Come back to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. The cross of Christ is the focal
point of all things. All that we have
to do, all that we have to say, centers around the cross of Christ. Christ and Him crucified is another
way of saying it. Not talking about a piece of
wood, but talking about the sufferings of our Lord. I was telling someone
the other day that it's like playing tetherball.
You've got this post. You can hit this ball around.
It swings around. That post is right there. It never moves. The more you hit that ball, the
tighter it gets to that post. Christ is that center point. He is the one that absolutely
everything is attached to. All things are made by Him and
for Him. And by Him all things, it says,
consist. That means by Him all things
are held You don't have to be afraid of
the meteorites getting out of control and all slamming into
the earth. By Him, all things are held together. And I can go to sleep with that.
I can lay down at night and I can rest knowing that my Lord, the
only true God there is, holds everything. And he keeps
it together. The sun does not get an inch
closer or an inch further away. It stays the same. Comes up the
same time, goes down the same time. Because all things are
held together by that man who is seated at God's right hand.
That's amazing. But it's also good news. Paul said, for Christ, in verse
17, for Christ sent me not to baptize, not minimizing it. Those who believe are to be baptized.
Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are to follow him,
follow his command in being baptized. But Paul said, that's not the
reason he sent me. I know of a man, he was telling
me this, this had been some time ago. He put out an advertisement
on the radio and sent it out in the newspaper that he was
going to have a baptismal service. If anybody wanted to be baptized,
they could show up at a certain time and he would baptize them.
God didn't send me to do that. Paul said he sent me to preach
the gospel, the glad tidings, and not do it with wisdom of
words, intellectualism. lest the cross of Christ should
be made of non-effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish, or are perishing, its foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
or being saved, it's the power of God. The cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ speaks volumes. A person says that they've run
out of something to preach, they've missed it. Or if they feel like
it, they won't ever say it, but if they feel like they've run
out of something to preach, they've missed Him. The cross of Christ speaks volumes. Every doctrine we hold comes from the cross of Christ.
He's the center of it. It comes from Christ and Him
crucified. The very purpose of God in all things is revealed
at the cross. If you want to know the purpose
of God, go to Calvary. Find out who that is hanging
on the cross, who it is, what he did, who he did it for, where
he is now. You'll find out the purpose of God. And we cannot know God apart
from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not even possible.
It's not possible to know God apart from Christ and Him crucified. Where is it that we learn the
truth about sin? In a college? In a seminary? In a dictionary? We learn the
truth about sin at the cross. That's where we learn. You see,
man categorizes sin. You have great sin. You have
little sin. But God sees it for what it is,
evil. God sees the very evilness And
Frank mentioned this, the vileness of sin. We have no concept. I mean, we can't really grasp
in our minds what it was like for the Lord Jesus Christ to
be made sin, to be made such vileness. God gives us some understanding
of sin. He enables us to repent of our
sins and of what we are. But we still don't really see
the vileness, the wretchedness, the putridness of sin. But we can see it as best as
it can be seen at the cross. At the cross. Sin is evil. It is vile and it's everything,
listen, it is everything that God is not. For Christ to be made sin is
for Christ to be made everything that God is not. It is to be
made unlike him. That's why it's called ungodly. That's what it is, unlike God.
That's what it is. God sees the nature of sin and
not just the act of sin. You see, we think if we can just
educate a person and get them to quit doing things and we can
rehabilitate them, that we've made a much better person out
of them. Well, you might have made the neighborhood a little
safer, but that person is still the same person. Only God can
change a person. Only God can give a new nature.
