Centrality of the Cross

The Centrality of the Cross in Scripture and Salvation

0:00 Now, since today is a Communion Sunday, and since one can never speak too frequently on the theme of Christ crucified, in the early hours of this morning I just gathered some thoughts together for a Communion meditation that I trust God will bless to our own edification. Will you follow as I read several portions of the Word of God to set the framework for our meditation in the Scriptures this morning? 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I shall read verse 18, verses 23 and 4, and then chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. 1 Corinthians 1, 18.

0:51 For the preaching, or the word, the message of the cross is to the... unto them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.

1:04 Verse 23. But we preach Christ crucified unto Jews a stumbling block, and unto Gentiles foolishness, but unto them that are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Chapter 2, verses 1 to 2. And I, brethren, when I...

1:26 When I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And then Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14, familiar text to many of us. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14.

1:54 But far be it from me... ...to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

2:09 And the final text, the very familiar one, found in the Apostolic Directive for the conducting of the Lord's Supper, 1 Corinthians 11, 26. As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth...

2:25 Literally, you do preach. ...the Lord's death till he come.

2:32 Now, what is the common denominator of these texts of Scripture which I have read without comment? I have made no effort to expound them. I have simply read them in your hearing. Have you caught the common denominator in all of them?

2:48 Well, if you have, then right now you're thinking, at least in this ballpark of thought, that these verses... All of them speak of the centrality of the cross in the Apostolic message and the centrality of the cross in Biblical mentality.

3:11 The very message of the Gospel is described by the Apostle as the word of the cross. Now, it contains something more than the mere delineation of the fact and the implications of the cross of Christ, but so central...

3:29 So dominant is the cross of Christ that the little phrase, the cross of Christ, can be a synonym for the essence of the Gospel. Likewise, the Apostle indicates that he was self-conscious of preaching in such a way that Jesus Christ and him as crucified was the central point of his preaching. And then, as a mature Christian, he found that his point...

3:59 his point of glorying, as he thought of all that was his in Christ and all of that which had become his, his point of glorying is nothing but the cross. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. And then, when our Lord gave to us this memorial feast, this supper of remembrance, he indicated that central to our thinking, central to our meditation, central to the spiritual activities of eating and drinking, was to be his cross. He did show the Lord's death till he came.

4:37 It is proper, therefore, to assert that if you are ever to be saved, you will be saved if God is pleased to open to your mind and heart the mystery of the cross. Unless God opens to your mind and heart the mystery of the cross, you will never be saved. Do you hear me, children? You can hear about Jesus living, dying, being buried and raised from the dead until gray hairs adorn your temples, but unless God is pleased to open up the mystery of the cross, you will never be saved.

5:17 For as we read in 1 Corinthians 1, this message that to the natural man is stumbling block in foolishness is to those who are effectually called of God, the very means by which the power of God unto salvation is operative in their lives. Likewise, it is right to assert that we as Christians grow in grace and knowledge only as we grow in appreciation of the significance and centrality of the cross of Christ. The word of God makes plain that it is at the cross alone that sin-laden sinners find rest from the burden upon their backs, and it is at the cross that the weary pilgrim pressing on his way to the celestial city finds refreshment in his journey. And so, in order to focus our minds upon some elementary aspects of the biblical doctrine of the cross of Christ, I want to ask and then answer several questions this morning. I shall use the old Greek method of instruction by the asking and the answering of questions, but remember, this is not the adult class. Please do not raise your hand or respond verbally when I ask the question.

Question 1: What Does 'The Cross of Christ' Mean?

6:39 These are rhetorical questions. That is, they are questions aimed at catching your mind and riveting your attention upon the issues at hand. Now, the first question is this, and I want you kids to follow me, because I've had you in my mind as I've prepared. You have every reason to wonder, what in the world do Mommy and Daddy do when they go to Communion?

7:00 Why do they break the bread and drink of the fruit of the vine? What's the purpose of all of this? Well, you have a right to ask the question and you have a right to have an answer. And your pastor is going to attempt to answer those questions this morning.

7:14 And question number one is this, what does the Scripture mean, or what do the Scriptures mean, when they speak of the cross of Christ? You will remember in the passage, in 1 Corinthians 1, we had this phrase, the preaching of the cross. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ. Now, what does that phrase, the cross of Christ, mean?

