Enough of that. Let's read together in John's Gospel chapter nineteen. It was my privilege this past summer to be at the Skyland Bible Conference in Chattanooga, and the Lord laid it on my heart to take up a little study on the cross. And I really enjoyed the study, and it stimulated me to study further this magnificent subject. And so I'd like to look with you during these conference days at a subject dealing with the cross. something a little different than I looked at this past summer. I'd like to think about the centrality of the cross in the life of the believer and the local church. And I'd like to begin by reading just a short section from John's Gospel chapter nineteen. Verse fourteen. And it was the preparation of the Passover and about the sixth hour. And Pilate said unto the Jews, Behold your king. But they cried, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar. My, that must have been bitter to their tongues. then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified the world's greatest injustice and they took Jesus and led him away and he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull which is in the Hebrew Golgotha where they crucified him and two other with him on either side one and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Now, it probably will be at a conference like this that there will be some people coming in a little later, having traveled some distance perhaps. And you've all seen people come in, and you know they all have two legs, most of them anyway. And so if they come in and sit down, you probably don't have to watch them. You can just concentrate, all right? Let's see if we can do that. I know it's a natural reaction. Everybody sort of jerks around and sees who's coming in. But if anyone comes in with more than two legs, I'll stop and we'll just take a minute to observe the phenomenon, all right? But otherwise, I'll just assume that you've already seen people like that before. So let's take a little journey now, shall we? And those of you who have been to the land of Israel, it will be familiar with you, especially if you arrive in the early morning hours or in the afternoon. You wing across the Mediterranean as you begin to descend toward the airport at Haifa, rather at Ludd. You see the coastal towns of Tel Aviv and Jaffa. And then we get into our bus and we head up through the Sheffala, the foothills, as we ascend toward the city of Jerusalem, past Latron, where famous battles have been fought, enter into the valley of Aegean. A famous sight of Joshua's call to the sun to stand still. We come to the city of Jerusalem and just on the north side of the city, there is a rugged outcrop of rock which once belonged to Mount Moriah. It has been hacked away, a false valley has been cut through the mountain to protect the northern approaches to the city of Jerusalem. And there is a little piece of rock outcrop and it was there it is believed the Lord Jesus was taken to be crucified if I were to ask you this morning what is the greatest thing in the world I think you would have to tell me that it's love isn't it first Corinthians thirteen tells us that faith and hope abide but the greatest of these is love You might expect John to write that, but Paul wrote it. You might expect Paul to say the greatest thing is faith. And Paul certainly hasn't overlooked faith. He has it right there in the same verse. But he tells us that the greatest thing is love. And not only the greatest thing in the world is love, but the greatest love in the world is God's, isn't it? Our love is pretty paltry stuff. We say that love makes the world go round. If it was our love, it would have ground to a halt a long time ago. But it's God's love. That's the greatest love in the world. Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. That's the great love, the master love, the source of all love. And it comes from God. And the greatest gift of God's love was Christ. I have all the gifts he gave and God is a giver. Make no mistake about it. Christendom has attempted somehow to make God out to be a taker. And every time you hear about God, well, he's always interested in taking from you. Some time ago we were driving along in the car and I said to my wife, see if you can find the Christian station. And as soon as she turned it on, someone was asking for money and our little girl said, yep, that's the Christian station. Isn't that atrocious? an utter shame, the shame of the church, that we would give the world the impression that God is at the point of bankruptcy, and if we don't help them out real soon, we're going to be in a lot of trouble. It's terrible. How do you expect anyone to trust God? I mean, if he can't look after his own business, how is he going to look after me? God's always in trouble financially, isn't he? Always needs a little more. I tell you, that's not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is the giver of every good gift, as the old preachers used to say. He is not impoverished by giving, nor enriched by withholding. God has everything, and He can give everything to you, and He doesn't have any less for us. And He has given everything to us. He has given us all things liberally, and there is absolutely no reason in the world that His people should beg. It is a shame. Imagine me. Do you think the Queen would appreciate it? If I stood out in front of Buckingham Palace with a little tin cup, arms for the Queen, arms for the Queen, I don't need that. Imagine begging on behalf of God. It's an utter shame. And God is a giver. And He's given and given and given until at last He gave His only Son. He had myriads of worlds, untold angels, All