Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Mattawar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at ToddsRoadGraceChurch.com. Now, here's our pastor, Todd
Nibert. In First Corinthians, Chapter
1, verses 17 and 18, Paul the Apostle says, For Christ sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect,
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it, the preaching of the cross, is the power of God." What a
commendation. The preaching of the cross is
the power of God. Now, I've entitled this message,
The Doctrine of the Cross. Now, the word preaching, in verse
18, when he speaks of the preaching of the cross, is the word that
is generally translated, the Word. Our Lord Himself is called
the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It is the Greek
word logos, and it is translated in our text as preaching, or
sometimes it's called the doctrine. Now, what's in my mind comes
out in words. The idea, the thought of my mind
is expressed by words. The word, this particular word,
does not simply mean the audible word, the name of something.
It means the concept, the thought, the intent, the idea behind the
word. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Word of God. When God speaks, His mind, He
says Christ. Christ is the Word of God. He is the visible expression
of the invisible God. All you and I will ever see of
God is Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God. Let's remember when we consider
the preaching of the cross, it can just as easily be said the
word of the cross or the doctrine of the cross. Now, what is the
doctrine of the cross? Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
was with violence nailed to a pole. Now, the idea of a cross beam
didn't come around to the third century. The way crucifixion
took place is you were nailed to a pole, not a cross beam. And the illustration we have
from the Old Testament is that serpent who was placed upon a
pole, not a cross, but a pole. And the idea of a cross actually
is adapted or adopted from Egyptian and Chaldean religion The religion
at that time was trying to incorporate all of that, and it's actually
a heathen symbol. The Lord was not crucified on
a cross beam. He was crucified on a pole. But I want you to think. I've
got to say this about a cross. A cross is an idol. People use
them for idolatry. It's not even what the Bible
teaches. Our Lord was crucified on a pole,
and He was placed there in great violence, nailed to a tree. The Lord Jesus Christ, with nothing
but a crown of thorns, nailed to a tree. That's an awesome
thing. The earth quaked and the sun
refused to shine as the creature nailed its creator to a cross
in a violent and in a bloody death. As he hangs from the cross,
he says, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. And everybody he prayed for was
forgiven. He said, My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken me? He was forsaken by God. God turned
His back on him. He would not look upon him. Why? Because he was made sin. And the Scripture says, Thou
art of two pure eyes to behold iniquity. Now, I know that on
the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ never committed sin. He remained
holy throughout this. But what is worse, He was made
sin. All that sin is, He was made
to be. He bore the defilement and the
guilt and the shame and the humiliation and the disgrace of sin so that
His Father forsook Him. Now, there has been debate for
centuries as to what that means. He was made sin. And you know,
nobody can really know. This was a transaction between
him and his father. We can't understand this, but
I know this. It was more than him bearing
the punishment of sin. It was not him. bearing punishment,
yet not bearing the guilt. No, He was made sin, and God
the Father forsook Him. And any time we try to diminish
that and say, well, He just bore the punishment of sin, but nothing
else, what we're doing is diminishing substitution. It's using human
wisdom and human logic trying to explain the unexplainable.
He was made sin, and God the Father forsook Him. He looked
at His mother, Mary, as he was hanging from the tree. And he
said to her, Woman, behold thy son, referring to John. And he
said to John, Behold thy mother. There were two thieves crucified
beside him. And one said, Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. What an instance of faith that
is, that this thief recognized that this man in his bloodied
condition is the Lord. And he said, I know you're not
going to stay there. You're a reigning king and you're going to come
back as king. Remember me when you come into your kingdom. And
he said in majestic splendor, even from the cross, verily,
verily, I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. He said, I thirst. No thirst like this thirst. He
said, it is finished. Because, beloved, whatever it
was He was doing, He accomplished it. He finished the salvation
of everybody He represented. And then He said, Father, into
Thy hands I commend My Spirit. And He dies. And they take Him
down dead from that cross. And three days later, he is raised
from the dead. Now, what is the doctrine of
the cross? Now, this word, word or doctrine
is also translated cause. What is the cause of the cross
or what is the communication of the cross or what is the fame
of the cross or what is the intent of the cross, or the matter of
the cross, or the preaching of the cross, or the reason of the
cross, or the speech of the cross, or the talk of the cross, or
the treatise of the cross, or the tidings of the cross, or
the utterance of the cross, or the word of the cross, or the
work of the cross. All those words are used to translate
this one word. What is the doctrine of the cross?
