Let's turn to Galatians chapter
6 now, verse 14. Paul says, 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. I fear
that that which should be preached the most often is the least often
preached. I really believe this. I'm a
preacher, and Brother Pruitt's here, and Bruce, and Brother
Joe, and I'm speaking to all the preachers and to myself included.
That which ought to be preached most often is, I'm afraid, the
least often preached. Now, Paul, our pattern, makes
our marching orders clear. And our message plain. He said,
God sent me not to baptize, not to become involved, not to become
burdened down with these things, but to preach the gospel. And
not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be
made of none effect. He says again, the preaching
of the cross is unto us the power of God. He says again, we preach
Christ crucified. He says again, I determine not
to know anything among you save Christ and Him crucified. And
in our text, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And yet if you have a special
meeting and bring in a special speaker and he has one message
to preach to the people, I'd almost lay you odds, Joe, he
wouldn't preach on the cross. If you had some vast gathering
of various churches come together and you had a special speaker,
I've never seen it fail. They either preach on prophecy
or Christian unity or practical godliness or sanctification or
something like that, rarely do they preach on the cross. You
go to Bible conferences, and we'll have one here in a few
weeks. And the messages are good. Don't misunderstand me. And I
appreciate every one of them, and thank God for all these men.
But I'll be surprised if you hear more than one message on
the cross. And yet, this is—Paul said, I'm determined to know
nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. You say, well,
why is this? I think we take for granted that
it's an old theme that everybody knows all about, and therefore
we don't preach it. But you know what Bishop Ryle
said about that? I want you to listen to this. This great old
man is one of my favorite writers and preachers. He says, the cross
is the strength of a preacher. The cross is the strength of
a preacher. I, for one, would not be without
it for the world. I would feel like a soldier without
his weapon. Without the cross, I would feel
like an artist without a pencil. Well, I'd feel like a pilot without
a compass, like a carpenter without his tools. Let others, if they
will, preach the law and morality. Give me the cross. Let others
hold forth the terrors of hell and the promises of heaven. Let
others greenish their congregations with teachings about ceremonies
and sacraments in the church. Give me the cross. It's the only
lever which has ever turned this world upside down and made men
leave their sins and look to God. If the cross will not do
it, nothing else will. A man may begin preaching with
a perfect knowledge of Latin, of Greek, and Hebrew, but he'll
do no good among his heroes till he knows something about the
cross. Never was there any minister who ever did anything for the
conversion of a sinner who did not dwell on Christ and him crucified. Martin Luther, Rutherford, George
Whitefield, and Mack Shane were all most eminent preachers of
the cross of Jesus Christ. This is the preaching that the
Holy Ghost delights to bless This is the preaching that the
Heavenly Father has ordained. This is the preaching that will
bring them to salvation, for God loves to honor those who
honor the cross. Look back at verse 12 in Galatians 6. Paul, in verse
12, rebuked those people who turned aside from the preaching
of the cross. He says they desire to make a
show in the flesh. They desire to impress people.
So they constrain you to be circumcised, lest they should suffer persecution
for the cross. These preachers preached ceremony
and works and circumcision, everything but Christ crucified, and they
did so to avoid persecution. They did so to avoid persecution
from the Jews for preaching a crucified Savior. But whatever their reason,
they avoided the cross. when we rebuke others, and when
we find fault with others for not preaching what we call the
gospel, for not preaching the cross of Christ, let's be careful
that we're not guilty of the same sin. When I wrote that down today,
I began to reconstruct my past messages and go over them. How many times have I preached
on the cross? How many times lately have I
presented the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without Christ
crucified, without the cross of the Son of God, our preaching
is like heaven without a sun. Our preaching without the cross
of Christ is like a clock without hands. Visualize that a moment. A clock without hands. You say,
that's worthless. So is a message without the cross.
Our preaching without the cross is like a compass without a needle.
