiritual and eternal life out
of the death of Christ as the surety, the substitute, and the
redeemer of his people. Now I entitled this message preaching
from the cross. And here in the book of Luke
chapter 23, we have the historical record of the crucifixion of
Christ. Now you have that in other gospels, you have it in
Matthew, Matthew 27, Mark 15, you have it in John 19, and there
are some differences, but there are no contradictions in it. It's the same thing, but there
are some things that are left out in one or put into another,
and that's just a matter of viewpoint, what they saw. Matthew recording
what he heard, and John recording what he saw, Mark recording what
he heard, Luke's recording here what he heard. And so the Lord
brought it all together to show that complete experience that
Christ went through. So what I want to do is go back
to verse one, beginning at, well actually I want to go back to
Luke 22 and verse 66. if you want to look at that.
And I want to talk to you about what the cross says to the people
of God. And then next week, I'm going
to start on what Christ himself on that cross said. So that's
why I call this preaching from the cross. What is the message
of the cross to us? And look at verse 66. of Luke
22, it says, And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people,
and the chief priests, and the scribes came together, and led
him, led Christ into their counsel, saying, Art thou the Christ? Are you the Messiah? Now that's
a lot of theology there, a lot of doctrine. the Christ, the
Messiah, the one who was promised in Genesis 3.15 and all the way
through the Old Testament, who would be both God and man in
one person. And look at what he said in verse
67 of Luke 22. He said unto them, if I tell
you, you will not believe. And he'd already told them and
they didn't believe. He's the true Messiah of the
cross. The cross tells us who Jesus
Christ is. And verse 68, and if I also ask
you, you will not answer me nor let me go. Hereafter shall the
son of man, and that's a messianic title here, sit on the right
hand of the power of God, his deity, his humanity without sin. He's talking about victory. He's
going to the right hand of the power of God. sitting on the
right hand of the power of God. So the cross tells us the victory
of Christ, the God-man, the Messiah, God manifest in the flesh without
sin, his victory. Verse 70, then said they all,
are thou then the Son of God? Are you God? That's what they're
asking. And he said unto them, you say that I am. Now he's not
just avoiding the question here, he's standing his ground. And they said, what need we any
further witness, for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.
He's claiming to be God. Jesus is the Christ. God manifests
in the flesh, yet without sin in himself. Look at verse one
now of Luke 23. He says, and the whole multitude
of them arose and led him unto Pilate, They began to accuse
him, saying, we found this fellow perverting the nation, corrupting
the nation. And see, what men by nature call
good, they call good evil and evil good. What Christ was doing
was spreading forth the message of salvation for sinners by grace,
not by the law. And he was telling them that
their refuge was false. And if they continued in it,
listening to the scribes and the Pharisees, they would be
lost forever. They had to have a righteousness
that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
And he described it as the perfection of the righteousness of the law
that can only be found in him. And so they called that perverting
the nation. Corrupting the name. Forbidding
to give tribute to Caesar, that was a lie. Remember he said,
render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God that
which is all. Saying that he himself is Christ
the King. Saying that he is God manifest
in the flesh, the Messiah, the King of kings. And then it says,
and Pilate asking, this is verse three. Pilate asking him saying,
art thou the King of the Jews? Now think about this. He answered
and said, thou sayest, I am what you say that I am. And then,
of course, Pilate was just asking the question, but Christ's point
is, yes, he's the king. And then said Pilate to the chief
priest and to the people, and notice what he said, I find no
fault in this man. Now, Pilate was just speaking
from a human point of view as an earthly judge. He's saying,
you're not guilty of what they say you're guilty of. But those
words, those words speak volumes to the people of God. There was
no fault in this man. He was never a sinner. He was
never made a sinner. He is the sinless surety, substitute,
redeemer. This is a testimony both to the
innocence of Christ in his own person, and then later on we're
gonna see a testimony to the guilt of Christ as the surety,
substitute, and redeemer of God's people, guilty only by imputation. Look at verse five. He says,
and they were the more fierce, as Pilate tried to defend him.
