The cross of Christ Galatians 3:1

It is good to be with you. I'm thankful the Lord is giving us another time together. We can worship him and praise him as he is prescribed through the preaching of the gospel of his son, the declaration of the victory and success of our Lord Jesus Christ. I ask your prayers for me this morning as I desire to preach. I want to preach. I pray, Lord, give me the mind and the heart that I need. And that he would take the words that are preached, make them effectual to you, powerful to you.

That's something only that God can do. Man can't do that. You know, can't do it for ourselves. Can't do it for ourselves. We can have the desire to do it. You could want it. You could be sincere and want it. But we have to realize that we cannot give it. We cannot give it to ourselves. Just like I can't give myself the ability to preach. I can't do it. I can't give myself the words in the mind.

I can write them down. I can desire to do it. This message could come off as dead. If it's in me, that's all it's gonna be. If that's how you hear it in you, it'll be just as dead as the pages it's written on. That's not what we're asking for, is it? I'm asking for divine intervention. I'm asking for divine revelation. I'm asking that God send his spirit. Only then is this gonna mean anything to anybody.

Think of that seed being cast and how it just falls on them. ground rolls. That's how it is with the dead heart. It just falls and rolls. Those are just on the surface here and they just receive it, just a little bit of it. It seems to affect them and it grows out a little bit, but there's no real fruit in it. There's others with thorns and cares of this world and it chokes it, just comes in, they want it to do something, it cares, it's choking.

And it's just as dead. Just as dead as if it rolled on the ground. Scripture says, and there are some that land on good ground. Now, the ground didn't do that to itself. You know that? Ground didn't make itself good all by itself. Ground don't plow itself, does it? You don't see a ground out there doing all the, farmers just throwing it out there. Ground has to be plowed.

It has to be turned up. That's what God the Spirit does. That's the Spirit's work. Preparation for the gospel. And then, in a divine act of love, He Himself takes the seed. Puts it in. And then, what can it do but grow? What can it do but produce fruit?

And all of this, you see, none of this gives the person, the hearer or the preacher any glory in it. There's nothing. There's no glory in the man. There's no glory in what I've written, except the spirit of God apply it. And I went back there in my office and I read this again. And I go, man, did I not just do this yesterday? It's like, it looks like Greek at times. So I'm not dependent upon this. I can't depend on this. I can't depend on this. There's just nothing there.

So I'm asking that you should pray for me. That I could preach this in the power of the spirit to you. And then we should pray for ourselves that we be able to hear it. Able. Then everyone who hears it's going to give glory to God. That's that. You'll just thank God. You won't thank me. You won't thank yourself. But if you hear it, you'll thank God.

Remember our conference coming up. Pray for it. Ask God to be merciful to the men who have agreed to come and preach the gospel. thrilled to be able to sit where you would, you're sitting, and God be gracious, and I could hear some men preach. Pray for them, pray for the Lord's blessing that he will use it. We'll meet here the Saturday before the conference to clean, mostly to eat, and to fellowship, some to clean, Remember that. Let's go to God in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven, we bow ourselves before you, asking for the grace and power of thy spirit to be sent.

I pray you give me the ability, the liberty, and the unction of thy spirit to declare and set forth Christ crucified. before the eyes of these who've come to hear. I ask that you would give us faith that we should look and behold him crucified, bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, accomplishing our salvation. I pray, Father, that you would, by grace, if there be any that do not believe, this day you would open their minds and hearts. I pray father for those that do believe that you would comfort, instruct, rebuke, convict, rejoice, whatever you intend to do with the message that you would do it. You would do it for the glory of your name and the good and the care of your people. Father, please forgive us our sins. Cleanse us of our unrighteousness. Father, these things we ask and plead in the name of our Savior. For his glory we ask, amen.

All right, take your Bibles and turn with me back to Galatians. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3, I read in chapter 2 earlier, but our texts are going to be found in Galatians 3 and verse 1. The title of this message is The Cross of Christ. The Cross of Christ.

Now, before this, the apostle had set forth the reason for this book. The reason of this book was that the church of Galatia had moved from the gospel. They left the gospel. He says in chapter 1, he said, I marvel that you are so soon moved from him. To what? Another gospel. Which is not another. There's not another. There's no other gospel. This one that I preach, Paul said, is the only gospel. There's not any other. But you've moved from it. Now what did they do that was so terrible that Paul would tell them they moved themselves from Christ? What was it?