You're holding your compass north, south, east, west. Doesn't mean
a thing. Turn it any way you want to,
upside down if you want to. If it doesn't have a needle,
it's worthless. Throw it away. So is a sermon without Christ
crucified. Preaching without Christ crucified is like a body
without a soul. It's dead. It's like a lamp without
oil. No light. It's like a house without
a foundation, for Christ crucified is the foundation of this whole
Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, it's Christ and him crucified.
The first message that God gave after the sin of Adam was that
I'll send the seed of woman by his cross to bruise the head
of the serpent. And the last message is unto
him who loved us and washed us from our sin in his own blood.
I have five divisions for this message that I'd like for you
to think about, and I would be even so bold as to suggest that
the preachers here get this outline down. I think outlines preach
good. When I go to a Bible conference
or something, I get out my pencil and paper, and if anybody says
anything, I steal it. I bring it home to preach it.
A stick, it'll kill a snake in your hand, it'll kill one in
my hand. And a word that you give, if God blesses it, he'll
bless it, I give it, too, in the same spirit and with the
same attitude. But here's the division. There are five of them. God will honor those who honor
the cross. Number one, I'm going to talk about the glory of the
cross. The glory of the cross. Number two, I'm going to talk
about the victory of the cross. Number three, I'm going to talk
about the offense of the cross. Number four, I'm going to talk
about the preaching of the cross, and then number five, the enemies
of the cross. The cross got some enemies, and
it may surprise you who some of them are. First of all, the
glory of the cross. When Paul speaks of glory, he
said, God forbid that I should glory, that I should glory save
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's referring not to
that piece of wood. Although that's where our Lord
died. But when Paul speaks of glorying in the cross, he's referring
to the doctrine of justification and full atonement from sin by
the death of Christ upon the cross. That's what he's talking
about. Paul's not glorying in something folks wear on a chain
around their neck. Paul's not glorying in an old
piece of wood sticking in a hole on a hill outside the walls of
the city of Jerusalem. He's not glorying in a criminal's
place of execution. He's glorying in free justification
and full atonement, which was accomplished by the death of
Jesus Christ on that cross. And in this he gloryed so much
as if to glory in nothing else. God forbid that I should glory
in anything. Not in the church. We glory in
the church. Thank God for the church. Not the ordinances. We thank
God for the ordinances. How beautiful, how precious it
is to meet around the table of the Lord, to observe baptism,
someone confessing faith in Christ. We glory in the people of God. What a precious fellowship. But
we glory so much in the free justification and full atonement
accomplished at Calvary on that cross, we glory so much in that
as if we gloried in nothing else. Everything else is so far back,
is so far in second place, that they don't even come close. What
is the glory of the cross? Well, first of all, turn to Romans
3. First of all, the cross in Romans 3 tells us it's a display
of God's divine character. The cross is a display of God's
divine character, a revelation of the attributes of God, of
the character of God, as nowhere else. There is nowhere else that
all the attributes of God are manifested like they're manifested
at the cross. There at the cross you see the
wrath of God. There at the cross you see the
love of God. There at the cross you see the righteousness of
God, the pure, unmixed, unadulterated righteousness, holiness of God,
who could not look upon his Son as he bore our sins. But there
you see the gracious mercy of God. At the cross you see the
truth of God. I will not clear the guilty,
even if it be my own Son, and that by imputation. But there
at the cross you see the kindness and gentleness of God. Everything
is at the cross. There at the cross you see the
wisdom of God. There at the cross you see the
love of God. Everything's there. Romans chapter
3, verse 23, "...all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God The death of the cross was
no accident. It was purpose, whom God set
forth, whom God foreordained as the Word. And let me tell
you, nobody here believes this, but let me warn you, don't ever
even suspect that the death of Christ on the cross was something
that man devised or that man concocted. or that man purposed. Man, with his wicked hands, did
what his wicked heart willed to do, but in doing everything
he willed to do, he did what God willed before to be done,
and foreordained to be done, and meant to be done by his determinate
counsel and foreknowledge. Everything that happened at Calvary
fulfilled an ordained purpose of the Heavenly Father. He set
forth a foreordained His Son to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood, watch it, to declare to the whole universe
His righteousness, whose righteousness? God's righteousness, for the
remission of sins that have passed through the forbearance of God.
