The cross

Now again, we'd like to thank each one who has come, and we pray that this hour spent will be an hour of blessing for you. That's the wonderful thing about the Word of God and the Gospel. Not only is it good for the saints, because the saints are always encouraged when they hear about the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's good for you tonight if you don't have Him as your Savior, because He is the one you need.

There is absolutely nothing else and no one else that God will accept. And yet, thankfully, you don't need to find anything else, because God has provided the way through His Son. So I want to read just a couple verses tonight from the book of 1 Corinthians, the first letter of Paul to the believers at Corinth, 1 Corinthians and chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and we're going to read in at verse number 18.

1 Corinthians 1, verse number 18. Here Paul is saying, 4. 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 just go down to verse number 23.

Verse 23, Paul says, 5. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. Now God has promised to bless to us tonight the reading of His precious Word. Now, I'm sure it's quite evident by the hymns that we have sung and even by this passage that we have read that I'd like to take the first part of this meeting tonight, and I want to speak a little about the cross, and more importantly, the person who was associated with that cross, the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, there are things in this world that are going to be forgotten. I have said this before, maybe you've heard me mention this before, but there are historical events that have taken place in the history of man, and although they stand out in this world, in this life, in this age, there is a time coming when they're going to be forgotten. They are going to be rolled up with all the things that have taken place in the history of man thus far, and they are going to be gone and forgotten forever.

There are different events in the lifetime of even people here. Now, maybe there aren't any here, but maybe there are some. And for the generation before me, it was D-Day or Pearl Harbor, and those dates stood out in the minds of these people as these events, history-changing events, and they stick in their mind.

Where for our generation and the generations coming up, I suppose that for a long time, we will always remember that date 9-11, because it is something that changed the world as we know it. The world is not the same since 9-11. Things have changed, but all those historical events, sooner or later, they're going to be forgotten.

They're associated with this world and this age, and they have really nothing to do as far as that which is to come. But what we have been reading about tonight is the singular event that really transcends time and eternity, and it's the event of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that singular event is going to cast its shadow on eternity.

That singular event is going to cast its shadow, and as far as the destiny, the eternal destiny of every single human being is going to revolve around the work of the cross. And the Savior of the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ. As much as people want to label it foolishness, as much as people are disturbed about it and don't want to hear nothing about it, listen, it is going to stand for eternity.

It is going to, it is going to be that line of demarcation as to where each and every single one of us will be for eternity. And so it's important. It is a real event.

It actually took place. It is not something made up. It's not a myth.

It's not a fairy tale. It's not a fable. It is an event that actually took place just over 2,000 years ago.

There was a man called Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and he was taken outside the walls of Jerusalem with two others, malefactors, and they were crucified. They were put to death. And there are records, records of secular history, apart from the word of God, that would attest to the veracity, to the truth that Christ died.

He was crucified 2,000 years ago under the auspices, the authority of the Roman government at the prodding of the Jewish leadership. He was crucified. He was put to death.

And that singular event tonight, even though it happened 2,000 years ago, listen, your eternity, your destiny hinges as to what you do with that cross and the work of the cross. I just have four or five points I want to look at tonight very quickly in the first part of the meeting. I want you to understand first the reason we preach Christ, the reason Paul preached Christ.

It's not because it was a popular message of the day. No. Whether it was the Jews or the Greeks, the Jews and the Gentiles, they all had issue with it.

To the one, it was a stumbling block. To the other, it was foolishness. It was utterly foolish to think that there was life through the death of this man on the cross.

And it was controversial even back in its day. And yet Paul, knowing the controversy, Paul, understanding that, you know, these two sides would never agree naturally, yet he said, even though to the world it is foolishness, he says, what we read there, he says, but we preach Christ crucified. Why is it that even in spite of the opposition of the world, why is it that in spite of the opposition of religion of the day, why is it that he continued to preach Christ? Well, I want you to understand tonight that when it comes to the work of the cross, although men scorn it, although men look at it and count it as nothing, I want you to understand tonight that that work of Calvary absolutely delighted the heart of God.

God in heaven was absolutely delighted with the work of his son at the place called Calvary. You see, we have to look at it from God's perspective. We have to have something that satisfies God for eternity.

You know, we're so easily satisfied as human beings, aren't we? Of course we are. You know, we go into places. I guess I'm, you know, I'm as to blame as anyone else.

I'll go into our restaurant. I don't go into a lot, but I go into a restaurant, you know, and the food comes and, you know, I like my food hot and it's kind of cool. And I complain a bit to my wife and she says, well, send it back.

No, no, no, it's okay. I don't want to cause a fuss. And so I'll just eat it even, you know, easily satisfied.

But listen, I want you to understand tonight when it comes to the problem of your sin, and that is the problem. The problem tonight is your sin. And it's not what satisfies you that counts.

It's not what satisfies men as a group that counts. It's not even what satisfies religion and theologians that counts. Friend, what counts tonight? Does it satisfy God? What you need for heaven has to satisfy God.

