Why the Cross?
Meditations on the Cross

Transcript

Good morning, church! It’s good to see all of you here this morning. We're beginning a new series today entitled, “Meditations On the Cross.” This is a series that will answer several important questions about the cross of Christ.

I suppose the first question is, “Why do we need the cross?” Why do we need the message of the cross? It is because a lot of people today don't really understand the need for it. They don't understand the message of the cross.

In R. J. Neuhous’ book, “Death On A Friday Afternoon,” he writes a book that contemplates the crucifixion. Dr. Neuhous asked this question. He says, “Why is it that this One had to die, why is it that His dying is for us death's death, why is it that His open tomb opens for every last child of earth the door to tomorrows without end?” Why indeed? Why the cross? You see, as he writes in his book, there are many who have said, “We just don't get the cross.” One young lady quit Christianity in favor of the New Age empowerment movement. This is what she says, “I was sick and tired of all that talk about blood and suffering. I wanted a positive spirituality.” Another business woman said, “My problem is with the cross, why Jesus had to die, this whole business about sacrifice and blood. I just don’t get it.” I guess a lot of people today “just don't get it.”

Sometime ago, there was a Newsweek cover story entitled “Visions of Jesus: How Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists View Him.” Kenneth Woodward, author of the article, found that people of every faith found something to admire about Jesus. The Jews find a good rabbi to debate the Torah with, the Muslims see the “Isa ibn Maryam— Jesus, theson of Mary, the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur’an.” They even defend His virgin birth and believe in His future return to defeat the Antichrist. The Hindus admire His “god-consciousness.” The Buddhists see Him as the spiritual brother of the Buddha, a perfectly enlightened being who vows to help others attain enlightenment.” They see much to admire in Jesus, but Woodard goes on to say that even though they're united in their admiration, they “just don't get” the cross.

He writes this, “Clearly, the cross is what separates the Christ of Christianity from every other Jesus. In Judaism there is no precedent for a Messiah who dies, much less as a criminal as Jesus did. In Islam, the story of Jesus’ death is rejected as an affront to Allah himself. Hindus can accept only a Jesus who passes into peaceful samadhi, a yogi who escapes the degradation of death. The figure of the crucified Christ, says Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh, ‘is a very painful image to me. It does not contain joy or peace, and this does not do justice to Jesus.’ Woodard says, “There is, in short, no room in other religions for a Christ who experiences the full burden of mortal existence.”

There's no room for the cross of Christ in these other religions. It's the cross that becomes the crux of the problem or the power that leads people to salvation. That's what we're talking about today.

How about you? How do you view the cross? Do you understand how the cross provides the sacrifice, the atonement necessary, to pay for our sins? As we look at this, do you see it as God's intervention into human history in order to rescue mankind? Do you recognize that the message of the cross is the centerpiece of the whole Bible? That's what we're talking about today.

In the apostle Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth, he explained why the message of the cross of Christ was crucial to their salvation. By the way, the word, “crucial,” was aptly chosen in our study this week. The word, “crucial,” has the same root word for “crucifixion.” So the cross is crucial to this discussion of how it's crucial to our salvation.

As we look at the text today, I think we'll see three reasons why it's so crucial to our salvation. Let's look at the text:

1 Corinthians 1:17-25 (ESV) 17 “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save thosewho believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” This is God's word. Amen.

THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS CRUCIAL TO OUR SALVATION…

1. Because it reveals the terrible nature of our sin.

The image of the cross of Christ crucified reveals to us his suffering in the ugliness, if you would, of the cross. We see the ugliness and the terrible nature of humanity's sin. Dr. Jack Graham says, “Flee from sin and recognize its ugliness by looking at the cross of Christ.”

Let's look at the first couple of verses. We read verses 17 and 18. Paul spoke to the church at Corinth. He said, 17 “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. Now, the truth is that Paul did baptize people. He's saying, in contrast, that he's not anti-baptism. He's saying that his real purpose is to preach the gospel of believing; then you're baptized. The reason I came to you Corinthians, the reason I was commissioned was to preach the gospel, which is the good news. He was determined not to preach it with eloquence, but with words of power. He was being accused by some as not being that eloquent; some lifted up a preacher named Apollos, who apparently was more well versed in the Greek way of preaching. The Corinthians were very much into the Greek learned people, the ones who had this great oratory. Paul said, ‘I didn't come that way. I came determined to preach the simplicity of the cross and to tell you the story of how Jesus died for your sins.’ That was his commission, not to come with eloquence of worldly wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

In other words, Paul is saying, ‘I don't want you to remember how great of a speaker I am. What I want you to remember is how great Jesus is; that He died on the cross for our sins. I don't want to distract you from the cross by human wisdom because that would empty the message of its power. It would cause it to be in vain.’