Only God can give a new heart. And until that happens, that
person is still the same person. Just let God draw his hand back
and find out. God sees the very nature of sin
and the violence of it. He sees, now listen, God sees
what the human heart is really like. Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, adulteries and so on. In Romans 6, it says, Romans
6.23, it says, the wages of sin is death. It's death. When Adam sinned,
when he disobeyed God, not many times before he fell, and then
it was like, all right, that's enough. One time. One time. Adam disobeyed God
that one time. and spiritually died like that,
and then eventually physically died. But he died. The wages of sin is death. That's
what it is. Sin, it says, brings forth death. You know, we go out here and
we break a traffic law. We get a ticket. But you know,
when life is over, God is going to judge even the very thoughts
of the heart. And those not in Christ are going
to perish in their sins. In their sins. Sin deserves eternal death. It deserves eternal death. And
the cross tells the truth about sin. That's where you learn the
truth about sin. Now where can we learn the truth
about man? Where is it we really learn the
truth about man? At the cross. Turn over to Acts
chapter 2. You see, men in this world, they
think there are bad men or good men and there are men who because
of their upbringing or their environment or whatever, they
turn out to be bad and do certain things and end up
getting locked up. But I want you to notice here who it was that slew that hanged
the Lord Jesus Christ on that tree. It wasn't a bunch of serial
killers. It was supposedly the best men
in town. These were supposed to be the
most righteous, the most law-abiding citizens in town. It says in
verse 22, you men of Israel, hear these words, give attention
to these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you, as ye yourselves also know." Your witnesses, your witnesses
to his miracles, your witnesses to his person, your witnesses
to this, that God did these miracles by him, and he was approved of
God, a man approved of God. No man can do these miracles
except God be with him, is what they say. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God, you have
taken." Who did this? Who did this? You think all the
rotten, wretched people are in jail? You think that's, and the
rest of the people are not that bad? He says, you law-abiding,
religious people who claim to be the chosen of God are the
ones who by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Look over
in verse 36, "...therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have
crucified, both Lord and Christ." You crucified Him. Pilate brought
Him out on the porch. It said, Behold the man, after
they'd beaten him. And they, the same crowd now,
the same crowd that cried Hosanna, and this is human nature. One
day we love you, one day we hate you. That's human nature. He
came riding into town on that donkey, and they cried Hosanna. He was throwing his palm leaves
down there. I mean, it was a heyday. They was all praising Him. That
same crowd, just a few days after that, turned on Him. The same
crowd turned on Him and said, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! He's talking here in Acts. He's talking to the religious
leaders He's talking about the people in town that was just,
they didn't go to the bars. They didn't do this. They didn't
do that. They were the ones that didn't
do this and that. And they are the very ones, and
he says, you by wicked hands slew the Lord of glory. You murdered
the Son of God. Where do we learn about the true
nature of man? at the cross, at the cross. Even though these men did what
God had before determined to be done, yet they did what their
wicked hearts wanted to do. They spit in His face because
they wanted to. They lacerated His back wide
open because they wanted to. They nailed Him to a cross because
they wanted to. They hated him. They hated him
with a passion. That's the true nature of man, of all of mankind, all of them. The cross says this. The cross
says there is none good, no, not one. Even the disciples were
sucking. Had a real opportunity there,
didn't he? He got a real opportunity to
stand up for his Lord and he denied Him. Just like we would
have. He denied Him. Three times. He
didn't do it just once. He was given three times. Three
times he denied the Lord. They all forsook Him. And then eventually, God forsook
Him. You know that's what hell is?
is to be forsaken of God. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? The cross tells us of the true
nature of man. And the cross tells us the truth
about God. Is he a just God? He said, I will by no means bear
the guilty, clear the guilty, won't do it. It tells us that God will not
in any way, shape or form show respect of persons Now, you and
I will. You and I will. You know, the
further distance there is between me and someone, the more I would
probably do what I ought to do. But you let that relationship
get closer. Let it just get closer. Then you start making excuses.
You know, it's easy to condemn someone you don't really know.
I'm telling you it is. But when they come home, when
it's close, Then you find out, you find out that we are really
respecters of persons. We will say, well, you know, maybe you didn't mean it. But
you know what Scripture says about the Lord Jesus Christ?
It says that God spared not His own Son. When He was made to
be sent for us, God spared him not. He was not
spared one lash. He was not spared one ounce of
torment. It says he was bruised for our
iniquities. That word means torment. He was tormented. That's what
hell is. That man that was in hell, lifting
up his eyes in flames, being in torment. Our Lord, when he
hung on that cross, was in torment. And God spared him not even though
that's his son. That's the apple of his eye.