7:46 Well, negatively, it is not referring to a mere ideal or a religious symbol. It is not referring to the original hunk of wood upon which the form of the Son of God was pinioned. It is not referring to any replica of the same. It is not referring to something that people hang around the neck or put on the top of their church buildings and chapels and cathedrals.

8:19 When the Scripture says the preaching of the cross is foolishness, the preaching of the cross is the power of God, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross, it is referring to the historical fact of the putting to death of Jesus of Nazareth. It is referring to the death that He died as a common criminal under the Roman authority. In the words of the old so-called Apostles' Creed, the death that He died under Pontius Pilate. And so when the Scripture speaks of the cross, it is speaking of the fact and the significance of the cruel, shameful, painful death, a death surrounded by strange phenomena, strange circumstances, a shrouded heavens, the piercing cry of the agony of the one who died, and then His strange death. Instead of dying in weakness, there is a shout of triumph. It is finished, and He yields up His spirit. When the Scripture says the preaching of the cross, it means nothing more or less than the setting forth of the fact of the death of Jesus of Nazareth

9:44 somewhere outside the city walls of Jerusalem, pinioned upon a Roman instrument of execution. It is speaking of the declaration of those facts and the biblical interpretation of the meaning of those facts. The message of the cross is essentially those two things. The proclamation of the fact of that death in time and space, a real death of a real person on a real hunk of real estate, in the real world, not a religious symbol, not something that by degrees and bits and pieces has accumulated to itself wonderful significance, but has no real roots in the world that is there. If you had been there the day He died, you could have had your fingers wet with the blood that dripped from His open wounds. You could have heard the cry, you could have seen with your eyes the blackened heavens, shrouded in darkness at noonday. And so when we ask the question, what do the words of the scriptures mean when they say the word of the cross, the answer is they are referring to the fact of the death of Jesus of Nazareth and the biblical interpretation

Question 2: Who Was This Jesus of Nazareth?

11:09 of the meaning of those facts. Now the second question is this. Who was this Jesus of Nazareth who was put to death? If the word of the cross is the proclamation, the declaration of the fact that He died and the meaning of that death, then we cannot avoid the question, who was this Jesus of Nazareth to make His death the death that was experienced by thousands of criminals under the Roman Empire?

11:46 What makes the declaration of the one death of that one man the one means by which God will rescue sinners for all of time? Well, we've got to ask the question, what makes His death so special? The answer, of course, is found in the fact that the person who died is special. Who was this Jesus of Nazareth who was put to death?

12:13 That's the question that was asked in the hymn that we sang this morning. Who is this? Behold Him shedding drops of blood upon the ground. Who is this?

12:26 Despised, rejected, mocked, insulted, beaten, bound. Who is this? Hanging, dying, while the rude world scoffs and scorns, numbered with the malefactors, torn with nails, and crowned with thorns. Who is this?

12:45 Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? And the answer of the word of God from this very epistle, in the very context from which we've quoted these other verses, is that He is nothing less than the Lord of glory. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 8. As the apostle unfolds the theme of heavenly wisdom that gathers around the head of Christ crucified, he says it is just this wisdom that the wise men of the world know nothing of.

13:19 Verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 2, we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory, which none of the rulers of this world hath known. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Who was put to death upon that instrument of punishment, the cross? It was the Lord of glory.

13:51 That is, the Lord who has surrounding His throne, His person, all the ineffable glory of the Godhead. The one who could pray in John 17, saying, Father, give me that glory that I had with Thee before the world once. And glory in that setting is nothing less than the outshining of the perfections of deity. As the rays of the sun are its glory, the outshining of its perfection, so the glory of God is the bursting forth of His perfection.

14:31 And the Scripture says in answer to the question, Who was this Jesus of Nazareth? He was the Lord of glory. In the words of Philippians chapter 2, He was the one who, existing in the very form of God, sharing the essence of God, was willing to humble himself and not negate his deity. But the Scripture says that he humbled himself taking.

15:03 Deity took something it never had before. But deity did not cease to be deity. He took to himself a true humanity. He never relinquished his deity.

15:16 He voluntarily relinquished certain prerogatives and rights of his deity. But he did not relinquish his deity. It was the Lord of glory. The glory who was put to death in the integrity of his manhood and his true deity.

15:36 That's why the Apostle can say to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 and verse 28, Take care of the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. It was the blood of God. Does that phrase sound strange to your ears? It's biblical.

15:56 It was the blood of God. It spilled from the veins of that one who hung upon that instrument of execution. Who was this Jesus of Nazareth who was put to death? The eternal Word made flesh.