But you know, Pilate was not in control. God is. And that's one thing that the
cross speaks to us. God's in control of all this,
and I'll speak more of that in just a moment. He says, Pilate,
they were more fierce, saying, he stirreth up the people, teaching
throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. And
when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were
a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that he
belonged under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod. who himself
also was at Jerusalem at that time. So he wanted to get the
matter out of his hand and put it into Herod's hand. Verse eight,
look here. He says, and when Herod saw Jesus,
he was exceeding glad for he was desirous to see him of a
long season. Herod really wanted to see this
man because he had heard many things of him and he hoped to
have seen some miracle done by him. So, Herod knew he'd performed
miracles and he wanted to see one. And verse nine, then he
questioned with him in many words, but he answered him nothing.
Christ wouldn't even answer Herod. And the chief priests and scribes
stood and vehemently accused him. False accusations, that's
how much they hated him. Verse 11, Herod with his men
of war set him at nought and mocked him and arrayed him in
a gorgeous robe and sent him again to Pilate. Now look at
verse 12, this is significant. And the same day Pilate and Herod
were made friends together, for before they were at enmity between
themselves. The one, this is the one, this
is what the cross tells us. This cross, he's not on the cross
yet, but it's coming. Crucify him, they said. And it
shows us that the one against This is the one against whom
the whole world by nature would stand against. Herod and Pilate,
bitter enemies, but they both came together over one issue,
their mutual hatred and disdain of Jesus Christ, the Lord of
glory. And you know back over in Acts
chapter 4, listen to this in verse 25. This is from a prophecy
too, talking about in Psalm 2, I can't remember
if it's Psalm 2 or Psalm 5, but he says, Christ, who by the mouth
of thy servant David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and
the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and
against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. I want you to listen to something.
Everything that happened here and that is happening here as
we read through this, everything here, was the fulfillment of
God's purpose and God's will. It was the fulfillment of all
the prophecy of the New Testament. If you read Matthew's account
of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, he constantly says, this was
done that it might be fulfilled that which was spoken by the
prophet whoever. The cross is the greatest reason
behind everything that God does in eternity and time. It is the
focal point of the whole eternal purpose of God, of all history
and time. The Bible tells us that the book
of God's sovereign purpose and will can only be opened by the
Lamb that was slain. You'll read that in Revelation
5. No man was found worthy, but the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the Lamb that was slain. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Christ's worthiness as our surety,
our substitute, our redeemer, is based upon His being slain
for our sins. The Book of Life, over in Revelation
19, wherein is recorded all the names of all the elect of God
before the foundation of the world, is called the Lamb's Book
of Life, the Lamb who was slain. That's Christ on the cross. If it were not for the Lamb slain,
we would never exist. That's what that's telling us.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 1.3, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Paul
wrote to Timothy of God who had saved us and called us with an
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his
own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. The cross is everything in eternity
and in time. And then look at verse 13, Luke
23. It said, Pilate, when he had
called together the chief priest and the rulers and the people,
He said unto them, you have brought this man unto me as one that
perverted or corrupted the people. And behold, I have examined him
before you and have found no fault in this man touching those
things whereof you accuse him. So the emphasis here, the sinless,
sin-bearing substitute. And he says in verse 15, no,
nor yet Herod, for I sent you to him and lo, nothing worthy
of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him,
punish him and release him. But look, he says in verse 17,
in parenthesis, for of necessity, Pilate must release one unto
them at the feast. Now he's talking about the Passover
feast. And boy, that's significant. The cross. of Christ speaks of
God's spiritual, eternal Passover feast. You remember back in Exodus
12 where they were told to commemorate the Passover feast in Egypt. And God told them to get a year
old lamb without spot and without blemish, slay that lamb and put
the blood over the door post and on the side post. And he
says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. That's what the
cross is all about. Christ is our Passover. Because of Christ and what he
accomplished on the cross, God cannot and will not charge us
with our sins. He can't impute them to us. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.
When he said blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity. See, this Passover speaks of completed redemption.