Well, they didn't deny His deity. This book is not about them denying His deity or His crucifixion. They believed in His crucifixion. They believed in His blood and righteousness. They believed in salvation by faith. They believed in the grace of God. What was it that was so terrible? What doctrine had crept in that was so bad? That Paul said somebody bewitched you. Somebody duped you. What was it?

It was to add one law. One law to the death of Jesus Christ. To the salvation that is in Jesus Christ. All they did was say this. You have to be circumcised. That's all. They said, well, you begin by believing in Jesus Christ, but in order to finish your race, in order to make this effectual, in order for this to be valid, you have to be circumcised. Now circumcision was a very private thing. You know, it was only for the man. It was not a complicated law that could, you know, be misunderstood. It was very simple. Just go get circumcised and everything's alright. That's all.

Now, they didn't even add the Ten Commandments, they added one law. Not ten, that's modern religions adding ten. They said, well, you're saved by grace through faith in Christ, but in order to finish this thing, you have to go back under the Ten Commandments. Now the apostle Peter himself, can we fall into this trap? Believers do. Many in this church were duped. They were true believers but they were duped.

And so he uses the illustration in the second chapter regarding Peter. And Peter had visited this Gentile church and he was eating things that were against the law of Moses. And some Jews walked in and Peter got up and said, whoa, what am I doing? I'm not supposed to eat this. And he went away over to these Jews and they put themselves in a little corner over here. And the other Jews saw it and they said, man, the Apostle Peter's got up. We must be doing something wrong. And they left and they went over here. And Paul said, whoa, whoa, this is not right. And he said, I withstood Peter to the face. I came right in his face and I told him this, you're wrong. You're wrong for doing this. And what was his answer? That was verse 16. And I think verse 16 is like the center of this book. This is the summation of all that Paul is going to say. And he's going to go into detail, but this is a summation of it. Look at this.

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. I said, Peter, don't we know that? We're Jews. We were under this thing. Don't we know this? Isn't this evident? But that a man is justified, how? By the faith of. Now that's vital. People say, oh faith in, faith of. No, no, that's vital.

He says the faith of Christ. How are you justified? I'm not justified by my faith in Christ. I'm justified by the faith of Christ. And listen to what He said. Even we believed in Christ. See the difference? What did we believe in Christ for? We believed in Christ because of the faith of Christ. I'm justified by His faith. That's what my faith is. My faith is not in my faith.

My faith is in the faith of, the obedience of, the death of, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. that we might be justified by the faith of Christ says it twice just so you didn't misunderstand and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight and so Paul here in this Galatians in chapter 3 he goes turns back to the Galatians and he says this who hath bewitched you who duped you who fooled you into adding the law to the righteousness of Christ.

Who did that? That you should not obey the truth. You see that? If you move from Christ and Christ alone to Christ and the law, you are duped. And you have not obeyed the truth. Now when he talks about obeying the truth, he's talking about the gospel. You've not obeyed the truth. What is the gospel? What's obedience to the gospel? It is to believe in the faith of Jesus Christ as all my justification, all my sanctification, all my righteousness, all my wisdom, all my salvation.

That's what it is. And so then he said this. Look at what he said. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you. What does he say? Did I not preach the gospel to you? In that summation, he says, did not I clearly, plainly set Christ and Him crucified in front of you every time I preached to you? Is that not what I preached? Tell me what I preached to you. Did I preach law to you? Or did I set Christ for crucified among you? Why? Why was this so vital for Paul to remind them of this?

Because of this, the cross of Jesus Christ, the cross, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the center and the sum of all our salvation. It's the center of everything. It's the center of everything. Without the blood. of Jesus Christ. Listen, there is no salvation. And simply this, if we are to add anything to the blood of Jesus Christ for salvation, we've contaminated it. It's polluted. It does nothing. Paul said this in the end of this book in Galatians. He said if you add anything To Jesus Christ He shall profit you nothing. Now is that something? That's vital.

The center of our gospel is the cross of Jesus Christ. And so if the cross is not preached, the gospel is not preached. You understand that, right? If the cross of Christ is not preached, the gospel is not preached. Do you realize that the cross of Christ is the center of all time and eternity?