16:11 The one who assumed a true humanity. The man Christ Jesus as we heard him described in 1 Timothy chapter 2 this morning. And so bringing all the biblical materials together the answer to the question who was this Jesus is the answer. He was the God-man.

16:32 The eternal Word who was God and was with God who became flesh. And so when we think of the cross of Christ we must never think of the cross apart from the dignity of the person who hung upon it. The preaching of the cross is God's instrument of life and salvation. But it is not the proclamation of the facts of the death of Jesus of Nazareth divorced from the biblical materials as to the identity of Jesus of Nazareth.

17:05 He is the Word made flesh. And it is the preaching of the eternal Word made flesh dying upon that cross that is the instrument of salvation. So we have two questions. What does the scripture mean when it speaks of the cross?

17:22 The answer it's the fact of the death of Jesus of Nazareth and the interpretation of those facts by the scriptures. Who was it that actually died? Who was this Jesus of Nazareth? He is the God-man Christ Jesus.

Question 3: Why Did the God-Man Die?

17:38 Well then the third question is pressed upon our consciences unavoidably. If he is identified as God and if Jesus of Nazareth actually died why was he there? Why should God die? Why should the God-man die?

17:58 Well to state it negatively it was not for any crimes or sin in his own person. And one of the most fascinating studies in Holy Scripture is to see how the vindication of the sinlessness of Christ comes from every single dimension of the universe. It comes first of all from the Father who alone knows the hearts and could say this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. I see nothing that causes one twitch of my eyebrow no wrinkle upon my brow everything I behold in my Son pleases me.

18:39 The holy eternal God I see reflected in my own beloved Son the perfect image of my own holy nature and character which he shares with me. This is my Son my beloved in whom I am well pleased. The vindication of the sinlessness also came from those that were closest to him. It's amazing how some people have sterling character from a distance but don't put them under the heat of close relationship because the dross begins to boil to the surface.

19:13 But those that were closest to him saw him when he was weary and that's when the worst of us comes out in some of us. When we're tired and worn and weary and demands are upon us day and night his own disciples saw him under that kind of pressure rudely awakened from sleep rudely kept from normal rest interrupted in the midst of a desire to retreat and to recoup his powers and faculties and the multitudes outrace him to the place of his retreat and seeing the multitudes moved with compassion. What do these closest associates say? Peter one of them who did knows the vindication comes from heaven in the literary words of the father. The vindication comes from his most intimate associates they declared him to be without sin. Ah, but someone says the case could be pretty well rigged by his followers who want to promote his cause and therefore gloss over his character like the biographer who's so enamored with the object of his biography that he has a blind eye to his faults and only sees his virtues but ah my friend listen God wrung from the lips of the least likely people a total vindication of the perfect innocence of Jesus of Nazareth.

20:38 Listen, who betrayed him? Judas, Judas I venture to say in this congregation this morning almost every well known Bible name has been stuck on some male here this morning we have our Johns and our Peters and our Thomases but we have no Judases the very mention of the name of all that is evil and wicked and what was Judas his last public act? What was his last public act? A vindication of the sinlessness of the Son of God.

21:16 He runs into the temple, throws down his filthy thirty pieces of silver and says I have betrayed innocent who gave him up to die. Pilate, what was his last public act? He washes his hands and said I am clear of the blood of this innocent man. Rough cursing soldiers whose eyes have almost become blind to moral excellence after they have done their wicked deed and put him to death they see and they listen and there is wrung from that soldier this confession surely this was the Son of God. You see how the vindication of his innocence comes from every quarter from the Father from his most intimate associates from those who would have the most reason even down to the Jews who cried for his blood at every level his innocence is declared for it says they had to conjure up false witnesses and they had no time to even get them together to get their stories to agree and what do they reach for as a last

22:44 straw? Oh this man said he destroyed a temple and built it in three days. Is that all you can find? When you want to put a man to death?