Now listen to me, this is what the cross says to us. This is
preaching from the cross. The Passover speaks of completed
redemption that secured the salvation of all whom he has redeemed. So if you're preaching, now listen
to me, any preachers out there, if you're preaching that Christ
only made salvation possible by his death, that he died for
everyone, even those who perish in their sins, you're not preaching
from the cross, you're not preaching the cross at all. You're preaching
a false gospel. That's not what this Bible teaches. Now let's go on, look at verse
18. Here's God's righteousness and man's sinfulness. It says,
and they cried out all at once, saying, away with this man, release
unto us Barabbas, who for certain sedition made in the city and
for murder was cast into prison. That's what, Barabbas, he was
a rebel, a seditionist, and a murderer. And they're saying we'd rather
have him than have this one who calls himself the king of the
Jews. Verse 20, Pilate therefore willing
to release Jesus spoke again to them, but they cried unto
him again, crucify him, crucify him. Now you realize now these
were the same people who hours before were saying hallelujah. They were saying hosanna. Verse
22, it says, and he said unto them the third time, why, what
evil hath he done? Here's this emphasis, I have
found no cause of death in him. There was no reason to put him
to death in him, in him, the perfect God-man. He said, I will
therefore chastise him, let him go. And they were instant with
loud voices. See, each time Pilate said that,
they came back instantly. They didn't have to think about
it. And it says, they were instant with loud voices requiring that
he might be crucified, and the voices of them and of the chief
priests prevailed. Notice this is coming from the
religious nobles. This hatred, this demand for
his death, and the release of this criminal, it was coming
from the most religious people in Jewry that day. Pilate, verse
24, gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released
unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison.
He released Barabbas. I don't know how that affected
Barabbas. There's mythology and legend that talks about that.
But boy, don't we see a good picture here of how Christ, the
innocent lamb, suffering for the guilty, and the guilty goes
free. That's a good picture of that,
good illustration. And it says he was cast into
prison whom they had desired. But look at verse 25, the last
few words. Pilate delivered Jesus to their
will. Now here's the thing. People
talk about free will, you know. If you will, my friend, the cross,
this preaching from the cross, the cross is the greatest And
I want you to see this in perspective now. The cross is the greatest,
most astounding, and most righteous and holy act that God ever performed. More so than any other accomplishment
of God. This is the greatest, the most
righteous. The cross is the most glorious
event Here on the cross, God is glorified in every attribute
of his glorious nature because of who Christ is and what he
accomplished for his people. But at the same time, the cross
is the greatest, most sinful and evil act that man ever carried
out, more so than any other evil act. or evil person has ever
or will do. I don't care what it is. You
pick any great evil work that ever came out of history, this
is worse. And you know what it was? Pilate delivered Jesus to
their will. What does that tell you? Well,
it tells us what the Bible's always told us. Look at John
3, 19. It says, this is the condemnation, John 3, 19. Light is coming to
the world. Who's that light? That's Christ.
That's his gospel, his truth. Light is coming to the world.
And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. You see what Christ taught and
preached and promoted exposed the evil of their law keeping. They thought they were righteous
based on their law keeping. He says you've got to have a
righteousness that exceeds the ones of the scribes and the Pharisees. The righteousness of the God
man. Their deeds were evil. Verse 20 of John 3. For everyone
that doeth evil hateth the light. They hated Christ. And let me
tell you something. When you look at passages like
Luke 23, listen to me very carefully.
If you don't see yourself right there with those people, yourself
by nature, saying crucify Him, you haven't seen your sin. You
haven't been convinced of sin. You've never repented. I'll never
forget years and years ago, there was a preacher up in Akron, Ohio,
who was talking about Christ going to the cross. And you know
how most people, and this is significant for what we're gonna
read just in a moment here in Luke 23, And when most preachers
preach on it, they draw everybody's tears out. Emotionalism. And this preacher was doing that,
and he interrupted his message to say this. He said, oh, if
I had been there, I would have stopped it. Now, first of all,
you know as well as I do that that's crazy. This is what God
had before determined would be done. That's right. But here's the thing about it,
if I'd been there, I'd have been right with this crowd, by nature. If I'd have been there in my
sins before God brought me to a saving knowledge of myself
and a saving knowledge of Christ, I'd have been right there saying
crucify. And if you haven't seen yourself in that way by nature
now, as we're naturally born into this world, fallen in Adam,
dead in trespasses and sins, ignorant of the only righteousness
that God will justify sin. If you haven't seen yourself
in that way, you haven't been convinced of sin. You've never
been brought to repentance. You don't know yourself. But this is it. Look at John
3, 20. For everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither
cometh the light, lest his deed should be Expose. Reprove. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know them. They're
spiritually discerned. Listen to what the Apostle Peter
preached in his sermon at Pentecost. Acts chapter 2 verse 22. 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 foreknowledge of
God. The greatest act in God's purpose
in eternity, in time. the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, you have taken by wicked hands, have crucified and slain.
The greatest act of evil that man has ever committed, murder.