May I say to you, I haven't preached, no preacher of the gospel has preached, unless he's preached the cross. No preacher has preached unless he's preached Christ crucified, Who died for our sins and was raised again on the third day. This is preaching; otherwise, we're only just talking.

Paul says, ‘When I preach, I always make sure I preach the cross of Christ.’ This is the centrality of the message of Christianity.

Paul goes on in verse 18 and says, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Who are those that are perishing? It's everyone who has not believed in Jesus; they've not repented of their sins as a result of hearing the message of the cross. They've not given their life to Jesus

Death is already at work in us; it's already at work in us. From the time we're born, we're already separated from the father by sin and then over time our bodies start declining. Death is already at work in us. For those who are perishing without salvation, the message of the cross makes no sense. It's foolishness; it's like folly. But, in contrast to those that are being saved, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The Greek word for power is “dunamis;” it's where we get the word “dynamic” or “dynamo.” This message of the cross is the kind of power that can save you. The first way that it comes at us, the first way the message of the cross is perceived, is its ugliness. We don't want to look at it because if we really look at it and see it for what it is, we see a reflection in the mirror of our own sin. We see the result of our sin. We see the suffering; we see the woundedness. We see the details of it all. We see how terrible it is. The message of the cross is not aimed at the head but at the heart. It's aimed at a heart response that says, ‘I see my sin on that cross. Jesus became my sin. He took my sin.’ You see, it wasn't the nails that held Him there. It was my sin. It was your sin that nailed him there, that held him there.

As we look at the scripture, we see that Paul writes this in Galatians 3:13 (NLT) “But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Jesus took sin's curse. He took our sin.

1 Peter 2:24 (NIV) “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 2 Corinthians 5:2121 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Some years ago, a movie was about to come out by Mel Gibson entitled, “The Passion Of The Christ.” How many of you have seen that movie ? It's hard to watch it more than once, isn't it? It really is hard to watch for a second time. It's one thing to read about the crucifixion in the Bible. It's one thing to hear a preacher talk about it, but to see it depicted in such a way yet, even in that depiction, I think it still falls short of its reality of the terrible nature of it.

I was one of the pastors that was invited to preview the movie. I received an invitation for two people, so my wife and I flew up there three months before the movie was released. Mel Gibson appeared at a church in Chicago, Illinois. They had not put music to it yet and they had not put the subtitles yet because if you'll recall, it was in Aramaic; it was in Latin and Hebrew. The actors were speaking in the original languages ; later, they added subtitles and music. We saw it in an unedited, raw form. We got to hear Mel Gibson interviewed and talk about it. Then, we watched the movie. We were there with about one thousand pastors and spouses.

When the movie got to those parts and you know the parts that I'm talking about, there was a sound of weeping in the room. There was no music. It was what was happening and the sounds of what was happening – the sounds of the cat-o'-nine-tails, the sounds of the hammer, the sounds of the wailing…those kinds of sounds. I started hearing people cry. I don't think I've ever felt the way that I felt. I started crying. My wife was crying. I looked up; I'm telling you, the weeping was all in the room. It was as if we were there. We saw what our Savior took because that's what sin looks like . If you want to know what sin looks like, look at the cross.

Do you know what sin is? It brings suffering; it brings death. It brings all of the darkest things you can imagine. That's what we see when we look at the cross because God poured out his judgment on Jesus. This was done so that He could pour out His love and righteousness on me. What we see on the cross is that God turned his back on His own son and poured out His judgment on Him. He took my death. He took my separation. He took my sin.