22:55 Bring forth your best evidence and that's a tacit admission we have none his innocence is overwhelming. But why was he there then? If a Roman cross is the place where common malefactors, where common criminals die a cruel and shameful public death where they are hung in nakedness before the rude stare of the inquisitive mob while Judas the betrayer speaks of his innocence while Pilate the official who delivers him to death declares his innocence while the Jews who stir up the mob to cry for his blood indirectly acknowledge his innocence why is he there? My friend listen carefully he is not there for any crimes done in his person he is there because of the crimes that are charged to him in his position and unless you catch that distinction you'll miss the whole message of the cross in his person innocent his innocence declared from every court of witness from the father to his bitterest enemies but in his position he is guilty there rests upon him the just condemnation

24:23 of a guilty criminal because though in his person he is innocent in his position he is guilty he deserves to die he must die for what is his position? the bible says he goes to the cross and to the death thereof as the second Adam he is called the last Adam in first Corinthians chapter 15 and the significance of that phrase is opened up in detail in the apostle in Romans 5 verses 12 to 21 and if you desire to have any understanding of the message of the cross study frequently meditate deeply upon Romans 5 12 to 21 for it is the core of the whole perspective that I'm attempting to convey this morning God says in this section of the word that he deals with the human race in terms of two great representatives Adam and Jesus Christ and the one is the figure of the other the pattern of God's dealings with the one is the pattern of God's dealings with the other when Adam was created and was placed in the garden in his person

25:51 he was not only Adam the individual but in his position he was Adam the head of the whole human race and God initiated an arrangement in which if Adam stood we all would stand in him and if Adam fell we would all fall in him that's the essence of the teaching of Romans 5 wherefore as through one man sin entered into the world and death passed upon all men for that all sinned and he uses an aorist tense all sinned in the one act of Adam's sin because he stood as the covenant the representative head of the entire human race now the Lord Jesus as the second Adam the last Adam his position upon the cross is not that of the innocent person that he was in himself he is there upon the cross in his position as the head of his people he is there in his position as the covenant head of all who will come to be loved by him and you will not understand the gospel records unless you catch hold of that thread of biblical revelation for there is that awareness

27:17 in the ministry of our Lord that all that he does he is doing in the behalf of a distinct body of people he calls them in John 10 his sheep the good shepherd he says lays down his life for the sheep the son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many he is conscious that in his position he is standing in the place in the room in the stead of his people and this concept alone does justice to such great prophecies as Isaiah 53 where it speaks of the suffering servant of Jehovah who has a seed and on behalf of that seed he shall travail on behalf of that seed he shall pour out his soul unto death and he shall see the fruition of all that he has done for that seed do you see the distinction in his person he is innocent but in his position as the second Adam the last Adam the representative of his people what is his actual posture before God conceived of in that position and just as God was careful to ring the cry of innocence as to his person from his

28:46 bitterest enemies God was careful to arrange all of the circumstances of the trial and death of Christ to make his guilt evident to the whole world he is tried as a criminal almighty God ordered those circumstances according to Acts chapter 4 the ruler they say in that prayer were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand determined before to be done why did God arrange the death of his son in the context of legal guilt of common trial the death of a common criminal God is giving us a graphic picture in the external world of what was happening behind the veil of the spiritual world the reality of the interaction between the father and the son what is happening to Christ there before Pilate what is happening to him as he is scourged as he is taken to the place of execution is a declaration that not only in his person is he innocent but in his position he is the guilty one therefore we must ask the fourth question if he is there because of his

Question 4: What Actually Happened on the Cross?

30:10 position as the second Adam the last Adam the representative of his people what actually happened to him when he was on the cross and here is the heart of the message of the cross oh listen now here is the heart of it if you are ever to be saved it will be because God opens up the mystery of this facet of our study this morning and child of God if you are to grow in grace you will grow as this mystery is plumbed more and more in its bottomless in its dimensionless depths and breadth and height what happened to him while there well listen to the testimony of scripture in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 21 for he God hath made him Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us he made him to be sin for us Galatians 3 and verse 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law how being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree then perhaps the classic statement of what happened to him while he was there Romans 8 and verse 32 he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all

31:39 negative he spared him not as you behold the cross what are you to understand as you come as it were with your mind's eye into the gospel record not allowing your mind to run off in the flights of mystical fancy but bringing before your mind the imagery dictated by the word of God written as you sit before the cross as you behold Jesus of Nazareth the God man Christ Jesus innocent in his person his innocence declared by heaven and earth by friend and foe alike and by God himself in his position as the representative of his people what is happening that causes the heavens to be shrouded in black what does this have to do with the message of the cross what does this have to do with the salvation of the people whom he came forth to deliver what does this have to do with the whole matter of sins forgiven the answer of Romans 8 32 is this you must view the cross as the non sparing of the father he that spared not his own son the cross must be understood as God's non sparing of his son now what does the phrase mean well you know what it means

