Would you turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1? I'd like to read verses 17 and
18 of 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I've entitled this message, The
Doctrine of the Cross. What is it that the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ actually teaches us? Now, wouldn't it
be a blessing if we leave this place tonight knowing, understanding,
and loving the doctrine of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Let's read verses 17 and 18 together. 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
is the power of God. Let's pray together. Lord, may we experience by your
grace and by your Spirit the preaching of the cross Bless us for Christ's sake. In
His name we pray, Amen. In verse 18, it says, For the
preaching of the cross. Now, you know that the Bible
was written in Greek. These books we read, the Bible,
are translations of the Greek. And that word preaching is actually
the word pronounced in the Greek logos or word. He's actually saying the word
of the cross. The concept of the cross. The doctrine of the cross, the
teaching of the cross. Now, what is the teaching of
the cross? That's what I want us to consider
In this message, what is the doctrine? Of the cross. In verse 17. Paul says for Christ
sent me. Now there is such a thing as
a man actually being sent by God. We read concerning John
the Baptist. There was a man sent by God whose
name was John. Now, the man that God sends actually
comes with a message from God for that hour. I want to hear
what that man has to say, don't you? Christ sent me, and this message
is always, without any exception, this message is always a message
from the Scriptures. Preaching. A man sent of God
to declare a message. Preaching is the ordained means
of God for the ingathering of his elect. That's how important
this thing of what we're doing right now is. Look in verse 21,
first Corinthians chapter one. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching. to save them to believe. That's
a pretty powerful statement, isn't it? It pleased God by the
foolishness. It's what the world would consider
foolishness. Somebody said, well, that's foolishness to think that
that's how God works. Well, maybe, but that's how He
works. That's what He says. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them to believe. And
Christ sent me, Paul said. And I think this is very interesting.
Paul begins by telling us what Christ did not send him. That's
the way Paul begins his statement. Notice again in verse 17, for
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. If you ask the average preacher,
now you think with me, if you ask the average preacher or church
member what the mission of the church is, If you'd say, write
down the mission statement of this church, what is your purpose? Why are you here? What are you
doing? If you ask the average preacher
or church member what the mission of their church was, how would
they answer? What do you think? Well, I don't
have any doubt that the great majority would answer, well,
to win the loss to Christ. To reach men and women with the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. To win people to Christ. That's
our purpose. To see people saved. To see people
brought to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. To gain converts. Now hold on. Listen to me real
carefully. If that's my mission, my mission's
wrong. If that's my mission, my mission
is wrong. And the fact of the matter is,
if that's what my mission is, nobody will be saved through
my preaching. If that's what my purpose is,
if it's to win the lost, if it's to reach men and women, if that's
what my purpose is, if that's what my mission is when I preach,
it's to win people to Christ, it's to see people saved. If
that's what it is, the fact of the matter is that nobody will
be saved. Now, when Paul says, Christ sent
me not to baptize, not to gain converts, not to baptize people
and see and brought to the knowledge of Christ, he didn't send me
to do that, but he sent me to preach the gospel. Paul was not
in any way saying that he was indifferent about the salvation
of those he preached to. Now, don't misunderstand me and
say, well, he doesn't care about winning the lost of Christ. He
doesn't care about people being saved. I do too, and Paul did
too. Turn with me for a moment to Romans 9. Let me show you
just how much Paul did care. Paul says in verse 1 of Romans
chapter 9, I say the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. That's one of the most amazing
passages of Scripture. And Paul is saying, I would be
willing to be damned if they would be saved. Now, that just. It's amazing. Was Paul indifferent about the
souls of men? Look in chapter 10, verse one of Romans chapter. The book of Romans, Romans chapter
10, verse one, Brethren, my heart's desire And my prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. You see, he desired, greatly
desired the salvation of these people. So when we're saying
that, or when Paul says, Christ didn't send me to baptize, he's
not saying I'm indifferent about the salvation of men and women. Not at all. And we greatly desire
to see people say, does God as my witness, I desire to see people
brought to a saving knowledge of Christ, to actually bow the
knee to him and to come to know him and believe him and trust
him. I want that for you so desperately. Lord knows if I'm telling the
truth, but I am. But if that's what my mission
is, if that's my purpose in preaching, if it's to see people saved and
baptized and converted and so on, here's what I'll do. I will
modify the message in order to obtain that result. I will water
down the message in order to get more converts. That's what
I'll do if that's my message, if that's my mission, rather.