Look there at the physical pain of His suffering. Look at the wounds. Look at all that was done to Him. Do you see what sin brings you? Why is there suffering in the world? Why is there difficulty and why is there so much disruption and discouragement? It's because of sin. Sin always brings suffering. Sin always brings death. Then, notice the separation that we feel from God. The distance that we feel from God apart from Christ. That's what sin does. It creates a gulf of separation between humanity and God and then, there's the death that it brings.

Look there at the cross. Would you look, afresh, and see the betrayal of the one named Judas who sold out his Savior? Would you look there and see the injustice of the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate who attempted to wash his hands of His injustice? He said, ‘The blood's not on my hands,” but it surely was. Look there and see the foolishness of the rioting crowd who perhaps among them, many of them had been there waving palm branches on Sunday, but on Friday, they're shouting, ‘Give us Barabbas! Give us the criminal instead of the Savior.’ Look there at the Jewish leaders who had rejected their Messiah saying, “Crucify him, crucify him.” They hated that Roman practice, but yet, they wanted it for Jesus. Look there and see the sadistic bent of the Roman soldiers who applied their trade of humiliation, mockery, torture and execution. Look at the ugliness at the terrible nature of our sin; look there and see it on the cross. Look there and see my sin; look there and see your sin.

This is how the cross should affect us. It should show us what we would be without Him. But, He took it so we don't have to. The cross comes, first of all, shattering our self righteousness, shattering our self image and saying, ‘No. This should have been you, but no, He took it.’ This is how the message of the cross begins.

THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS CRUCIAL TO OUR SALVATION…

2. Because it reveals the powerful love of our Savior.

The cross, although ugly,is beautiful because it reveals the powerful love of our Savior. This is the second reason that we need the message of the cross as the centerpiece of Christianity. It's the part that disrupts because first of all, it's so ugly, but second of all, it's so beautiful because He says, ‘I love you this much. How much do I love you? I love you this much.’ Our sins kept Him there, not the nails. His love kept Him there.

The night before Jesus was betrayed, He prayed, “Father, is there any way this cup could pass from me? Yet, not my will but yours be done.: He saw what was coming. He came as a lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. He knew why He was there.

We're in verse 19 and following. We have a quotation here from the prophet Isaiah, who had prophesied that the people, during the Messiah's day, would not get the kind of message from the Messiah that they would understand. That there would be difficulty in understanding it. It says,
Isaiah 29:14, “destroys the wisdom of the wise, “ which quotes verse, For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” The message of the cross was unexpected and Isaiah prophesied concerning this.

Then , we see Paul asking four rhetorical questions in a row in verse 20, “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

“Where is the one who's wise?” You're wise in the world? Where are you? “Where is the scribe?” A scribe was a Hebrew who moved the scripture over to a new scroll. A Hebrew scribe would copy over scripture over to a new scroll. He would do it one word at a time; he didn't make a mistake. He would mark his place and then he would say, “Shalom.” He would move on and when he got to the name of God, he would do it one letter at a time. The precision was so incredible that even to this day, when we look at the Dead Sea Scrolls that were written and preserved hundreds of years, even before Christ, we see almost every “jot and tittle” in perfect place. There were no copyists in those days. There were no copy machines and there were no books. There were only scrolls and the scribes were responsible for the writing of them. So, that's what a scribe was. As a result, the scribe would have become an expert and he would have memorized the scripture. He would also be like a teacher. Paul is concerned that they forgot to read Isaiah 53, where it describes the crucifixion of the Messiah. Did they forget to read Psalm 22:1, which tells us what the Messiah will say on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” “Where is the debater of this age?”

Then, he answers the three questions with another question– “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” You see, that's what the message of the cross does. It makes worldly wisdom look foolish here. Here's what your sin looks like. I know you don't want to look at it. I know you're hiding your eyes. Here's what it looks like, but here's what God's love looks like.

Here's what God's love looks like – It makes foolish the wisdom of this world because it aims not at the head but at the heart. It aims at the heart issue. He says, 21 “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”

Paul says in Romans 1 that we have evidence that there is a God from just looking at creation. If you read Romans 1, he says that we should be able to tell, so that we're without excuse, that the creation itself points to a Creator. We can know certain character traits about God by looking at creation. We can see that He's all powerful, He loves beauty and that He's good. We can see evidence.