He's talking about the Old Testament people there. You see, Christ
died 2,000 years ago, but a long time before that there lived
some men like Malachi and Nahum, and Habakkuk, and Jeremiah, and
Isaiah, and David, and Solomon, and Saul, and the long way back,
Abel, when Christ died. But God Almighty had forgiven
their sins through the promised Christ, the promised Atonement,
the promised Redeemer, you see. They had faith in the coming
of Christ. And Almighty God, through His long-suffering and
forbearance, waited until the coming of Christ, and those sins
are put away the same way our sins are put away, by the cross,
not by the law. He says in verse 26, to declare,
I say at this time, right now, his righteousness, that he might
be just, that God might be just, and the justifier of him which
believeth in Jesus. That's what the cross is. The
glory of the cross is it's a display set forth in front of the whole
universe, heaven, earth, and hell. And they were all there. They were all present at the
cross. Heaven was there. Heaven was there. The man was
there, spitting out his blasphemies. Satan was there. Hell was there.
It was all there. And God, right there at the cross,
put forth a display of his justice and his righteousness and his
mercy and his love and his power and his wisdom and his holiness
and his grace and every attribute right there at the cross. And then secondly, the glory
of the cross is this, the cross is a full manifestation of the
love, the great love, the infinite love, the everlasting love of
Christ for his people. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Here in his love, not that we
love God, here in his love, if you would preach the love of
God, you've got to preach the cross. You can't preach the love
of God without preaching the cross, because herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and gave His Son a perpetuation for our sins.
A man can't preach the love of God by looking at a little baby.
Not the full, infinite love of God, not the sacrificial love
of God, not the everlasting love of God, not the atoning love
of God, not the magnificent, unquenchable love of God for
having loved his own. He loved them to the end. Greater
love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his
enemies. So if you would preach the love
of God, you've got to go to the cross. There is the love of God
manifested as nowhere else. And then, next of all, the cross,
the glory of the cross is in this. It puts away sin by a full
and free atonement. Turn to Hebrews with me, if you
will, chapter 9 of the book of Hebrews. Let me show you a verse
of scripture here. Hebrews 9, verse 11 and 12. The
glory of the cross is that it's a display of God's character,
it's a manifestation of God's love, And the cross actually
puts away sin totally and completely by a full and free atonement,
Hebrews 9, 11, and 12. But Christ being come, a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
and neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place. having obtained eternal
redemption for us. The cross assures every believer
of eternal life. If Christ died for my sins, I
am as certain for heaven as if I were already there. For whom he did foreknow, he
predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, and
whom he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son he called,
and whom he called he justified, whom he justified he glorified."
What shall we say to these things? We say, if God be for us, who
can be against us? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather is risen again, who is also seated at the right hand
of God, who makes intercession for us. I'm as sure for heaven
if Christ died for my sins as if I were already there, if Christ
died for my sins. Augustus Toplady wrote in 1771,
My name from the palms of his hands Eternity cannot erase. Impressed on his heart, my name
remains in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall
endure. As sure as the promise was given,
more happy but not more secure are the glorified souls in heaven."
That's so. That's so. You say, that's assurance. Christ is our assurance. Christ
in His cross. Now, without the cross, we have
no assurance. Without the ransom, we have no assurance. Without
the atonement, we have no assurance. But Christ, by one offering,
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's the glory
of the cross. It looks like you'd hear that
every Sunday, doesn't it? It looks like every time you turn
on your radio, some happy preacher would be telling you about what
happened at Calvary. No, he's going to tell you what's
going to happen in Israel, or what's going to happen in Russia,
or what happens back down in 705 B.C., you know, when Hezekiah
did certain things. Instead, we need to point men
to the cross. That's where God manifested his
character and displayed his love and redeemed his people and sent
forth a full atonement. Secondly, That's the glory of
the cross. Now the victory of the cross.