I will water down the message in order to, quote, see people
saved. That, my dear friends, the watering
down of the gospel deprives it of its saving power. You see,
now listen carefully. Nobody is saved by a false gospel. Nobody is saved by a watered-down
gospel. It doesn't happen. Why would
God use a watered-down gospel? Why would He? He doesn't need
to. He's God. No one is saved by a watered-down
gospel. And we are sent not to baptize,
not to proselytize, not to gain converts, but to preach the gospel,
to tell the truth. to announce the message, and
that's what shows a true love for souls. Many, under a pretense
of love for souls, prove in reality that they have no love for souls.
It's telling the truth that in reality proves a true love for
souls. Now Paul says, Christ didn't
send me to baptize, to gain converts, but to preach the Gospel. Verse 18 tells us what he meant
by the preaching of the gospel. He says, for the preaching of
the cross. That's what is meant by the preaching
of the gospel. First Corinthians 118, for the
preaching or the doctrine of the cross. When I preach the
gospel, I'm preaching the doctrine of the cross. But more on that
in a moment. Back in 17, verse 17, he tells us what Christ did
not send him to do. And then he tells us how Christ
told him not to preach. Now look at verse 17 again. He
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. We preach the gospel with wisdom,
but we don't preach the gospel with wisdom of words. There's
a big difference. Now, notice once again, verse
18, for the preaching of the cross, that is the Greek word
Logos. It is literally the word of the
cross. In the beginning was the word,
the same word there. In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God. Singular. Not word, but word, the word
of the cross. Look in First Corinthians, chapter
two, verse four. And my speech, that word speech
there, is the same word that's generally translated word. It's
the same word as logos. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words. My word and my preaching was
not with words, enticing words, plausible words of man's wisdom,
but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. We come not with
words. But with the word. Not with doctrines. Every time the word doctrine
in the plural is used in the scripture, it's used in reference
to false doctrine. We don't come with doctrines
in the plural. We come with the doctrine. The
doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not with enticing words
of man's wisdom that we come. Plausible, persuadable, manipulative
words. Man's wisdom is not the wisdom
of God. Look in verse 19 of our text.
And this is God speaking. And he says, for it's written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to
nothing the understanding of the prude. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom, what? knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. For the Jews require
a sign, give us some proof that God sent you. The Greeks seek
after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling
block, and unto the Greeks, that's foolishness. But unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and
the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than
men. And the weakness of God is stronger
than men. Look in 1 Corinthians 2, verse
1, Paul said, And I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not
with excellency of speech. Now, I look that word excellency
up and it means trying to portray authority. Paul says, I didn't
come trying to win you over by my eloquent speech and me trying
to show you the authority behind my voice and behind my education
and background and so on. I didn't come trying to prove
something to you, not by simply the word preached, but through
the way I presented it. He said, I didn't come with excellency
of speech or wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God.
I did not come that way. Turn over to Second Corinthians,
chapter four. What is it that commends a man as coming from
God? Look at Second Corinthians, chapter four, verses one and
two. Paul says in verse one, therefore,
seeing we have this ministry, this ministry of the New Testament,
as we've received mercy, We don't lose heart. We don't give up.
We don't faint. But here's what we do. We renounce
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness and
deceitfulness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully. That's
using the word of God to maintain my position. I can pull out a
scripture. You can use a scripture and pull
it out of context and prove anything you want to. And that's what
he's warning us against. I don't handle the word of God
deceitfully, but here's what commends us. As true ministers
of God, but by manifestation of the truth. That's all it takes. By manifestation of the truth,
we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. I repeat, man's wisdom is not
the wisdom of God. Look back in 1 Corinthians chapter
3. Verse 18. And let no man deceive himself.
Well, you know, I'm afraid of deceiving myself, aren't you?
I mean, that's something that really concerns me. I don't want
to deceive myself. I'm concerned about being deceived
by somebody else. That's true. But what I'm mainly concerned
about is deceiving myself. It's easy for that to happen.