And the work of Christ absolutely delighted the heart of God. We could read, Paul wrote to the believers at Ephesus. He says, Christ also loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a sweet smelling savor.

Oh, the work of the cross. As far as God was concerned, it absolutely delighted God. The aroma of the sacrifice of Christ, of the death of Christ, of the work of Christ, it arose as a sweet... There had been many sacrifices going up to heaven before.

From the beginning of time to the death of Christ, there was countless animals. You look in your Bible and you see through the history of the human race that's recorded in the Bible, you will see day after day, time after time, sacrifices that were made. And yet we read in the book of the Hebrews, none of them brought pleasure to God.

None of them brought pleasure to God because they were incomplete. Oh, yes, God was able to forgive sin on account because they were looking forward to the sacrifice of Christ, but all of those sacrifices combined did not satisfy God for eternity. The only reason he could accept them was because there was coming a day when his son, his only son, his well-beloved son would go to a cross and on that cross he would suffer at the hands of men and at the hands of God and what men looked at and exclaimed as foolishness and what men saw as a stumbling block, the aroma of that sacrifice, it rose up to the God in heaven and it brought delight to the heart of God.

And yet we as human beings, and I was the same, I'm no different than you, I fully brought to God the things that I thought he should accept. He should accept my being a good person or the verses that I learned or being part of a Christian home and surely that would be enough to satisfy God. But oh friend, God needed a perfect sacrifice in order for him to be satisfied.

And the work of the cross, the death of the cross, the Christ of the cross absolutely delighted the heart of God. And friend, that's why God will accept nothing else. No reasonable facsimiles, no photocopies, no count, nothing else will satisfy God except the work of his son.

Friend, what do you have tonight for eternity? Well, what do you think is going to satisfy God? Because even if you're not saved tonight, there's something in that brain of yours that's telling you that I'm okay the way I am because if you didn't think that way, you'd be lined up to be saved. You'd be in a line here saying, how can I get saved? But there's something in that brain of yours, in that heart of yours that's saying that yes, I know Christ died, but I know that he went to the cross for sin, but friend, there's no buts about it. It's only the work of Christ.

It's entirely the work of Christ. That is all that satisfies God in heaven. That is all that brings delight to the heart of God, the work and the worth of his son.

Friend, that's who you need tonight. You need the son. You need the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you want to ever see God's fair heaven, if you want to walk through those pearly gates and stroll that street of gold, it'll be only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, acceptance of that which has delighted the heart of God. The cross delighted the heart of God. Not only did the cross delight the heart of God, but friend, I want you to understand tonight.

It's only the cross that can deliver the sinner. You see, there's the problem. The problem is your sin.

The problem is what you are. Even if you never sinned, even if you were to live a perfect moral upright life somehow, that's not the problem. You see, the problem is what you are.

You are a sinner. And it is only the work of the cross that can deliver the sinner. You see, if we were to get our just desserts, if we were to get what we deserved, it would be down in this place called hell and then the lake of fire.

That's what sin deserves. That's where our sin is taking us. That's where our sin ultimately will wind us up if we die without a savior.

Lost and lost forever. You see, the Bible plainly declares there's only two places. There's heaven, there's hell, and friend, without the savior, without the Christ of the cross, without having that which satisfies God, then you will be lost and lost forever.

But the work of the cross, oh, the wonderful work of the cross. They're the savior, the sinless one. You see, those two men that were with him, they were there because of their sins.

They were criminals. They deserved what they were getting. But oh, that man on the middle cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, absolutely sinless, perfect, the eternal son of God, and yet God, we read in Isaiah, laid on him the iniquity of us all.

All our sins were laid upon him. Jesus bore them on the tree. God, who knew them, laid them on him.

And friend, tonight, if you were to believe that, if you were to trust the word of God, what it says about the Lord Jesus Christ, you would be saved because of the work of the cross. That's what really is intimated back in Job chapter 33 verse 34. It says, then he is gracious unto him and saith, deliver him from going down to the pit.

Why? How can God say deliver him from going down to the pit? Because they're trying a bit harder? No. Because they're being a good person? No. Because they're going to church? No.

Deliver them from going down to the pit. Why? Because I have found a ransom. And there on the cross, the Lord Jesus, he was in effect paying the price of our sin.

You see, sin incurs a debt, a debt against a holy God, a debt that we could never pay. An eternity of eternities would never be enough to pay the debt of sin. And yet here is one, one who was willing, one who was able to pay the required price.

And because God was satisfied with the work of the cross, he is able to say, deliver them from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. And friend, if you refuse this payment, you will go to the pit.

The pit where there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, the place where God never wanted a soul to be. But because they refused the wondrous provision, because they refuse the overtures of God, oh friend tonight, how many times has God drawn near to you? And by his spirit, whispered into your ear wonderful words of salvation, and you've blocked them out. Or maybe there's some here tonight and maybe God has spoken out of the whirlwind and there's been events come into your life that startled you and brought you to that precipice of death and yet God spared you.