Now Christ was not taken by force of man to the cross. He said,
I give my life. He did it of his own sovereign
will. And it was at the cross that
God expressed himself in his holiest and most just way, as
the most loving, gracious, and merciful way, a just God and
a Savior. And it's all based upon what
Christ accomplished at the cross. His righteousness imputed. The
cross was and is, listen to this, the most necessary event in all
history. Necessary for the glory of God
in salvation. Necessary for the salvation of
God's chosen people from all their sins. For them to have
eternal life. If the cross work of Christ had
never happened, there would be no hope for any of us. The cross was and is the most
complete event in all of history. At the cross, Christ fulfilled
and finished the whole will of God concerning the salvation
of his people. Everything that God planned,
everything that God required to save his people from their
sins was accomplished at the cross. And listen to this, the
cross was and is the most victorious and effectual event of all history. At the cross, All of the sins
of all of God's elect, as they had been imputed to Christ, charged
to Christ, were put away, paid for, made an end of. And at the cross, all righteousness
was established, nothing to be added, so that Christ secured
the salvation of every sinner for whom he died. His righteousness
is imputed to them so that they are justified in God's sight
forever and ever, and spiritual and eternal life was secured
for them so that they cannot die in their sins and perish.
They must be born again and preserved under glory. They cannot be charged
with their sins. They're charged with his righteousness.
The preaching of the cross does not stop with the death of Christ.
He's risen. He lives. Why? Because he brought
forth righteousness for his people. He was raised again because of
our justification. We'll look down here at Luke
23. It says, He delivered Jesus to their will.
Verse 26, it says, and this is the state of sinners without
Christ. Look at this. As they led Him away, they laid
hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and
on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.
Apparently, our Lord and His humanity had become so dilapidated
in his energy, he couldn't do it. And this man, they forced
him to do it. Verse 27, and there followed
him a great company of people and of women, which also bewailed
and lamented him, feeling sorry for him. But Jesus turning unto
them, now listen to this, he said, daughters of Jerusalem,
weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
For behold, the days are coming in the which they shall say,
blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bear and the
paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say
it to the mountains, fall on us and to the hills, cover us.
For if they do these things in a green tree, in a season where
the tree is green and lush and bringing forth fruit, what shall
be done in the dry season? What's he saying here? He's saying,
look, if all this happens when Christ is right there, the tree
of life, the life-giving tree, the Lord our righteousness, what
do you think is going to happen when it's all gone and you have
nothing but yourselves to depend on? Some say that this is a prophecy
of what happened in Jerusalem about 70 some years later, or
40 some years later in AD 70 when they were destroyed, and
that may be true. But here's the point. Without
Christ, it's all dead, perishing. There's no hope without him.
And then let me read just a few more verses and then I'll quit.
In verse 32, There were two others, malefactors, criminals, led with
him to be put to death. And when they were come to the
place, which is called Calvary, they crucified him and the malefactors,
one on the right hand and the other on the left. I'll be dealing
with them later on in the seven sayings of Christ from the cross.
But here's the point there. This prophecy that was put forth
in Isaiah 53, which is a prophecy of the suffering Messiah. Verse 12 says in Isaiah 53, therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide
the spoiled with the strong because he had poured out his soul unto
death and he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bear
the sin of many and he made intercession for the transgressors. And then
He began to speak as He was on that cross, then said, Jesus,
Father, forgive. There's seven sayings from the
cross that I'm gonna deal with. He said, Father, forgive them
for they know not what they do. It's recorded later on here in
Luke 23. Verily I say unto you today,
you will be with me in paradise. Speaking to one of those thieves.
Over in John 19, it's recorded that he looked at John and his
mother Mary, his human mother, and he said, woman, behold thy
son, son, behold thy mother. And then over in Matthew 27,
and this is recorded in Mark 15, and it's quoted from Psalm
22, when he spoke those awesome words, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? What a statement. In John 19.28,
he said, I thirst, speaking out of his human infirmity. And then
in John 19.30, he spoke these words, it is finished. We'll
be dealing with that. And then lastly, as recorded
here in Luke chapter 23 and verse 46, he said, Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit. And after doing that, he gave
up the ghost. He died. But as you know, he
didn't stay dead. You see, the word of the cross,
speaking from the cross, is not just about his death, but what
his death accomplished. And his death accomplished the
purging of all our sins and the establishment of righteousness
by which he was raised from the dead because of the justification
of all for whom he died. That's what the cross says to
God's people. May the Lord bless his word to
our hearts.