Now, he says, let no man deceive himself. If any man among you,
1 Corinthians 3, 18, if any man among you seemeth to be wise
in this world, Let him become a fool, that he
may be wise. For the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God. For it's written, he taketh the
wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth,
I love this scripture, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise,
that they're vain, empty, and meaningless. So much for man's
wisdom. Now Paul says, I did not preach
the gospel with wisdom of words, using man's wisdom in order to
make the gospel more palatable to the flesh. I'm not trying
to make it more appealing to the flesh. That's what wisdom
of words does. It takes the edge off the gospel
so more people will receive it, more will believe, more will
hear, supposedly. And Paul says, when you do that,
here's what you do. You make the naked message of
the cross of none effect. Nobody is saved through that
kind of preaching, through that kind of thinking. It will not
work. Now, Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ, the glorious message of the gospel should
be made of none effect. Now, verse 18, he says, for the
preaching of the cross, is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Now in this
verse he tells us of the two classes of men and how they respond
to the preaching or the doctrine of the cross. We read of those
who are perishing and those who are being saved. There are two
classes of men and only two. There are those who are perishing
and they are going to wind up in hell and there are those who
are being saved. And they are going to be in heaven. And he tells us of their response
to the preaching of the cross. He says, for the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish. Foolishness. Do you expect me to believe that
God became the man? Do you expect me to believe? That I'm actually saved by somebody
else's righteousness. Do you expect me to believe that
God speaks to a fool like you? That's foolishness. The preaching of the cross, the
doctrine of the cross, is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto them which are being saved. The same message that's
nothing more than foolishness to them that are perishing is
the very power of God to them that are saved. Romans 1 16,
Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it,
the gospel, is the power of God unto salvation. to everyone that
believe it. And when I read Paul say, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, I say, you know what,
Paul, I'm not either. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm ashamed
of myself. I am. But I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. Now for the most important part
of this message. What is the word or the doctrine
or the preaching of the cross? Now for us to understand We're
going to have to know what Paul meant by this word, the cross,
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Now, when he uses this word,
the cross, he does not mean the wooden cross that the Lord was
nailed to. That's not what he's talking
about when he talks about the cross. Now, when we think of
the cross, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? A big wooden cross
taken up from the ground. And we think, well, that's what
the Lord was crucified on. That's what he was nailed to
it. Is that what Paul means by the
preaching or the declaration of the cross? No, it's not. You
see, if he was talking about the cross, let's say I had the
actual cross the Lord was nailed to right now with his actual
bloodstains on it. If I had that cross, what could
we do with it? We'd turn it into an idol, wouldn't
we? We'd worship it. Let me show you that in the scripture.
Would you turn with me to 2nd Kings chapter 18. 2nd Kings chapter
18. This is Hezekiah. He was a good
king. Verse 1. Now it came to pass in the third
year of Joshua, son of Eli, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the
son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Kings 18, verse 2. Twenty and five years old was
he when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years
in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abbi, the
daughter of Zechariah, and he did that which was right in the
sight of the Lord according to all that David his father did.
Well, here's what he did. He removed the high places and
he broke the images. And he cut down the groves and
listen to this. He break in pieces the brazen
serpent that Moses had made. For unto those days the children
of Israel did burn incense to it and he called it Nehushtan,
a worthless piece of brass. Now, what would y'all, if we
had the actual, can you, Imagine how people would worship. This
is the pole that Moses set up with the serpent on it for the
children of Israel to look to. What did Hezekiah do? They actually
had it. He broke it, ground it into powder and said it was a
worthless piece of brass. Now, this is not talking, when
Paul talks about the doctrine of the cross, he's not talking
about that piece of wood that our Lord was crucified on. Paul is speaking of the facts. that the Son of God was nailed
to the cross and suffered and bled and died on the cross. Again,
in verse 23, he calls this Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified
under the Jews, the stumbling block and under the Greeks foolishness. The cross is the word used. Listen
to me. The cross is the word used to
summarize the whole counsel. Of God. The cross is the saving
work of God in Christ. Now, what does the cross teach
us? It teaches us basically three things. It teaches us the truth
concerning man, me and you. It teaches us the truth concerning
God, His character, who He is. And the cross teaches us the
truth concerning God's salvation. That's what the cross teaches
us. That's the doctrine of the cross. Now, first, the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His glorious person nailed to
that hideous cross, it tells us the truth about mankind. It
tells us the truth about me and you. Do you want to know the
truth? Do you know the truth about yourself? The cross tells
you. It's a hard look, but the cross
tells you the truth about yourself. It tells me the truth about myself.