Now, you listen real carefully. The cross is the whole counsel
of God. If one word could be used to
describe the entire message of this Bible, it would be the cross. The cross is the subject of the
eternities. Before time began, Christ is
called the Lamb slain. from the foundation of the world.
And when time is no more, the song of heaven will be, worthy
is the Lamb that was slain. The cross is the whole counsel
of God. The cross is the full revelation
of the character of God. You and I can't know God apart
from the cross. The cross tells us who He is.
Every attribute of God is fully displayed in the cross. I see
His holiness, His hatred of sin. When sin is found on His Son,
God kills His Son. That's what God thinks of sin.
I see the wisdom of God. How God has made a way to be
completely consistent with His justice and yet save somebody
who's sinful like me through the work of Christ on the cross.
I see God's amazing love to sinners that He would sin his son to
die for such unworthy ones. We see God's grace. We see God's
power in putting away sin. Every attribute of God, all that
God is, is made known in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is the whole counsel
of God. The cross tells me the truth
regarding the character of God. The cross tells me the truth
regarding the character of man. Now, if you want to know how
bad you are, don't look within. That really won't give you a
sight of how bad you really are and how bad I really am. Look
at the cross. When left to man's own will. Man murders the Son of God. And that's what you're guilty
of, and that's what I'm guilty of. The cross is the subject
of all true preaching. It's the foundation of all that
is said. Now, to those who are perishing,
the doctrine of the cross is foolishness. But Paul says, to
them which are being saved, the cross is the power of God and
the cross is the wisdom of God. Now, look how Paul viewed the
preaching of the cross. He said in 1 Corinthians 2, verses
1 and 2, and I, brethren, When I came to you, I 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. saved
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul said, that's my only subject. I determined not to know anything
else. I didn't come trying to dress
up the message with excellency of speech or of wisdom. There
was no attempt to dress it up to make it more appealing or
more palatable to the flesh. I made this my resolve that nothing
else was even worth talking about. Have we seen such glory in the
cross of Christ, the doctrine of the cross, that we've made
it our only subject. Why, preaching or wanting to
hear anything else only proves one thing. We've never seen the
glory of the doctrine of the cross. And in preaching anything
other than the naked doctrine of the cross, all we do is remove
the offense. from the cross. Now, the message
of the cross is offensive to the natural man. It's a scandal
to the natural man. In Galatians chapter 5, Paul
put it this way in verse 11. He said, And I, brethren, if
I yet preach circumcision, and by that he's not just talking
about the physical act of circumcision, he's talking about the addition
of anything to the cross. It's putting salvation in some
way dependent upon something you do. He said, And I, brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?
Then is the offense of the cross ceased. Now, Paul said, If I
was preaching works, nobody would be persecuting me. But because
I'm preaching the naked truth of the cross, I'm being persecuted. And if the naked truth of the
cross is not preached, what's happened is we've removed the
offense. Now, understand this. The word
offense is scandal. stumbling block, that which arouses
prejudice, the message of the cross offends the natural man. It offends means pride, because
it addresses him as nothing more than evil. One who, if left to
himself, would put God out of business. And that's exactly
what happened on the cross when men were left to themselves.
They nailed the Son of God to a cross. It offends men's sense
of personal righteousness, because it says no man has any righteousness. Our righteousness is as filthy
rags. It offends men's sense of wisdom.
Because it says, the world by wisdom knew not God, and were
totally dependent upon revelation. You can't figure this thing out.
You and I are totally dependent upon God to make Himself known.
We can't figure it out. It offends me in sense of personal
rights, because it says we have no rights. We're in the hands
of a sovereign God. He can save us or He can damn
us as He is pleased. Whatever He does is right. We
don't have any rights. We're sinners. You know, men
in prison who are not allowed to vote, we don't say, well,
that's not fair that they're not allowed to vote. No, they forfeited
their rights. And we're nothing but sinners
in the hands of the sovereign God. Whatever He does is right. The cross offends men's love
of self because the doctrine of the cross demands us to deny
ourself, to take up our cross daily and to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the life of the cross.