Theologians call this “general revelation.” General revelation is this: everyone has this so that no one is without excuse. We all have general revelation that God has revealed Himself to us through that which He has made.

Paul is speaking of specific revelation here; he's saying that worldly wisdom won't get you this. The message of the cross is necessary because it's “specific revelation.” You need a preacher to preach it. You need to hear the gospel; the gospel must be preached, it must be declared and then, the one who hears it has the response that the Holy Spirit puts in them to believe it. 21 “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” If you think about it, the King James version actually says, “through the foolishness of preaching.”

Have you ever thought about what you're doing right now? You got up, you took showers, you got ready, you drove all the way here. You've been singing together now. You're sitting here listening to me, watching me wave my arms and talk to you. There's a kind of foolishness to it. If you're not a believer, if you're not one who's born again, you wonder, Why do you all do this every Sunday morning? It's kind of foolish. The world thinks that it's foolishness, but you don't. You don’t because you love the Word; you love the message of the cross.

We're forgetful people, so we need to be reminded at least weekly. We need to be reminded because we start taking the cross for granted. We've heard it over and over again. The challenge for me, as a preacher, is to preach the cross in such a way that you and I are fully reminded, down to the depths of our hearts. We're not forgetful about it; we remember what Christ has done and we remember that He loves us. It was His love that kept Him there. It was His love that caused Him to come to earth.It was Christ's powerful love.

Jesus says in John 15:13 (ESV), “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” If you want to see love, look at the cross. Look at the cross. It might be foolishness to the world, but it's the power of God and salvation.

One of my favorite verses is Romans 5:8 (NIV) “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” If you want to see God's love, look at the cross. That's what God says, ‘If you want to see My love, look at the cross.’ It's both horrible and beautiful to behold.

1 John 4:10 (NLT) “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” This is real love that you want to see; this is authentic love. It's not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son, as a sacrifice, to take away our sins. That's love. That's sacrificial love.

If you want to see love, see Jesus; He died in your place. Look there and behold, look there and listen. His words were, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The Jewish leaders said to Him, “You saved others now, save yourself and prove that You're the Messiah.” They mocked Him. The Romans beat Him with the Cat O’ Nine Tails so terribly that most men would have died just from that; those Romans crushed down on his head, the crown of thorns. Those Romans nailed His hands and His feet. Yet, Jesus cries out, “Father forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.” What love.

This is kind of thing that a parent would say of a child who had harmed the parent. Even more than that, I can't visualize it. I want Him to come down and do something about it, don't you? Worldly wisdom says, ‘Come down off of that cross and bust people in the mouth.’ That's worldly wisdom. We want a king who rules and judges, but don’t judge me. Judge those people out there that are doing wrong, but be good to me. I'm on your team, I'm on the “Jesus” team. That's who we want. We want somebody who scores the touchdown. We want somebody who wins the game. We don't want someone who humbly keeps quiet when He's accused, who forgives when He's tortured. This is not the hero that worldly wisdom calls for, nor is it the wisdom that Greeks imagine in philosophy. It’s not the power that the Jews expected.

Then Jesus says to the thief on the side. Before, the two thieves were mocking Him. But then, something happened. Perhaps this thief over to Jesus’ right heard Him say, “Father, forgive them” and he had a change of heart. He's hanging on the cross and he asks Jesus, “Master, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Here's Jesus; He's dying on the cross, but His love causes Him to minister to the criminal on the other cross. You or I would say, ‘I have my own stuff going on over here. I'm sorry. But I got my own stuff.’ No, not Jesus; He was there for the criminal. Jesus says to him, “Truly, I say to you. This very day you will be with Me in paradise.”

I heard a preacher talk about this recently. He said of that thief, that he appears in heaven after he dies and the angels are there at the front of the pearly gates. The angels ask him , “So, why are you here?” The criminal says, “I really don't know.” The angels ask him, “Can you explain to me the doctrine of justification?” He says, “I've never heard of it.” The angels ask him, “Can you explain the doctrine of salvation, you've been saved through faith.” He says to them, “These are big words. I don't know these words.” Finally, they ask him, “Well, how did you get here?” The criminal says this, “The man on the cross told me I could come.”