The victory of the cross. Now I want you to listen carefully
to what I'm about to say. I know that there are those who
preach the death of Christ on the cross as if it were only
an effort on the part of God to redeem sinners. Many preachers,
most preachers in fact, indicate that in dying on the cross, Christ,
in fact, did all he could do to redeem sinners, and now it's
totally, completely in the hands of sinners whether Christ accomplished
anything or whether he died in vain. That makes the death of
Christ not an atonement, but an attempt. Now think about that. If our Lord died on the cross,
And he did not effectually redeem his people. He did not, by full
sacrifice and a full and free atonement, pay for their sins
and reconcile them to God. But if it's a work that is only
attempted and only set forth as an offer, and it's left in
the hands of sinners, whether Christ succeeded or failed, whether
Christ accomplished anything or died in vain, then I say his
death was not an atonement, it was an attempt to atone. His death was not a ransom, it
was an endeavor. His death was not a redemption,
only an offer. But that's not what God's Word
teaches. God's Word teaches that Christ's death was a sufficient
atonement. It talks about we have in Christ
the atonement. And listen to these scriptures,
Isaiah 53, 6, "...by his stripes we are healed." Not we can be
healed, or we should be healed, or we might be healed. He says
we are healed. By his stripes we are healed.
Matthew 1.21, Thou shalt call his name Jesus. He's going to
make a bold attempt to save some people from their sin. That's
not what he said, Brother Pruitt. He says he shall save his people.
He shall save his people. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he is going to die on the cross and make a strong effort
to win your heart to him." No, sir. It says, Thou shalt call
his name Jesus, he shall save his people from their sin. Listen
to John 19, 30. It is finished. Now you think
about what our Lord said there. It is finished. Now, if he didn't
redeem me, it is not finished. If he didn't ransom my soul,
it is not finished. If he didn't put away my guilt,
if he didn't make peace by his cross, if he didn't redeem me
to God, it is not finished. It's not finished till I add
my part to it. And I'm the one that comes down
the aisle and takes the preacher's hand and says, I believe in Christ.
Now, God, it's finished. No, sir. Christ our Lord cried,
It is finished! All of the work of redemption
from first to last, from Alpha to Omega, He's the author and
finisher of our faith. It's finished. The atonement
is finished. By one sacrifice, He entered
once into the holy place and obtained eternal redemption and
gave it to His people. That's what Scripture teaches.
2 Corinthians 5.19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself. Out of every tribe, kindred,
nation unto heaven, God was in Christ doing what he purposed
to do, reconciling the world unto himself. Now, what happened
at Calvary? There's two different reconciliations.
Now, listen to me. I printed an article in the paper
by Brother Barnard that dealt with this. What happened at Calvary? Reconcile God. What happens when the Holy Spirit
comes down here and awakens me and brings me to faith, reconciles
me. You see that? When Jesus Christ
died on the cross, he put away the enmity from heaven down here. God's wrath, God's judgment,
God's enmity. But brother, I was born on this
earth 2,000 years after he died with enmity in my heart against
God. I hated God. You hated God. You lived without
God. You lived as if Christ didn't
even come. You lived as if Christ didn't
even die. You created your own God and worshipped your own God
and played charity. But the Holy Spirit came one
day and he killed that enmity in your heart and brought you
to love God. You see, the Holy Spirit did
that. But when Christ died on the cross, he made an offering
toward God. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself. Now Paul comes along and says,
Sinner, be ye reconciled to God. God is reconciled. Christ took
care of that. Now you be reconciled. Is that
clear? That's what it's talking about.
Hebrews 10 and 14, by one offering he has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. We do not preach a cooperative
redemption. No sir, not on your life. Not
a cooperative redemption at all. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation, but it doesn't say with the heart man's redeemed.
It doesn't say with the mouth confession is made and he's redeemed. Christ redeemed us. Christ redeemed
us. We preach a full and complete
without apology, boldly, atonement as the free gift of God's grace
given to whom he will. That's so. And men who can't
take that free, full redemption and atonement in Christ will
just have to look for somebody preaching a cooperative redemption.