That's the one, that's the one that he said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And then a little
while later, hear his son hanging on a cross. And he's not spared one ounce
of justice. I mean, justice is executed on
him to its absolute fullest. Justice wore itself out on him
until there was nothing left. That's where we learn the truth
about God. You don't think God, now listen, you don't think God
will send people to hell? Just go to Calvary. Look what
he did to his son. Look what he suffered. He suffered
our hell. And then at the cross, we learn
also not only about the justice of God, but about the love of
God. Isn't that something? You say,
well, that's two extremes. No, that's God. That's God. There we learn of the absolute
justice of God and at the same time we learn of the love of
God. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. That's where we learn. At the cross we learn about the
true nature of grace. If you look at Christ, and God
gives you an understanding of Christ crucified, you know, you look at Him, and it says
in the scriptures there, when God was sitting down, they watched
Him there. If you can just sit down for a minute and look upon
Him, you understand He's dying not for his sins, but the sins
of his elect, the sins of those who believe on him, those whom
he brings to faith, those whom he calls. And you realize, I
deserve that, and for God to have grace for
me, it has to be unmerited. It has to be. Unmerited, and it has to be free. There were two thieves hanging
on that cross, you know. One, the Lord saved, the other,
the Lord perished. Why is that? Even so, Father,
it seemed good in Thy sight. Why did God save me? Why did
God call me and leave people of my family alone? Sovereign mercy. It's not because I attracted his attention. I was a little smarter or a little
this or a little that. No, it's just pure, sovereign
mercy. Call me and leave another alone?
Isn't that humbling? Is that not humbling? Does that not make you want to
walk softly before God? Did He call you to pass by others? At the cross, we learn the true
nature of grace. It's unmerited, it's free, and
it's sovereign. And it's at the cross that we
not only learn these things, but we also learn what we've
been saved from. You know, the Lord, when He hung
on that cross and He died, He saved a multitude of sinners
that no man could number from something. Turn over to Matthew chapter
1. In Matthew chapter 1, look in verse 21. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his
people from their sins. They were more concerned about
being saved from the Roman army. You know, when a person really
becomes concerned about being saved from sin and not being
saved from hell as a place, but to be saved from sin, be saved
from myself, and my violence and my wretchedness to be saved
from that. And that is what He saves us
from. Our sins. When He died on the
cross, He was punished and He died for our sins. He was wounded
for our transgressions. Bruised for our iniquities. The
chastisement of our peace was laid upon Him. And by His stripes
we are healed. He saved us from our sins. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree. Now, to most people, to the ones
that it speaks here of in 1 Corinthians, it says, but the preaching of the
cross is to them that are perishing foolishness. To just a natural
religious man, The preaching of the cross now, Christ crucified,
is foolishness. To the religious man and the
intellectual man, it's foolishness. It's foolishness. But I tell you what, being saved
from sin, my sin, my sins, is not foolishness. That is not
foolishness. He shall save his people from
their sins. And then secondly, he saves us
from the wrath of God. Turn over to Psalm 85. We'll
look at about three different scriptures here. Let me show
you what he saves us from. In Psalm 85, Look in verse 3. Thou hast taken
away all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. That's what we're saved from,
His wrath and the fierceness of His anger. Now look in Revelation 14. Now look in verse 10. The same shall drink of the wine
of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into
the cup of his indignation. This is what our Lord suffered
now. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the
presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
This is what He saved us from. We won't have to deal with that.
We won't have to deal with that. Look in 1 Thessalonians on this
one. In 1 Thessalonians. Let me see here. 1 Thessalonians. Look in verse 10, verse 9. For they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and
to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. That's real. I'm telling you
the truth. That is real. Now the flames of hell is real.
It's real. One time, one time in the word of God,
the curtain is rolled back. And one time we were given a
glimpse into that abyss. That's when that man lifted up
his eyes in torment. And he wanted a drink of water.
And he said, Abraham, just send somebody to take their finger
Dip it in water, tip it by a ton and cool it. That's real. And that is what
He saved us from. That's what He saved us from.