That's the only way to be made right with God. It won't be your good works. Isaiah 64:6, “All of us have become like one who is unclean,. and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;” Our righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord. There's no scale up in heaven, that's got our good stuff o on one side and our bad stuff on the other. That's not how you go to heaven. The way you go to heaven is , is only through the message of the cross. There has to be this answer, “The man on the cross told me I could come.” There has to be one named Jesus Who invites you into the kingdom. There's only one way and it's through His love and through His sacrifice. Look there and see it.

While Jesus is hanging there, on the cross, He looks down at his feet and He sees his mother, Mary weeping. We hear these words, “Woman, behold your son.” Next to her is the apostle John, the one called “John, the beloved.” Jesus says to John, “Son, behold your mother.” Here's Jesus dying on the cross and he's making provision for his mother. This is Jesus; this is his love. He cares about the little details. He's not overlooking a thing.

Then. we hear Him cry out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” as He takes our separation. He loved us so much that he would “hit the pause button” between His continuous relationship with His father, which had been from eternity past, so that we could know the Father. Such love displayed on the cross. Look here and see. Look here and listen to the cross.

THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS CRUCIAL TO OUR SALVATION…

3. Because it reveals the only way for our salvation.

Here is the final reason – It's because the message of the cross reveals the only way for our salvation. It reveals the only way for our salvation. We're in these final verses, 22 and following, 22 “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

Verse 22, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,” Now to be fair to the Jews, they were looking for some powerful sign. They’ve grown accustomed to it. Read the Old Testament. They had ten plagues. They saw the parting of the Red Sea. They ate the bread from heaven, called Manna. They had all these stories, so they were thinking that the Messiah should come like that. Never mind the fact that Jesus had been performing miracles for His entire ministry that they did not believe in, but the Jews were looking for a fresh sign. They were looking for a particular sign. He said that an adulterous generation, an evil generation looks for a sign. The only sign I'm going to give you is the sign of Jonah, who was in the belly of the fish for three days. That's the only side I'm going to give you. So, they were looking for signs.

The Greeks were seeking wisdom. They had Socrates; they had these Greek philosophers. The Corinthians, especially, wanted to be like Athens; they lived in Wilson, but they wanted to be more like Raleigh. They were trying to live up to something; they wanted to be more Greek than they were. So, Paul's writing to the church at Corinth. He’s telling them, ‘I know you Greeks. I know you want me to speak with a special oratory and to have this high Greek way of speaking, but the thing I'm going to give you is the cross because that's the wisdom and the power of God.’

Verse 23, “but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,” This was a problem for the Jews because they're looking for signs. Those words, “stumbling block,” in the Greek are where we get the word, “scandal,” “skandalon” in the Greek. The cross was scandalous; the crucifixion of Jesus was scandalous. It was a curse. It was a stumbling block to the Jew and it was foolishness to the Gentiles. It was folly to them because it didn't make any sense.

Whenever Paul was up there preaching to the church at Athens, he attracted a crowd. They had all kinds of idols because the Athenians loved new things. The scripture says that they loved new things; they loved whatever is new. Paul looked around, he saw an idol to the unknown God. He said, ‘Hey, come, I'm going to preach to you. I know about the unknown God.’ He began to preach Christ, Him crucified and raised from the grave. They listened to him; they wanted to hear it. They gathered the crowd to listen. They listened until he got to the part about the resurrection. Some left, but some stayed and some believed.

The Athenians loved new information. They were intellectuals but, they were skeptics. They had questions, but they really weren't interested in the answers. To them, it was foolishness. To those the message of the cross calls to their heart, they heard the message of the cross, but couldn’t make sense of it. It was disturbing to them.

Paul says, 24 “but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” He, Himself, is the power of God. He is the sign of God. He is the wisdom of God. He is the message of God, Christ and Him crucified. This is what Paul says.

Then, he says something in conclusion here, in verse 25, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” If you were looking at a scale, here is the greatest power imaginable and then whatever is beyond that, that's what God has. But, if you look at the whole scale, like the weakest thing about God and then, the most powerful thing about man is over here. The weakness of God is greater than the strength of man.