It's the center of it. We hinge our time on it, don't we? Before crucifixion, before Christ, after death, A.D., B.C., we hinge time on it. Why? Because it's the center of God's redemptive purpose in eternity. Jesus often made this statement, My hour is not yet come. There was a specific hour in which He was to be crucified. That is the center of everything.

Yet men put it on the side as though it's an aside. Though it's no common knowledge. So we don't, well everybody knows that. We don't want to preach that. What are you saying? I don't want to preach the gospel. I want to focus on you. I want to focus on your life. I want to focus on your troubles. I want to focus on your mental health and your physical health and your economic well-being. What are they saying? I don't want to preach the gospel. The gospel is the center. Paul is saying, didn't I not preach Christ to you? Crucify. He's a sinner. Why?

Because nor silver nor gold hath obtained my redemption. Nor riches of earth could have saved my poor soul. The blood of the cross is my only foundation. The death of my Savior, redemption hath wrought. I am redeemed. I'm redeemed. Not with silver. I'm bought, but not with gold. Bought with a price. precious blood of Jesus. This is the message of Paul that he sets forth before them.

Now, this morning, I want to give you three things about this cross, three things about the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, I want you to see it is the only means of salvation. Now, when I say that word salvation, please, in your mind, in your mind, I want you to call forth every word that is equivalent to salvation. What I mean by salvation is, the cross of Christ is the only means of our justification, the only means of our sanctification, the only means of our redemption, the only means of our reconciliation, the only means of our righteousness, is the blood of Jesus Christ. When I say salvation, I'm talking about the whole.

Some people come along and say, well, I believe Jesus is our justification, but sanctification is something we need to do. I still can't get an answer to this. How can you claim to be justified and not sanctified? Sanctification means holy. What it means? No such thing as partial holiness, just as there is no such thing as partial justification.

The death of Christ, that's the first point. Now, the second point is this. The cross of Christ has successfully accomplished salvation. And thirdly, the only means by which this blood is applied, the blood of the cross is applied, is through the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ. So first, let's look at the first point. The cross of Christ is the only mean of salvation. This was set forth when Adam failed, when Adam sinned. Okay? God gave him a redemptive message, a message of redemption. When sin entered in the world and he was dead in sins, God came to him. Isn't that awful that God came to him?

Adam would still be in the trees somewhere. He'd still be sowing leaves. He'd have a closet full of leaves, wouldn't he? God came to him and he said this, the seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent. There's one who is coming, a redemptive man, a representative man. The seed of the woman, not your seed, your seed is contaminated. It's going to be the seed of the woman. That's only Jesus Christ, nobody else is the seed of the woman. He shall crush the head of the serpent by how the bruising of his heel.

Now, what does that mean? Well, the Lord gave you a picture immediately after he killed the animal. And use that skin to cover their nakedness. That's a picture what the Lord Jesus Christ and from that time forward. Listen, this principle was instituted. Blood. was necessary to pay for Sihon. Sacrifice. How do we know that? Because his children immediately after started sacrificing. Cain and Abel. We read of their sacrifice. Remember Cain?

He brought the fruit of the ground. The best of his works. I imagine he was real sincere in that. I think he really tried really hard. And every time he put in his seed and brought up some apples or whatever it was, he was probably praising God for it. And then he brought that fruit out there and he laid it out there.

And God said, I will have no respect to that awfully. From that time forward, God put out a principle. He said, salvation will not be by works. And then Abel offered something that he had nothing to do with. He offered a lamb. He didn't have anything to do with that lamb's birth. He didn't have anything to do with that lamb's growth. He didn't have anything to do with that lamb's wool or anything about it. He just took the lamb and cut his throat.

And God said, I respect that offering because that picture is my son. That picture is my son. So God has no respect to anyone who wants to offer their works. You want to offer your works? Anybody? Well, I'm offering Christ's blood plus my words. The whole book is against that. The whole book of Galatians has told you you've moved from the truth. Go to Hebrews chapter 9. Look at Hebrews chapter 9. What does the scripture say about the sacrifices? In Romans, in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 22 it says that almost all things.

He says almost all things were in the law purged with blood. Why? Why with all this blood? Listen, the principle is without the shedding of blood there is no remission. There it is. Without blood, there's no forgiveness. Without blood, there's no pardon. That's what the law was teaching. But the insufficiency of the law was this, that none of those sacrifices could take away sin.