And all those times God in his love and in his kindness spoke to you about your soul. And yet tonight you're still not saved. Tonight you are in danger.

Of going down to the pit and being lost and lost forever. Oh friend, I want you to understand that the work of Christ is enough to deliver the sinner. Oh friend, is there a sinner on this side? And you understand that the problem of your sin and the spirit of God has been laying it heavy on your heart, on your soul.

You've been weighed down with that burden of sin. Listen, the ransom has been paid. Christ has gone to the cross.

He has absolutely satisfied and delighted his holy father as to the problem of your sin. Maybe there's a younger person on this side and you've been putting it off thinking, I'm just young. I'll get saved, but not tonight.

Friend, God does not promise you tomorrow. He says, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

Friend, the work of the cross, the Christ of the cross, is what you need as far as your sin is concerned. He is the one who has paid in full. That's what those wondrous words meant when he said it is finished.

The debt, the debt of your sin, that debt that we could hardly even measure. We couldn't begin to measure and yet God knew it. And yet the work of Christ, sufficient, that he could exclaim paid in full.

Oh friend, tonight the work of the cross, it's paid in full. That which the Lord Jesus came to do, it was complete. There was nothing left undone.

We sing with the boys and girls. Was there anything that Jesus left undone when he came to earth to save us? Everyone. Do you think he missed some of your sin? Did you think he missed some of your iniquity and transgression? No.

He paid in full the cost, the just demand of sin before a holy God. It is finished. The work of Christ, Calvary delivers the sinner.

But friend, I want you to understand tonight, Calvary divides humanity. There is a division in this meeting tonight. More so than just this aisle down the center.

More so just from gender. More so just from where people come from. There is a great chasm in this hall tonight.

There are some, and they can look back to a time, I can look back to June 4th, 1971. Twelve and a half years old. Brought up in a Christian home.

And yet that night, five minutes to eight, the last night of four weeks of gospel meetings, God in his mercy opened my eyes and I saw the truth of that wonderful verse. First Corinthians 15 verse three, Christ died for my sins. According to the scriptures.

I knew that all my life. I had known that verse and verses just like it for twelve and a half years. But that night, God opened my eyes that I was the sinner that needed a savior.

And when I was to that point where I understood that I was lost and I was on my way to hell, that wondrous verse came true to me that Christ had died for my sins. There's many in this room tonight. And they can look back to that wonderful time, but there are others.

And you've never been saved. Oh, maybe you've been close. Maybe there were times that you even shook a bit.

Or maybe there were times when tears came down your face. Maybe there were times when you couldn't even go to sleep at night. But don't pass by.

You're able to get those thoughts out of your mind and you've been okay since then. Friend, you are not okay. Tonight, dear friend, you are in danger.

The cross divides humanity. Because of the cross, there are going to be countless multitudes in heaven. Are you going to be among that number? Are you going to be among those that are going to rejoice in the presence of God forever and ever and ever? Friend, I'm going to be there.

And not because I deserve it, but because Christ died for my sins. That on the cross He was there for me and He paid the price so that I need not perish. But oh, there are others.

And you know who you are. And you have been privileged beyond measure. You've heard the gospel.

You've been taken to gospel meetings. You have been prayed for. You have been wept over.

You have been pleaded with. And tonight, tonight you're still in danger. Tonight, if you were to go into eternity, because you counted the work of the Lord Jesus as nothing.

That's what you're doing if you've never accepted Him. You're literally treading under feet the blood of His sacrifice. You're saying it was unnecessary, that it was of no value.

That's what you're telling God. But oh, in a day that is coming, and it could come so very soon, you could awake to the reality of what it means to be lost and lost forever. Those two other men at the cross that day, I'm going to see one of them in heaven.

There he was. The very last moments of his life, literally, lived a life of criminality, a rascal, all his life. And yet, because he understood that Christ was the Son of God, that He was the Savior, he put his confidence, his trust in Him, and that man is saved.

And there's another man who was just as close, who had the very same opportunity. And tonight, that man, for 2,000 years, he's been weeping, and he's been wailing on the coast of the Castaways. No more opportunity, no second chance, no light at the end of the tunnel.

His day of opportunity was gone, and he is lost and lost forever. Friend, tonight, God has preserved you. God has brought you to this night.

It all comes down to, what do you think of Christ? What do you think of the work of the Lord Jesus? The cross, was it enough? Was it enough for your sin? Listen, God says it was enough. God declared it when He raised Him from the dead on the third day. That was God's stamp of approval.

For the sinner, the work of Christ is enough. I'm delighted. I'm satisfied with that.

Too bad tonight you couldn't be satisfied with that work. Because God's not going to accept anything else. Oh, you might be satisfied with something else, but if it's not what satisfies God, you'll be lost.

But tonight, you don't have to search around to find what satisfies God. The Word of God declares it. Paul declared it.

We preach Christ and Him crucified. The work of Christ is all you need. The work of Christ is the only thing He'll accept.

Trust you'll accept them, even as the meeting continues.