Now, you and I are members of the human race, mankind. And
you know, there are different views of mankind. You know, many
people in the United States of America and around the world
believe that man is in the process of evolving. They believe in
evolution. And if you believe in evolution,
that man is evolving, you believe he's evolving. and becoming better. He's through this process of
evolution, the survival. I don't know how to speak of
it intelligently, but I know that the idea of evolving means
you're evolving into something better. Now, if that's the case,
if man is evolving, if that's what's going on, man doesn't
need a Savior. He's going to keep getting better.
Isn't that true? If man is evolving, he doesn't
need a Savior. Now, there are some who believe,
many who believe, regarding man, that man is born morally neutral
and will be shaped by his education, by his environment, by his upbringing
and so on. Now, if that's the case, if man's
just born morally neutral and you put him in the right society
or the right educational environment and so on, he'll go in a good
direction. If you put him in the wrong one, he'll go in a
bad direction. If that's the case, And man doesn't need a
savior. He needs a teacher. He needs
someone to teach him the right way. He needs a good example.
He needs to be put in the right environment. He doesn't need
a savior. He just needs a good teacher. That's another view
of man. Now, here's the third view of
man, and this is what most of, quote, Christendom would believe.
Man is born a sinner. Man is born depraved. He is a
sinful being. But he has the power of free
will to choose the good over the bad or choose to believe.
He's got that power. Now, if that's the case, man
doesn't need a savior. He needs a persuader. He needs
somebody to put pressure on his will or to convince him to believe
a certain way or look in a certain direction. That's the state of
man. He doesn't need a savior so much as he needs a persuader.
As a matter of fact, If that's the case, why even pray to God? Pray to the man. Change your
will. Change the way you believe. Do something to change. Actually,
you ought to be praying to God, not praying to the man. He's
his own Savior, if that would be the case. But here's what
the doctrine of the cross teaches concerning man. It's altogether different from
these views I've just given you. Man is so evil, and I'm talking
about me and you. I'm not just talking about men
in general. I'm talking about you and I. Man is so evil that
when left to his own choice, he nailed God to a cross. Now that is what God holds you
and I guilty of. I didn't do it! You would have.
That's the issue. Man, me and you, are so desperately
evil That when God takes away the restraints and lets us do
what we want to do, we nail God to a tree. And that's the state
of the natural man, totally depraved, sinful. And if that's the case,
what we need is a savior. Now, the doctrine of the cross
regarding man is this. Men hate God. That's the problem. You see,
your problem and my problem before God is not so much the bad things
we've done. Now, those are bad. I'm not taking
away from that. But my problem before God is
not what I've done. It's what I am. It's my nature
before God, my state before God. Knowing this, if God left me
to myself, I'd kill him if it were in my power. Now, that's
what God has against men. And the doctrine of the cross
teaches us the truth concerning mankind. That's me. That's you. That's a horrible thing, but
it's the truth. The doctrine of the cross says
this, men hate God. And that is what you and I have
been guilty of. And that's the truth regarding
man that the cross teaches. The teaching of the cross not
only tells us who man is, the teaching of the cross tells us
who God is. It gives us the true character
of God. Now, there are some things we
can know about God without the cross. You know that so. I can look at this beautiful
creation and I can know God's very powerful. And I can know
God is very intelligent. He'd have to be just looking
at this beautiful creation that we live in. There's some things
we can know by logical deduction, by observation regarding God
and about God. We can know those things without
the source. But we can't know the heart of God. We can't know
the character of God. We can't actually know God as
in truly knowing, not just knowing things about it, but I mean knowing.
We can't really know God. Apart from the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but the cross tells us the truth concerning God.
For instance, without the cross, how do you know if God's love? Without the cross, how do you
know whether God's just? Without the cross, how do you
know God will be gracious? Without the cross, how do you
know God will forgive people who are so evil that they kill
it if given the chance? How do we know? How do we know
the true character of God? How do we know what he's really
like? How do we know God without the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ?