Now how do we know that? Because if they could, they would have ceased to be offered. Isn't that right? If it was sufficient, you wouldn't need to do it again. But because it wasn't yet sufficient, you had to do it over, and over, and over, and over, and over. And yet, what does he say? Look at verse 13 of that same chapter of Hebrews 9. He said, For the blood of bulls and goats, after the sprinkling of a heifer and unclean, sanctified the purifying of the flesh. That means this, that if you obeyed that outward law, there was physical benefits. If the Jews maintained those sacrifices, there were physical benefits. They wouldn't get raided by their enemies. They wouldn't get overtaken. They wouldn't be slaves. There were a whole bunch of benefits. But they were only outward.

Look at this. Now he compares it to the cross. He says, how much more? How much more the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience of dead works. To what? Serve the living God. See, I'm not encumbered to serve the living God anymore, even though my works are not even perfect. This preaching is not perfect, yet I'm not afraid to preach. Why? Because the blood of Christ has atoned for my sins, all of my sins, even while I'm preaching. And for this cause, he is the mediator of a new covenant that by means of his death, listen, for the redemption of the transgression. See why?

They could not redeem sin but His blood was for redemption of the transgression. They were under the first testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. To every sinner who hears the message of the cross and fully understands their need of redemption. Does anyone need full redemption? Complete and perfect absolution, expiation of all sin? Man, I can only tell you to go to one place. I can tell you to only go to one person.

Jesus Christ and him crucified. He's the media of the note covenant. And listen, Paul says this later. His blood speaks better than the blood of Abel. You know what Abel's blood wanted when he when his brother killed him? He wanted justice. The blood of Christ speaks better things because his blood cries for forgiveness. His blood cries for pardon. Why? Because he has redeemed his people. He has redeemed his people.

Now the law was never intended to redeem. It was only intended to convict. Isn't that what the law does to you? Now to the self-righteous they read the law and they think everything's well. But to you who are called of the Spirit, you know it's not true. You read that law, and every law convicts me. When I read any law, I'm convicted. The law only exposes, gives the knowledge of sin, but it can't save you. It can't help you. We're not sufficient to pay for what we know we owe to God. We are guilty by nature, by nature under the divine justice of God.

Yet here in great mercy, in great grace, God is manifest to all the blood of Jesus Christ. Look back in Galatians and see this. In Galatians chapter three, look at verse 10. For as many as are under the works of the law are under what? Anybody want to be under the law? Please. Be honest with yourself. If you want to be saved by Jesus and the law, listen to the law. As many as are under the works of the law are under what? A curse. It's written. I don't care what you think. This ends all speculation. It ends all debate. It's written! It's written.

Curses everyone that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. But a man is not justified by the law in the sight of God. That's evident. Just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith. See the opposition here? They're totally opposed to one another. You're either living by faith or you're living by law. You can't say I'm living by faith and law. The law is not of faith.

But the man that doeth them, he's your living him. But here's the hope. Here it is. Look at verse 13. Christ. Hath. Redeemed us from what the curse of the law being made a curse. Being made a curse for us for his written curses, everyone that hangeth on a tree. I wish to be as clear and plain that I can.

Only the blood of Christ can reconcile man to God. Only the blood of Christ can redeem you. Only the blood of Christ can justify you. Only the blood of Christ can sanctify you. Only the blood of Christ can, by the blood and obedience of Christ, can you be righteous before God.

That's it. There is no other means. It's not a contributing factor. You do not add anything to it. Why? Because it is the only means of salvation. It's the only means of salvation. See, we're sinners, friends. There's nothing we can do that's not contaminated. Isaiah said, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. No, it's our best things. If you've seen that, may God show you this, that Jesus Christ By his blood has redeemed and reconciled all his people to God. Look at the second Corinthians. Second Corinthians chapter five. How did he do it? How did he redeem? How did he reconcile by his blood?

Look at this. Verse 18 second Corinthians five verse 18. All things are of God. In this matter of salvation, you listen to me, I know all things are of God, period. You just put that sentence and put a period there. All things are of God. Isn't that true? The Lord reigneth. He does whatever He pleases. But in this matter of salvation, Paul is going to be very specific. He said all things are of God.