Because this pulpit is now, and by God's grace ever shall be,
dedicated to the fact that Jesus Christ, our Lord, didn't try
to do anything. He did what he came to do. He
redeemed our souls. Now, we do preach that sinners
believe, and the Holy Spirit woos us and draws us to Christ.
We receive the gospel. We are brought low. We grow in
grace. We have a progressive sanctification. We come more and more to know
more and more of Christ. But brother, when it comes to
redeeming our soul, we are as passive as a dead log. That's
so. Jesus did it all. He paid it
all. All the debt I owed, sin left
to crimson stain, and he by himself washed it white as snow. The
royal bath in which black souls are washed from their sins was
drawn from the veins of the Son of God. And no promises and pledges
and dedications and consecrations and commitments and decisions
and professions of men have entered into that work. Christ did it
all. And he's going to get all the glory, and he won't share
it with anyone else. Thirdly, the offense of the cross. Turn to Galatians again, chapter
5. The offense of the cross. Now then, this point naturally
follows that other, Cecil. The victory of the cross is what
the world hates. That brings about the offense
of the cross. Now, you can preach of Christ on the cross as an
example, as a reformer, as a martyr, as an attempter at reconciliation,
and the world will go right along with you. You preach a victorious
Savior, the Savior is a satisfying substitute, that's where you've
got to fight. Galatians 5.11, Paul said, Brethren,
if I preach circumcision, ceremony, human works, human righteousness,
why do I yet suffer persecution? For if you preach these things,
the offense of the cross is ceased. That's right. Paul said you can
go preach cooperation, a cooperative redemption. You can go preach
Jesus did all he can do, now it's up to you, and there's no
offense to that. If you preach man's efforts and
man's merit and man's work, man will agree with you. He says
the offense of the cross is perished. The offense of the cross has
never ceased and will never cease as long as pride reigns in the
human heart. It's going to be despised and
hated above all doctrine. Now, the gospel of Christ is
the most peaceful and mild and benevolent gospel there is. That includes all religions.
And yet its history shows that it's been hated with the bitterest
hatred above all religions. What does it say about our Lord
when he came? He came unto his own, they received him not. Why,
it says he's despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. And here it is where our face
is from him, the benevolent, peaceful, mild Christ Jesus. Christ says of you and me, don't
be amazed, marvel not my brethren, the world hates you. The world
and the gospel are both unchanged. The world's the same and the
gospel's the same. Men will always take religion
by merit, they'll always take religion by works, and they'll
always hate substitution. They always have and they always
will. You say, why? Four reasons. Here
are four reasons why the cross is offensive. substitution, satisfaction,
redemption, complete fulfillment. Here's why that men hate it.
Number one, the cross, the preaching of the cross, the preaching of
an effectual redeemer, a free and full atonement made by the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ on behalf of sinners, that gospel
addresses every man as a helpless lost sinner in need of God's
complete mercy and that offends man's dignity. He can't be dignified
and be a sinner at the same time. That's right, he can't be dignified
and be lost at the same time. He can't be dignified and be
a beggar. He can't be dignified and stand
with blind Bartimaeus and the harlot Mary and Zacchaeus and
the man in the tombs and the Samaritan woman and the thief
on the cross and cry, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That's
not dignified. And this cross gospel addresses
every son of Adam on the same level all of the naked, miserable,
poor, wretched, and blind. And man's dignity just will not
embrace that. Secondly, I'll tell you why it's
offensive. The cross comes as a revelation
of the Holy Spirit. It cannot be learned, it must
be revealed. It cannot be mastered by human
wisdom, it must be revealed. The natural man, to him it's
foolishness. They're just total, sheer nonsense. And this gospel substitution
has to be revealed, and that offends man's wisdom. He thinks he's smart. He thinks
he's smart. Man thinks that there's nothing
in any book, including the Bible, that he cannot, by reading and
studying, master. He's proud. He thinks he's wise,
old nail man. Now listen, here stands a man
with leprosy. Here stands a man with the flakes
of white leprosy peeling from his skin, helpless, totally,
completely helpless. And he's standing before the
doorway of God's prophet, the only man in all the world who
can help him, a man with direct communication to the throne of
heaven. And this man tells him what to do, and he goes into
a rage. And he says, I thought! I thought! And that's our whole trouble.