Now, does this offend you? The cross of Christ, the doctrine
of the cross is the ultimate act of obedience. He became obedient
unto death. His father said, son, go let
them nail you to a cross as an act of obedience to me. And he
did it saying, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. It's the ultimate act of obedience
and the ground of his highest exaltation. The scripture says
in Philippians 2, he became obedient to death, even the death of the
cross, wherefore God hath also highly exalted him, and given
him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow. of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Now, we cannot understand the
doctrine of the cross without having some understanding of
the accomplishments of our Lord on Calvary's tree. I love Luke's
account of the Mount of Transfiguration. You'll remember when he was transfigured
before James and John and Peter. The Scripture says his face shined
like the sun, his raiment became white as light. And two men appeared
with him, Moses and Elijah, the representative of the law and
the representative of the prophets. And it says that they spake of
the decease which he should accomplish. You see, there was definite accomplishment
in his death. Now, with us, death is the final
defeat. With him, it was the ultimate
victory because of what he accomplished by his death. Now, what did he
accomplish? Colossians chapter 1 tells us. Beginning in verse
20 of Colossians chapter 1, it says, And having made peace through
the blood, through the violent death of His cross. Now, I deserve this violent death. He took my place. He paid for my sins. He made my peace with God. And now God is at peace with
me. Oh, when people say, have you
made your peace with God? No, no. Christ made my peace
with God. 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, and you that were sometimes
alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death."
Complete reconciliation. He removed God's reason for anger. He put away sin. Now, here's
what He did by this complete reconciliation. It says, in doing
this, He presents every believer holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in God's sight. Now, how things are in God's
sight is how things are. Now, here is what He accomplished
by His death. Everybody He died for, He made
them holy, unblameable, without blemish or fault justified before
God. No guilt. Unreprovable. Nothing can be laid to their
charge. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Now, that's the accomplishments
of His cross. He made this sinner, talking
to you, holy and unblameable and unreprovable in the very
sight of God. Now, that is the accomplishments
of the cross when Christ suffered that horrible death, even the
death of the cross, he accomplished the complete salvation of all
the elect of God. And when they speak of the decease
which he should accomplish, this is precisely what they were talking
about. What else did he accomplish?
On Calvary's tree, he accomplished the fulfillment and the doing
away of God's holy law. He fulfilled it. He paid for
the sins against it. And listen to what Colossians
chapter 2, verses 13 and 14 says. It says, In you being dead, in
your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances, rules, laws that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and he took it out of the way,
nailing it to his cross." Now, I love God's holy law, but God's
holy law has been done away with. It's already been fulfilled.
And the scripture says, because of the cross to every believer,
you're not under law, you're under grace. Isn't that a great
place to be under? From Calvary's tree, he actually
accomplished the unity of all believers. In Ephesians, chapter
two, beginning in verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus, you
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ,
for he is our peace. who hath made both one Jew and
Gentile, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity Even
the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for to make it
himself of twain, one new man, so making peace, that he might
reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain
the enmity thereby, were one new man." Now, I've heard people
say, well, believers all have differences. Not really. Every
believer believes the exact same thing. We all say with Paul in
Galatians chapter 6 verse 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. Now, remember who's speaking.
Paul, the apostle, the man who said, Without self-promotion
and without arrogance, I'm the wise master builder. He is the
man that God used more than anybody else to expound the gospel. Why, he wrote 13 books in the
Bible. He was a man God greatly used. He was a man who suffered greatly
for the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'll show him how great
things he must suffer for my namesake. I so much esteem Paul
the Apostle. And look what he says about himself.
He says, God forbid that I should glory. God forbid that I should
have confidence in. God forbid that I should rejoice
in anything except for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is all I have confidence
in. Who He is and what He did. And I need no other argument.
I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. That's all I have confidence
in. That's all I have hope in. The
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in light of the cross of
Christ, I see this world as a crucified thing. If you see the world in
any greater light, you've never gloried, you've never seen the
glory and the excellency of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because if I ever see the glory of the cross, I'm going to see
the glory of this world as nothing more than a crucified thing.
I'm not going to be pursuing this world. And Paul also says,
because of my glorying in the cross, the world sees me as a
crucified thing. You see, the world, particularly
the religious world, but the world, period, is always going
to hate the message of the gospel, and it's going to hate those
who preach and believe the gospel. But that's okay, because I glory
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, every believer can say this.
Paul said in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, he said, I am crucified
with Christ. When Jesus Christ was crucified,
I was too. I was right there with Him, nailed
to that cross. When He died, I died. When He was raised, I was raised. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. I don't frustrate the
grace of God, for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ
died in vain. Hear the words to this song penned
by Isaac Watts. When I survey the wondrous cross,
on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count
but loss, and poor contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord,
that I should boast, saving the death of Christ my God, All the
vain things that charm me most I sacrificed into His blood.
See, from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow
mingled down. Did e'er such love or sorrow
meet Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm
of nature mine That were a present far too small? Love, so amazing! so divine, demands my soul, my
life, my all. May God bless us for Christ's
sake. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to messages at todsroadgracechurch.com,
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
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