Who hath reconciled us to Himself? Who reconciled us? Was it your sincerity that reconciled you? Well, God saw how sincere I was. My tears. Oh, how I weep for my sins. Did that reconcile you? Oh, I made a decision for Jesus. Did that reconcile you? Scripture says God reconciled us without any help from us. He reconciled us to himself.

How? Look, by Jesus Christ. And look, gave us the ministry of reconciliation, to which God was in Christ. What was He doing in Christ? Reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And hath committed to us the word of reconciliation, Now, then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you, be you reconciled to God. Well, how can that be? I'm a sinner. How can I be reconciled to God? On what grounds can I come before a holy God as a sinner?

Four. Here's your grounds. You that are sinners. You that have no hope in yourself. Listen to this. Here's the grounds you come to God with. Four. God hath made him sin for us. We knew no sin. Friends, you can search that as much as you want to and you won't find a bottom to that one. All I know is sin. That's all I know. Yet he who knew no sin, God made him sin. at the same time. And God punished sin in his son. When you think of the cross of Christ, you must think, if you want to see what God's justice looks like, look at the cross.

Is it nothing he said to you that pass by? As Christ is set forth crucified before you this morning, is it nothing to you? Is he just an aside? Is he just a part? You that have no righteousness in yourselves, You know that my only hope is that he bore my sin, not part, but all my sin in his own body on the tree. Why?

That we, who knew only sin, might be made the righteousness of God in him. Friends, there is no salvation without the blood of Christ. The cross of Christ is the center of salvation. There is no hope. And to add anything to it, it defiles it. So then we who believe, we believe only on the death, burial, resurrection, and righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's all our hope.

Now secondly, the second thing is this. This cross was successful. Jesus came to save, He came to redeem, He came to atone, He came to reconcile, He came to justify, He came to sanctify by the death on the cross, by His blood. That's why He came. That's what the scripture says He did. Now the question is, was He successful?

There are many who contend that the cross is somehow open-ended, that Christ had made a gesture of redemption, that He died for the sins of all men and left it up to the man to apply it in some way. This is where religion differs, right? All religion, false religion, believes that Christ died for all men. Now, if you hear anybody say that, listen to this, because they're very deceptive now, and this is in their websites and things like that. Listen. Made it possible. You read those words about the death of Christ that he made salvation possible. Run. Run.

That's just a tricky way of saying he died for all men. And so then salvation then becomes dependent upon the man doing something. Now this is where religion diverges because they all have different opinions on what to do. Some are more ritualistic, some are less ritualistic. Some require only an act of volition of will, and some requires the need of a priest, and some crackers, and some wine, or a baptismal pool, or church membership, whatever that something is. That's what most religion believes about the cross of Christ is somehow left open and that somehow men have to fulfill.

That's what the Church of Galatia was doing. They were saying, well, Christ is sufficient to a certain point. But then I have you have to be circumcised. What were they saying? What is false religion say when they say that now you put this down, this is exactly what they're saying. It's not successful. He intended to do something and yet he did not fully do it. He died for the sins of all men and yet not all men are saved. I say this, who has bewitched you to believe such a false gospel?

If Jesus died for everyone, you listen to me, there'd be no hell. Because our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to accomplish salvation. Now this is not just my message, this is the message of the Bible. When the angel came down and visited... He came down and he had a message, and this was the message, Matthew 1, 21. He said, She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jehovah saves, Jesus, for he shall save, who? His people. From what? Their sins.

In Isaiah chapter 42, It says this, He shall not fail. You see, in order to be Christ, He cannot fail in His work. Scripture says, A bruised reed shall He not break, smoking flax He shall not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth, and He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till He hath set judgment in the earth, and the isle wait for His law. Friends, the Christ of modern religion is nothing more than a failure. But I declare unto you that Jesus Christ, according to scripture, has not failed, but accomplished redemption.

He satisfied it. When his work on the cross was ended, what were his words? Before he commended his soul into the presence of God, what was his observation about his work? He said, it is finished. It's finished. What? The redemptive work, the atoning work, the reconciling work, the sanctifying work, it was finished.

This is the message of the cross, is one of success, one of victory. And how do we know it was victorious? Because God raised Him from the dead. This is proof that all the sin he paid for, all the sin he died for, is gone. If there was one left, he could not be raised. But because there was no more sin, God raised him from the dead. And what did God do? God set him on the throne of God. There's a man today sitting on the throne of God because his cross was successful.