That's what gets us in the mess we're in. I thought. And the
Scripture plainly says there's a way that seemeth right unto
men, and the end are the ways of death. God plainly says your
thoughts are not my thoughts, your ways are not my ways. But
here we are. I think. You can go into any Sunday school
class in America next Sunday, and about half the discussion
will be on what I think, not what God says. A thing God does
not do anything because you think he ought to. God does it because
he purposed to do it in a way that will bring him the most
glory. Oh, man's natural wisdom can't stand the thought of having
to have the gospel revealed to him. And then thirdly, This doctrine
of a full and free atonement offends man's pride. Oh, he's
a proud preacher. If the preacher will tell him
something to do, he'll do it. Yes, sir, he'll do it. Why do
you think those natives crawl for miles across those broken
stones with candles in their hands, crawling up to some cathedral? Because some priest told them
if they'd do that, they'd have eternal life, and they'll do
anything. They'll do anything. They'll pay. They'll pray. They'll
walk. They'll run. They'll go on pilgrimages. They'll do anything. But look
to Christ. They won't do that. Their pride
won't let them do it. In my hands no price I bring.
Well, Lord, I bring you my talents and my time and my tithe. Well,
Lord, I bring you this and I bring you that and I bring you the
other. No, I don't bring him anything.
Empty-handed. I come to be washed. Even the
heart of faith, God has to give me that. Even the desire to come,
God has to give me that. Even the knowledge of my sin,
God has to give me that. Even the awakening to an awareness
of my sin, God has to give me that. Even an awareness that
I exist, God has to take notice of me. Or you talk about helpless. It's a full, free atonement.
And then last of all, it's doctrine of sanctification offends man's
self-righteousness. I get sanctification the same
place I get justification at the cross. Same place. You don't go to the cross to
be washed and to Sinai to be sanctified. You don't go to the
cross to be cleansed and go to Sinai to be perfected. You don't
go to the cross for justification and you sign the eye for sanctification.
You stay at the cross for everything. Right there. It's all in Christ. It's offensive. It's offensive,
the offense of the cross. And then next, the preaching
of the cross. And I'll be brief. Paul, in 1
Corinthians 1.18, said this. 1 Corinthians 1.18, Paul said,
the preaching of the cross. The preaching of the cross is
to them that are perishing foolishness, but unto us which are saved is
the power of God." The preaching of the cross, what I'm trying
to do tonight. Now, there are just two views a man can take toward
a cross, the cross of Christ. Barnard said one time, and I
wish I could say it like he did, you mean to tell me that that deserted, forsaken,
bleeding, poverty-stricken, disciple-less, friendless Jew, hanging on a
cross 2,000 years ago between heaven and earth, between two
things, dying in helplessness while the sun overhead grew dark
and refused to shine in the rocks rent and trembled, and even the
Father turned his back on him, that that's my Savior? That that's
the hope of my soul? That's the biggest pack of foolishness
that anybody ever tried to put over on the world. Now, talk
to me about the grandeur of man's accomplishments, and talk to
me about the dignity of human suffering and morality, and talk
to me about the great high aims of philosophy and psychology,
but don't tell me that that deserted mass of flesh is my Savior and
my Lord and my King. That's what the Jew said. That's
what the Greek said. That's foolishness. But to us
who are saved, who have been given eyes that can see and a
heart that can understand and lay hold on what was taking place
on that cross. That was me on that cross. That
wasn't just Jesus Christ. That mass of deserted, deserted
by men and deserted by God and hated by devils, that's me. bearing
my sins under the judgment of God, for when Christ was died,
I died. That's substitution, that's representation. All that God has done, all that
God is doing, all that God will do in redemption centers around
that cross. That cross is the hub of the
wheel from which all the spokes descend. Chosen in Christ, loved
in Christ, redeemed in Christ, accepted in Christ, risen in
Christ, ascended in Christ, seated in Christ, glorified in Christ,
coming in Christ. I am in Him. So you see, when Christ lived
on this earth, when He walked before the law of God, that was
me. And when He, in His Sin. And he did. He took our sin in
his body. When he went to the tree and
there all this judgment descended upon him, it was upon me and
you. And when it was all over, they
took us down from the tree and buried us. And God, because his
law was honored and his justice was satisfied and God was reconciled
and God Almighty accepted what Christ did for us in our place,
he brought us out of the tomb. and took us right on up to glory,
and set us down on his right hand, and said, Enter ye, blessed,
into the kingdom prepared for you before the world began."