Go over and read Psalm 22. Let's go over there a minute. Let's just go over there a minute. Psalm 22. Look in verse 14. Here's what
he saved us from. in some water, touch the tip
of my tongue, cool it. Our Lord is suffering the same
thing. He just said here, my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. Thou
hast brought me into the dust of death. That is what He has
saved us from. Wrath. He saved us from wrath
of God. He saved us from eternal torment.
Look in Matthew 13. Matthew 13, looking at verse 40. As therefore the tares are 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, and they shall gather
out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do
iniquity. It shall cast them into a furnace
of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth." Look at Matthew 18. Well, look over it first of all.
Look over verse 49. Verse 49. In verse 49, so shall it be at
the end of the world. The angels shall come forth,
sever the wicked from among the just. It shall cast them into
the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Now turn to Matthew 18. Matthew 18, look in verse 8. Wherefore, if thy hand or thy
foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee. It is
better for thee to enter into life, haunt or maim, better to
enter in crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet
to be cast into everlasting fire. If that eye offend thee, pluck
it out and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter
into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast
into hell fire." That is what he saved us from. You wonder how you get lukewarm
when you read these things. When he said to that church,
the Laodiceans, you know, you're neither rich or warm or hot or
cold, you're lukewarm. Don't ever let us, never let
these things become lukewarm. Never. And then last of all, It is at
the cross that we learn what He has saved us to. Sonship. Now are ye the sons of God. It does not yet appear what ye
shall be, but we know this. When He shall appear, we shall
be just like Him. We were born into this world sons of Adam.
We're going to leave this world sons of God. Those whom He saves. We were
born lost, we're going to leave saved. We were born with that
same nature of wrath even as others, we're going to leave
with that new nature and not a speck or a trace of sin on
us. Not a trace of it. Can you imagine that? Not a scar, not a wrinkle, not
even a sinful thought. Not a thought will ever go through
the mind. That new mind, once you get rid of this old one,
not a sinful thought will ever pass through it. Nothing but
purity. Righteousness. Good thoughts
of God. Good thoughts of one another.
And really glad to see each other. Really glad to see each other.
Really love each other. Sonship. Adoption. Adopted us as sons. And then
made us sons by a new birth. And then he saved us to a holy
life. Look over in Ephesians chapter 1. 3 Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy." When is that? Is that after we die? Is that
when it happens? That's right now. that we should walk now even
as He walked. He has saved us that our life
would be one of godliness, not ungodliness. I was trying to
think of that scripture. I've got to be careful when I
do this because I messed up Wednesday night when I start, I don't have
it written down, and I start babbling. It can get you in trouble. But there's a, I don't remember
if it's in Corinthians or which one it was in, I couldn't find
it. And when you get nervous, you really can't find it. But
Paul says, he names off these sins of the flesh and he says,
as such were some of you, but you've been washed. You're not
that way anymore. You're not among the wicked anymore. God has saved you. You've been
born of God. You don't walk that direction
anymore. saved us to a holy life. Look
over in Ephesians 2, verse 10. For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. He's ordained that we should
walk in them. And then He has saved us to the
praise of His glory. Look in Ephesians 1, look in
verse 11 and 12. 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. What's that? What is to the praise of his
glory? I was thinking of that last night as I was looking at
this. To the praise of who he is. Who God is, is His glory. He has saved us to the praise
of who He is. God. God. He has saved us unto eternal
life. Look over in John chapter 3.
Gospel of John. I'll close. John chapter 3, verse 36, He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. That is the life of God He's
speaking of. Not how long you're going to
live, but those who perish are going to live forever. This is
the life of God. He that believes on the Son of
God hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. He has saved us unto eternal
everlasting life. A lot happened at that cross,
didn't it? A whole lot more happened there
than just making salvation a possibility. That's for sure. Whatever we
have, whatever we have by way of heavenly
blessings, we have them in Christ and Him crucified and no other
way and no other place. I pray we never leave the cross,
never. If God has anything to teach
us, we'll learn it there. We'll learn it there. All right,
Mike.