Is this the Christ you believe? Is this the one you serve? Is this the one you trust? How precious is that blood to you? To you who believe, how precious is it? Listen, it's all my hope. I'm not, I don't want to add one thing I've done to that work. My soul, my life rests completely on the success of that work. It is the object of my faith.

Is that true of you? Now I tell you this, according to the word of God, If anyone is to be saved, they must believe. I can't believe for you. You can't believe for someone else. You yourself must believe. You must believe. No one is saved apart from faith in Christ. But everyone who has faith understands this, that even the faith we possess is not of ourselves. Well by grace you are saved through faith and that. Faith is not of yourself it. Faith is a gift of God not of works. Why? Lest any man should brag. Faith is necessary, but faith itself is a gift of God's grace. It is a product of the new birth. The only ones who believe are those born again of the Holy Spirit. And then we see this. The cross of Christ is my only hope of redemption. My only hope of sanctification. My only hope of justification before God. I want you to see a couple of these. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Look at chapter 9. Look at chapter 9 and verse 12.

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in... How many times? How many times did He die? One. How many times was He crucified? Once. Once. Into the holy place. Listen to what He did. Having obtained eternal redemption. See what his blood did? His blood got it. I like the, like him reaching out from the, in Revelation chapter five, the lamb reaching out and taking the book from the hand of God. Took it. We couldn't even look on it. He took it. He obtained it. Eternal. Listen to that word. Eternal redemption. How long are you going to be redeemed? How long have you been redeemed? It's eternal redemption.

He obtained it. Look at chapter 10 and verse 9. He said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second. Talking about covenants. He satisfied the first that he may implement the second. Look at this. By the which will? By the will of God. We are what? What are you? You are Sanctified. Just as much as you have been redeemed, you have been sanctified by the will of God. But how? Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. How many times have you been sanctified? Once. You were sanctified when He sanctified you. You were redeemed when He redeemed you. You were reconciled when He reconciled you. You were justified when He justified you. On the cross.

Yet we know this, that everyone who is reconciled, justified, redeemed, they must believe. Jesus said this. So then faith is not in our faith, but faith is in the cross of Christ. Now, who did Christ die for? That's a question. If his blood accomplished salvation, and his blood was successful to save those he died for the question then remains who did he die for Jesus said this of all that the father hath given me I should lose nothing so who did he die for listen to this all that the father hath given him all that the father had given him he should lose nothing well how are we going to know who that is This matter of election was something done by God in eternity. The salvation was done in time, but even before we were born it was done. Scripture says it was done before the world began.

But how will we know? who he died for. In that same text in John 6, verse 37, he said, all that the father giveth me, this is how you know them, this is how you'll know who they are. All that the father giveth me shall come to me. That's how you know.

I know this, when God convicted me of my sin, I had no place to go. I couldn't turn to the law, I couldn't turn to myself, I couldn't turn to my parents, I couldn't turn to friends, I couldn't turn to anyone. There was no one to help me. But by the grace and power of God, I heard of his death. And I could not help but turn to him. You that believe. Is there anything else you want to do? Is there any place else to go? Do you want to go to anybody else?

This is the power of the Spirit of God is that we never go to anyone else and everything in this world, the troubles, the difficulties only push me to Him. and never pushed me away from Him. They pushed me to Him. He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Listen, when they come to me, this is love, isn't it? Isn't this love? Regardless of what we've done. He said, I will in no wise cast them out. Let me ask you this, you that believe, how is it that you believed?

By what means did God use that you should come to him? This is the third thing. The cross of Jesus Christ is the power of God. The preaching of the cross of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. The means that God has chosen to call his people is simple. It is the preaching of the gospel.

Now, The natural man lacks the ability to come. No man can come to me. I like this. Somebody was trying to use that against the doctrine of grace and they said, well, this is how Calvinists paraphrase that. And they say, I'm not paraphrasing. No man can come to me.

The only way you mess that up is paraphrasing it. We don't paraphrase it. He tried to paraphrase what we're saying to try to mix people up to believe what he... Don't paraphrase it, just take it as it is. No man can come to me. All free will religion's dead. If you just take it for what it says.

No, they have to paraphrase it in order for it to fit their ideology and their religion. Listen, Jesus said, no man can come to me except, oh man, without this. Except what? The Father which has sent me, draw him. No sense of paraphrasing that at all. What happens when the Father draws a man, what does he do? You make a decision. No, he believes. He believes. But he believes through the preaching of the gospel.