The fact of the matter is, is we can't know God without the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the cross tells us the truth
concerning God. Every attribute of God is fully
displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. His purpose. You know, Christ
is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. That was
God's purpose. The cross teaches that. Him being delivered, talking
about the cross, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with wicked hands have
crucified and slain. The cross tells us of his justice.
When sin is found on his own son, he still killed him. Have you needed if you would
have done what was right? How many times have you needed
to punish your children? And you just kind of didn't do
it because it was just not the convenient thing to do. And it
was just caused too much effort. You just. You just let it go. God never does that. He's always
just. He always punishes sin. The cross
shows us the holiness of God, how much he hates sin, even when
he finds it on his stomach. That's how bad God hates sin. The cross tells us of the wisdom
of God. Do you know God has, in His wisdom,
has made a way to be just and yet justified and clear and make
not guilty somebody who's unjust? Do you know that? Whenever I think of that, I never
grow tired of thinking that's the most glorious thing. God
has found a way to justify somebody like me. I don't mean just forgive
me. I don't mean just turn his head and don't do what I'm doing.
I mean, justify me to where I'm not guilty. What wisdom it takes
to do that in the house of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross
shows us God is love. God so loved the world. gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." The cross tells of His grace and mercy. Now, here's
the point I'm trying to make. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
gives the entire character of God. It doesn't give half the
truth. It gives the whole truth. Remember, false doctrine, error,
is not so much giving positive error, it's omitting a part of
the truth. It's leaving out that which is
necessary. If all I tell you is half the
truth, have I told you the truth? If I tell you something bad,
I told you a lie, haven't I? The truth is always the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And the cross of Christ
tells us the truth concerning the character of God. This is
how God makes himself known. to the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So those are those are two big things to teach, isn't
it? It teaches us the truth concerning man, us. It tells us the truth
concerning the character of God. And thirdly, the cross tells
us the truth concerning salvation. Now, picture in your mind's eye,
I don't know how we go about doing this, but picture in your
mind's eye, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, nailed to a tree. Behold God's salvation. Would you turn with me to Colossians
chapter 1? Colossians chapter 1, verse 20. And having made peace. I love the strength of that language.
He didn't simply make it possible or available. He made peace. How? Through the blood of His
cross. By Him. To reconcile all things
unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things on earth or things in heaven. And you that were sometimes
or a four time alienated. enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death, through the cross. He now has reconciled that one
to present you, having presented you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Now that's what Christ did by
His work on the cross. He made every single one of His
people holy and unblameable. And you don't
have a thing to reprove me about in Christ. Holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. Now how can this be? I want to give you three words
that will tell you How this can be, how Christ hanging on the
cross can make this sinner that you're looking at, who is a sinner,
it makes me in the very sight of God holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in the very sight of God. Now, how can that be? That's
the most amazing thing I could ever talk about. No subject reaches
this subject. How can this be? I want to give
you three words. Substitution. Satisfaction. And submission. Now, let me make
a few comments on each of those three words. This is how that
one hanging on a cross makes this sinner looking at you and
everybody he died for wholly and unblameable, unreprovable
in his sight. The first word is substitution. First Corinthians
15, three speaks of how the Christ died for our sins, their substitution,
Christ died, how the Christ died for our sins, according to the
scripture. Now, let's think a moment about
his substitutionary death. If somebody committed a crime. That I did not commit. But it
was charged to me. And I had to pay the penalty.
And you know that happens, doesn't it? I read the other day of a
man who had been in prison for four years for molesting a child. And he didn't do it. And they
found out he didn't do it. But you think of how miserable
he must have been in prison for those four years for a crime
he didn't commit. That's horrible to even think
of. And we just shudder at that. If I'm punished for a crime I
didn't commit, Is justice served? Well, you know it's not. Justice
is not served by that. But let's take the example a
little farther. Let's say you commit a crime,
and I love you, and I say I'm going to take their place, and
I'm going to take their punishment so that they would go free. I
didn't commit the crime, but I'm going to take their place
in order that they can go free. Now, if I did that, if you committed
a horrible crime and I took your place and I was punished in your
place, is justice served? Not really. You see, I didn't
commit the crime, you did. Justice is not really served
in me simply taking your place if you're the one that's guilty
and I'm innocent. That's no serving of justice.