If you look at the wisdom of God, God has no foolishness. But if it were there on a scale, it's still wiser than mankind's wisdom. Paul is basically saying that the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

John Chrysostom, an early church father, was looking at this; he said that the message of the cross gives mankind the opposite of what they expected. They were looking for some intellectual thing. They were looking for some powerful thing and instead, they got this simple, meek message of Jesus, who died for our sins on the cross of Calvary. Believe this; believe that He died for your sins. He was raised on the third day and lives today. Believe this, by faith and by grace. Through faith, you will be saved.

This is the simple message in Colossians, we read, Colossians 1:19-21 (NLT) 19 “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.” He made peace by His blood.

We offer the Lord's Supper on Sunday mornings at the end of every service. It is because we're forgetful people; we take of the bread, which represents His body crucified for our sins and we drink from the cup which represents His blood, shed for our sins. Why do we do it over and over again? Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me and whenever you do it, you proclaim My death until I return .” We identify with it because we see our sins paid for. We see His love demonstrated and we see it as the only way to be right with God.

Look and see how He finishes His act on the cross. He says, “It is finished.” He presses up and he pulls up on the nails. He catches his breath and says, “It is finished,” which could be translated, “paid in full.” ‘I've done it. I've paid for your sins. I've accomplished what God the Father sent Me here to do.’ Then, He gave up His spirit. No one could take His life from him. He gave it up willingly. He gave up His spirit. “It is finished.” This is the only way. This is the message.

Can you imagine this for a second? Imagine if there were multiple ways to be made right with God. If there were many paths to salvation. What a horrific God we would have that He would have his Son die in our place on a cruel cross if it were only one of many options, No, my friend, there's only one way and it's by the cross. There's only one way. There's only one way and it's through Jesus, Who died on the cross for our sins, was buried and was raised again on the third day. This is the gospel. This is the good news. See, the horror of it. See the beauty of it. See the single option that's given to us through Jesus.

Peter preached this message at Pentecost. We see it in Acts chapter two; He said, Acts 2:36-41 NIV) “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard it, the scripture says that they were “cut to the heart.” They said,
“Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Does it cut you to the heart like it did them when they heard that they crucified Jesus? Peter said to save yourselves from this corrupt generation and believe. It said in the scriptures here, about three thousand people believed on that day of Pentecost.

The message of the cross is the only way that offers the gift of eternal life. It's the message of the cross that divides from all other religions who look at Jesus, even those who are skeptical that look and say, ‘Well, He's a good person. He's a good teacher.’ But it demolishes that the cross is the crux of the message of our salvation.

Let's look again at the cross and see who we see there. We see the Jewish accusers, the leaders. We see the Roman guards, we see Mary, the mother of Jesus, Martha and another Mary. We see John the beloved at the foot of the cross with the women. We see the crowds gathered around to see Him crucified. Look, look there. Who else do you see there?

Mahalia Jackson, that great spiritual leader, wrote a song, ”Were You There?” “Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”

I was there. It was my sin that put Him there and it was yours that put Him there. Oh, behold the cross. Why do we need it? It's the only way to salvation. Oh, see the terrible nature of it. Behold the beauty of His love bestowed upon us there. Oh, we need the cross. Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross? Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb? Were you there when the stone was rolled away? I was. Were you, by faith?

Let's pray, Lord Jesus. I pray, first of all, for that person that's here that would give their life to You today. Today would be the day that the message of the cross called to their heart and they're ready to say “yes.” Is that you, my friend? Right where you're at, right in your seat, without delay, pray with me. Let's do business with the Lord right now. Pray like this: ‘Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner, but I want to turn away from my former life. I want to repent of my sin and turn to You. I believe that You died on the cross for me. I believe that You paid for my sins, that You were buried and that You were raised again on the third day. I believe that. I place my faith, my trust in You as my Lord and Savior. Adopt me into Your family. I want to be a child of God. I want to follow You as my Lord and Savior for the rest of my days. If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing in your heart, He'll save you and He'll adopt you. Your life will begin anew today . Maybe you're here today and you know this certainty of following Jesus. You've followed the message of the cross and believed it, but today, you need encouragement. You need to be reminded. You've become forgetful. Lord, forgive us when we're forgetful of what You did. Forgive us, Lord, when we forget to tell others, that somehow we think it's a lesser message than other new messages. It's this old message, it's this sure message that has the power to save. Lord, help us to go and tell others now about this message of the cross. In Jesus’ name. Amen.