You see, I know God hasn't like people just don't know who they are. I don't know who they are. Do you? I don't know when and I don't know where and I don't know at what time that God is going to call. I know he will call them. I know he will use the means of the preaching of the gospel. I don't know. I don't know who they are. As the wind bloweth where it listeth. You can hear the sound thereof, but you can't tell where it's coming and where it's going. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit of God. The only thing I know is this. It'll always be through the preaching of the gospel. Look at this real quickly. First Corinthians chapter one. First Corinthians chapter one.

Why preaching? Man, that's a question. Man, that is a question that people... Man, why do people come listen to you? I always say, I hope they're not listening to me, but... I get the gist of the question. Why do they come? Why do you come and sit and listen to a man stand up and declare something to you or preach the cross to you? Don't everybody know this stuff?

Here, the only reason I'm going to give you is the one that God gives you. Look at verse 21. For after I had the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Why preach? It pleased God. That's the only thing I need to know.

The world said surely there's got to be a better way, right? I mean, there's got to be a more entertaining way. This is, I mean, this is academically, I was a teacher in for many years. And one of the worst forms of education was basic standing up and, you know, teaching, telling, just lecture. Lecture, that's the word I'm looking for. Lecturing. Lecturing was the worst form of communication. Visual aids and all this other stuff were better in teaching. But yet God chose preaching.

The worst. The most foolish in the eyes of men. Why? That no glory should belong to men. It is always my desire to preach. But as Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. He said this. I determine not to know anything among you. Save this, Jesus Christ and Him. What are we to preach? This is not debatable. This is not a question. Paul said to the Galatian church, I evidently set forth Christ crucified among you. Paul said, I determined not to preach anything else save the cross of Jesus Christ.

Why? Because the cross is the only means of salvation. There is no other means. And to add any other means to it is to defile it. There's only one means. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ justifies, sanctifies, redeems, atones, reconciles us to God. It's the only means. And this is the means we preach, a successful means. He did it. He did it! This is the glory of preaching. He did it! Sarah was talking to me about this track we had a long time ago.

Do or done? Which is it? Which is your religion? Is your religion do? My religion's done. D-O-N-E, done. I don't add anything to it. Don't take anything from it. Christ is all. And we know this, that God has an elect people Jesus Christ, He died for them and they are redeemed. Perfect. It's not how they're born. They're born like us. They're born dead in trespasses and sins. But in the appointed time, the Spirit of God will come to them and He will quicken them and He will give them life and faith and they will believe. And this is the means. Only Through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now you that believe, why are you still here? Why do you still come? What is the need of preaching to you? I'll tell you this. I need constantly to be reminded. Maybe your mind is a steel trap and you don't forget anything.

Mine is a broken pipe. It leaks. And if I stay away from this too long, pretty soon I am dry and dead and cold and indifferent. The flesh wells up inside of me and pours out like pus. I need to hear it. And not just it, I need to hear Him. Again, if you're moved from the gospel, you're moved from Him. This is the means He chose. He said, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, as you see the day approaching.

Encouraging one another. You encourage me. Just sitting there. Just sitting there. You encourage me. To what? To continue. I'll tell you this. I struggle like you. The world comes in. The flesh pulls me away. What do I need? I need encouragement. I need strength to continue. And that's what you provide. That's what the gospel provides for us all. That's why we need it. That's why we're not forsaken. The cross of Christ. Perfect salvation. Successful salvation.

And this is the only message I'll ever preach. And if you need something else, you have to go someplace else. I won't preach anything else. I remember a man came to me one time and said, man, that's all you preach. I said, yep. Yep. Why? It's the only hope for my soul. Anything else is to move from Christ, and I won't do it. By the grace and power of God, I won't do it.

May God help us, I pray your blessings to the cross of Christ. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Our gracious Holy Father, thank you for your wonderful gift. Thank you for sending your son into this world. Be all our salvation. I'm thankful for the victory of Christ that there's nothing that we can add. But holy lean on his name and his blood. Thank you, Father, for the message, the gospel to give us message of reconciliation I pray that you would effectually apply it to the hearts of your people. In Christ's name, amen.

The cross of Christ Galatians 3:1

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The cross of Christ Galatians 3:1

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