Substitution. That's the heart of the gospel.
Then the enemies of the cross. Turn to Philippians 3. Who are
the enemies of the cross? The enemies of the cross. Well,
we know that Satan is an avowed enemy of the cross. He hates
it. If he can get us preachers to
preach something else, he'll do it. If he can get folks to
trust in something else, he'll do it. If he can get you interested
in, he doesn't care what it is, prophecy or philosophy, he'll
do it. Church history, oh, he'll get you wrapped up in church
history. He'll even get you wrapped up in doctrine, make you think
you're really doing the will of God, and you're just studying
your head off trying to find out why, who did what, and all
these other things, and just take you away from the cross.
He doesn't care. Just gets you away from the cross.
away from Christ. Because just one place you can
be cleansed, and that's the cross. It's just one place you can meet
God, and that's at the cross. It's just one place you can learn
the love of God, that's at the cross. It's just one place you
can be sanctified, that's at the cross. So if he can turn
your eyes somewhere else, even to the throne, and make you miss
the cross. He hates the cross. That's what
he hates. He hates the cross. And someone
brought out one time, he did everything in his power to keep
Christ from going to that cross. Yes, he did. He stirred up Herod,
the king's enmity, when Christ was a child. Kill that child!
Christ dying under the sword of Herod wouldn't save me. Christ
got down on the cross under God's wrath. When he stood on that
mountain and Satan tempted and tried him, he said, Now, if you're
the Son of God, cast yourself off here. That'd be better than
dying on the cross. I'd rather see you do that than
die on that cross. You can't save anybody by committing
suicide. If you're the Son of God, now
just don't go to the cross now. I'll give you a shortcut to the
throne. You want the nations to fall down and worship you?
That's the end of it all. That's the object of it all.
Then in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue
should confess that he's Lord. All right, Satan said, you want
to be Lord of the kingdoms of the world? I'll make all of them
fall down at your feet. You just worship me, and I'll
make them worship you. That'd be going to the cross,
wouldn't it? But the way to the crown is by way of the cross.
He couldn't have any subjects until he bought them. He couldn't
have a kingdom until he purchased it. He couldn't have a people
until he redeemed them. But Satan's end and goal and
object is to keep people away from that cross. Christ, if he
could, but he couldn't. All right, unbelieving Jews,
they're enemies of the crucified Christ. They want no part of
a Messiah on a cross. They'll take a Messiah on a throne,
they'll take a Messiah in an earthly kingdom, they'll take
a Messiah sitting on David's throne, but not on a cross. No
way. Liberal religionists, they're
the enemies of the cross, they exalt the works of men, they
portray Christ as a reformer, as an example. But Paul in Philippians
3.18 talks about somebody else being an enemy of the cross.
He says, Verse 18, Philippians 3, "...for many walk, of whom
I have told you often, and I tell you now even weeping, it breaks
my heart that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ." Who
are these people? They are people who preach Christ
crucified. They are people who pretend to
believe on Christ. There are people who unite with
the Church and claim to believe Christ died for them, but who
by their unholy lives and their unholy conversation and their
ungodly conduct make themselves enemies of the cross of Christ. And he says, verse 19, their
end is destruction, their God is their belly, their flesh,
their glory is their shame, and they do mind and they are concerned
and they are taken up with earthly things. And he says they're undedicated,
they've left their first love, they're not hot, they're not
cold, they look warm, and God says, I'll spew you out of my
mouth. When I survey the wondrous cross, let's sing that song,
on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count
but loss.