Now, when we talk about the substitutionary death of Christ, it goes beyond
any human... It couldn't happen except this
way. When Christ died as a substitute for his people, somehow, he became guilty. God wouldn't have killed him
if he wasn't guilty, if the sin wasn't actually his. The sin
became his. When he died as a substitute,
the sin actually became his. Now, you think of the sin that
you've committed, if you're a believer, that just... When you think about
it, you blush. Some secret sin that nobody knows
about, but you. That became his. And when God poured his wrath
out upon him on the cross, he did it because he was guilty.
It became his. And just as truly his substitutionary
death, just as truly as my sin actually became his, his obedience,
his righteousness is mine. Now, that's substitution. That's
a real substitution. He took my place. He became what
I am, and I become what He is. That's how that one nail to a
cross could make me wholly unblameable and unapprovable in His sight.
And here's the second word. First word, substitution. The
second word is satisfaction. You see? While he did become
guilty on the cross, he didn't stay guilty. He satisfied the justice of God. He satisfied the claims of God's
justice against him. He fully satisfied God. And he walked out of that tomb
not guilty anymore. And you know who else walked
out of that tomb not guilty anymore? Every believer. Satisfaction. Substitution. Satisfaction. He satisfied God. Now here's
the third word. Submission. And let me show you
that. Would you turn to Matthew chapter
sixteen? Verse 24. Now let's begin reading
verse 21. Matthew 16, verse 21. From that
time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he
must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and
chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again
the third day. You know, the Lord told his disciples ahead
of time that he can be crucified. You ever wondered why, when our
Lord was raised from the dead, those fellows weren't there waiting
on Him? He told them it was going to happen. But they didn't believe
Him. They didn't know what He was
talking about. But here He is. He's telling them. He's going
to suffer many things as the elders and chief priests and
scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then
Peter took Him. Remember, the Lord had just said
to Peter in this same chapter, Thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. I mean, he had really said some
very high things to Peter concerning Peter. Now, I'm sure Peter was
probably feeling pretty good about himself at that time. I
know I was. I mean, if he said to me, Thou art God, you know,
I'd be looking at the other disciples sitting there. He said, My name
is not yours. I'm sure Peter was thinking that way, too. That's
just human nature. Peter was feeling good about
himself. But now let's go on reading verse 22, after he tells
them he's going to be crucified, then Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, saying, Lord, be it far from thee. This shall
not be unto thee. And my margin says, pity yourself,
Lord, don't put yourself through this. Why would you do this?
You're the son of God. Why would you do this? Pity yourself. Don't go to the cross. But he turned, verse 23, and
said unto Peter, Get thee behind me. Who? Satan. You reckon that took the
wind out of Peter's sails? Get thee behind me, Satan. How many times the Lord said
that to me? Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me,
for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that
be of men. You see, the Lord was to submit
to the cross. He was to say, this is why I
came. I can understand why I would pity himself, but no. He's to
submit to the cross, and you and I are to submit. That's what faith is. It's a
submission to him, to his word. It's a bound. Look what he says
in verse 24. Verse 23 says, Thou art convincing
to me, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but those
that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Let him deny himself. And take up his cross. That's
not talking about taking up your trials. You take up the cross
that's your confession of Christ. And your confession of his cross
and the persecution that's involved with it. Let him deny himself. Let him take up his cross and
follow me. To take up my cross, to deny
myself, and to follow Him, to submit to Him. And you know,
you can only submit willingly. Isn't that true? You can only... What if I say,
you'd better submit, or I'll beat you up? If I can do it,
I might not be able to do that. Some of you, I hope I could,
but maybe some of you, I couldn't. But if I could beat you up, I
could make you submit, but would it be submission? No, that's not submission. You
can only willingly submit. You women, the scripture says
you're to submit to your husband, doesn't it? The Bible says that.
He can't make you. The only way you can submit to
your husband is if you willingly do it for Christ's sake. And
this is what the believer does. He willingly submits. I want to take up my cross daily
and follow him. I wouldn't deny myself. Here's
the question I want to leave you with. The preaching of the cross. Do
you personally see the power of God? That's a big statement. Do you
personally see the power of God in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you? May God give us the grace to
see the cross as the very power of God. Let's pray.