33:07 you children know what it means you've been disciplined or about to be disciplined for something you've done and you deserve to be and you cry out to mommy or daddy no no spare me what do you mean withhold what is coming to me withhold what is my due withhold what I ought to receive withhold something of the full measure the cross is the display of God's non sparing non sparing of what ah here's the heart of its message everything that God's law demanded of that people whom Christ represented Jesus Christ assumes to render to the father the holy law we had broken said this do and thou shalt live this fail to do and thou shalt die the wages of sin is death God's law as it were has been robbed of its due obedience of its due regard and the anger of God the justice of God the holiness of God cry out for vengeance upon a broken law and the son interposes in our room instead may I say it reverently he covers us in the shadow of his own omnipotence and he says father I'll place all of those against whom your wrath should burn I shall place them behind me let that

34:34 wrath break upon me and the father spared him that that is he brought down upon him the full weight of his holy wrath and anger against him and the positive statement is he delivered him up for us all delivered him up to what delivered him up to everything that the law demanded death and what is the essence of death in the bible the essence of death in the bible is abandonment by God the essence of death in the bible is abandonment by God separation leading to abandonment that's the hell of hells depart from me ye cursed abandonment forever and what was the most piercing mysterious cry that uttered from the cross or issued from the cross it was not the words father forgive them that was so much like our lord nor was it the words today thou shalt be with me in paradise that was so much like our lord those words are perfectly consistent with everything we know about him in the gospel records he was always forgiving he says to the woman taken in adultery neither do I condemn thee go sin no more but the words that are shrouded in adultery are these words the one who could say I know that thou

36:03 hearest me always I and my father are one I do always the things that please my father those were his claims in the gospel record but the mystery of mysteries is the cry my God my God why hast thou abandoned those words clash with everything else in the gospel record thou hearest me always why hast thou abandoned this is my son in whom I am pleased why hast thou abandoned oh dear people in answer to the question what happened to him while he was there in the room in the stead of his people the answer of this text is the father spared him not but he brought upon him the full measure of his holy wrath against sin and in the words of that hymn that I quoted last week death and the curse were in our cup oh Christ was full for thee thou hast drained the last dark drop tis empty now for me that bitter cup love drank it up now blessings draft for me Jehovah bade his sword awake oh Christ it

37:32 woke against thee that sword was plunged into the bosom of the son of God that's the biblical doctrine of substitution representation Christ standing in the room in stead of others that's the word of the cross not merely pointing to the writhing form of an innocent man and saying do you not pity him are you not moved with compassion spill out at his feet a little bit of the measure of human kindness and compassion no no that's not the message of the cross the message of the cross is it pleased the Lord oh sinner stand in amazement that the father should bruise his well beloved one that's the message of the cross the God who could crush us in righteous anger himself has moved to provide in his own son the full payment of our debt that we might be free that brings me to my fifth and final question this morning what benefits come to sinners as a result of what Christ is wrought upon the cross well you remember that his last words before he voluntarily yielded up his spirit to the father were these and it's one word in the Greek it's finished

Question 5: What Benefits Come to Sinners?

38:58 what is finished to go back to the analogy of that hymn the Lord Jesus that had that cup held in a sense throughout the entirety of his life John said behold the Lamb of God and he uses a present who is bearing away the sin of the world from his conception he was sin bearer but that obedience in sin bearing was climaxed upon the cross when he felt the pangs of divine abandonment and he held that cup as it were in those final three hours of agony indescribable until he was certain that every last drop was gone and when it was he threw the cup away and said I am the Father now what blessing comes to sinners oh listen listen if only somehow you can get into vital union with Christ then the Father puts to your account everything that he did to his son so that his death is reckoned your death his burial your burial his resurrection your resurrection his ascension to the place of full acceptance and unclouded communion with the Father to the same place now and throughout eternity my friend you've got to get into him

40:26 you've got to get into him if you can be in him then you see in the mind of an eternal God it's all retroactive and this is the difficulty of the text in Ephesians 2 how to bring together those concepts that what to us is parceled out in time is to God all one bundle and that's how sinners find acceptance when they get into Christ and in union with Jesus Christ the Father reckons the death of his son is my death I can look at all of my sins and say Father you can't spare you can't spare your anger my sins cry out for judgment divine abandonment must be my portion and the Father says yes it must be but then wonder of wonders I say Lord it was my portion without any mitigation it was my portion when in my reference representative the cry came forth my God why hast thou forsaken me oh if you're a believer this morning if in union with Christ you sit here this morning I say it reverently you cried in the cry of Christ and the only abandonment judicial abandonment you'll ever know as a Christian was born in the person of the Son of God periods of fatherly desertion when you feel the bitterness of the father's

41:55 frown yes every child of God will know them but the despairing cry of abandonment rooted in divine wrath and justice Christian Christian that will never be your portion there is therefore now no condemnation to those what who've made a decision no to those who are in Christ Jesus Romans 8 1 are you in Christ Jesus are you in Christ Jesus I'm not asking you have you walked by the cross and tipped your hat and said oh that's lovely Jesus took the rap and I've heard that cursed phrase used with reference to that sacred agony upon the cross no no my friend are you in loving trustful union with the Son of God the union of a living faith that binds you to that person and therefore brings you into the benefit of all his work and there is no imputation of his work where there is no fusion to his person but blessed be God the most feeble hand of faith that reaches out tremblingly to touch the hem of his garment brings into living union with Christ as much as the bold hand of faith that clasps him with

43:24 two strong arms and God nowhere speaks that it's strong faith or much faith but by grace are you saved through faith oh dear child of God as you come to the table today why do you come you come because the message of the cross has been opened to you by the spirit and you found in your representative your living head the one who died in your room instead you found there's an adequate ground to believe my sins will never be charged to me they shall never rise up in judgment against me there is not one little dram left in the inside of that cup he drained it Christian it's empty it's been thrown away and omniscience can no longer find it with reference to ones in Christ do you honor God by acting as though the cup were still half full and you had to punch some leaks in it and some holes in it and drain it out by your own groans and moans and sighs you don't honor God you dishonor the son he drained the cup he drained the cup dear child of God now he says believe and know the joy of full acceptance

44:54 oh dear children listen listen to your pastor this morning if you're ever to miss hell what your pastors preached this morning better become the most precious thing in all of life to you Christ crucified Christ crucified that's where you find forgiveness not by trying to be a good girl and a good boy now you ought to try to be a good girl and a good boy but the more you try if you're honest you're going to find the harder it gets and even if you became the bestest boy and the bestest girl in the world what about all those times you weren't the best boy and the best girl what about those sins so dear children the answer to that question is to be found in Christ crucified that's the message of the cross he stood in the place of his people who are they all who come to him saying from the heart nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling foul I to the fountain fly wash me savior or I die some of you perplexing yourselves perhaps for years wondering what you must feel and what you must sense and what you must experience before you're warranted to throw yourself upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ I plead with you this morning he bids you come from his open gaping wounds

46:21 he bids you come from the agony of his cry of abandonment he bids you come he says can you not trust me can you not believe that there is adequate provision in my rendering satisfaction to the father to save even the likes of you five simple questions we've asked this morning we've sought to answer them with the word of God before us let me just go over them as we close this morning what does the scripture mean when it says the word of the cross it's speaking of the fact of the death of Jesus of Nazareth under the Roman authority 2000 years ago and the Bible's interpretation of that fact who was this Jesus of Nazareth who was put to death he was the Lord of glory true God true man well if he was that why was he there well he was not there because of any guilt adhering to his person he was perfectly innocent but he was there because of the sins that were put to his account because of his position and in that position Christian they were really his never forget it God wasn't just juggling the record books some kind of a mental fantasy in the room of his people God treated him as

47:49 though he were indeed because he was guilty in their room instead guilty one hence the bruising hence the abandonment hence the shrouded heavens hence the piercing cry God wasn't playing games at Calvary dear people and how I bless him he wasn't playing games because my sins are no playing matter nor are yours I want to know that a real satisfaction has been rendered for my real sins because there's a real hell crying out to consume sinners like you and like me thank God it was a real satisfaction there was real wrath poured out upon the real son of God there was real satisfaction to the law and it was a real cry it is finished what happened while he was there the debt was paid for all of his people the debt was rendered completely satisfied and what benefits now come to us only eternity will fully expound that question for he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things you know what heaven's going to be among other things

49:17 it's going to be an eternal commentary on what Jesus Christ purchased for all who trust him that's what heaven's going to be an eternal commentary on this question what benefits come to those who are in the son of God who find his satisfaction for sin theirs by union with Christ oh I plead with you don't rest until you know you're in him and don't seek to be in him by the conjuring up of something within yourself but in that one way that sinners can be joined to the son of God believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved let us pray