the riches of the universe. But he only had one son. And he gave his one son. For us. The greatest thing in the world is love. And the greatest love in the world is God. And the greatest gift of God's love with Christ. And the greatest manifestation of Christ's love. is the cross and we stand at the cross we see what God love really means this is the full blown manifestation of God's love and it's a good thing for us to come to the cross it is the focus of all history even the secular man acknowledges that we speak about BC and AD and there it stands as the watershed of two eternities the focus of all history that is God's purposes come to fruition at the cross secondly it is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy there were fingers pointing signs arrows that kept saying he's coming he's coming there is a lamb that's coming There is the seed of the woman that is coming to bruise the serpent's head. The great king, David's greater son, is coming, the sovereign. God's Messiah, the anointed one, he's coming. There were types and symbols and shadows and pictures and figures, and they all pointed forward to the coming of God's blessed son. And at last when he came, he could say that all the prophets gave witness to him. If they could all gather around here on the platform this morning, and I'm not sure this one would hold them, that if they could all gather around here this morning, they would all agree about this one thing, wouldn't they? Some of them were shepherds, herdsmen. Some of them were political leaders. Some of them were were from the ordinary folk, and some of them were from the royal family, but they'd all agree about this one thing, that the hope of their hearts was all bound up in the coming of the Messiah. But when the Messiah was portrayed in the Old Testament, sometimes he was painted as being a victor, a conqueror, coming in glory and power, and other times he was portrayed as as one who would suffer and die. And they couldn't understand how this could be about the same person. And so they came up with a theory that there were two messiahs coming, Messiah Ben David and Messiah Ben Joseph. And one would come to suffer and die and one would come in power and glory to reign. But if they'd read their Old Testament a little more carefully, they would have seen that both Joseph and David had suffered and been rejected and despised. and then entered into glory and sat upon the throne, wouldn't they? It was not two messiahs, but two comings, and that the first time he would come and would be despised and rejected of men and die upon a cross. But he would come again, and he would come in glory, and he would establish his kingdom, and his kingdom would never know an end. It was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. That is, it was not only the focus of God's purposes, but the focus of God's revelation. There's more in the Old Testament about the coming of the Lord Jesus in prophecies than anything else. And God was preparing the way for the coming of His blessed Son. And then it is the foundation of God's salvation. That is, it is the focus of God's blessing. God cannot bless me. apart from his son. He can't give me a thing. The only thing he could give me was his wrath, his judgment. And the only thing that keeps me from the wrath of God is the interposed blood of the Lord Jesus. And all of God's blessings come through his son. Indeed, all of God's blessings have already come to me in his son. The Apostle Paul could write to the Ephesians in chapter one and verse three, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. God can't give you any more, Christian, than he's already given you. And that's why Paul goes on to say later on in the chapter, Well, I don't want God to bless you so much as I want him to open your eyes to see the blessings you already have. One of my pet peeves is how Christians greet one another. You've probably heard me on it before, but I think we betray ourselves by our speech. How are you doing? Not bad. Well, yeah, not bad for an heir of God. Not bad for an inheritor of heaven. Not bad for someone who has the very life of the Lord within him. Of course not bad. Could we not say something better than that? And then when we say goodbye, we say, take it easy. Well, that's the problem, isn't it? Too many Christians taking it easy. Gotta say something like, well, get back to work. That's what we need to do. We need to recognize that God's people have been called to a wonderful calling. We have entered into the secret thoughts of God concerning His Son. He has manifested His heart to us at the cross. And he has unleashed his riches. He has given us his power. He has enlightened us with his wisdom. All at the cross. And then it is the field of battle where all our enemies are defeated. When you stand at the cross, you discover how great the victory is. We've been delivered from the law. We've been delivered from the bondage of sin. We've been delivered from the curse. We've been delivered from the fear of death. Delivered from the bondage of the evil one. Oh, he's not destroyed yet, but he's not from his horse and his crowns lying in the dust. And our Savior has magnificently brought us into that glorious victory. Oh, thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we think about the cross, I think it's good for us to make some careful distinctions. So you're going to have to gird up the loins of your mind and think carefully with me about the blood of Christ and the death of Christ and the tree and the cross. Now these are four phrases that are used to describe this magnificent event, the great event of history. First of all, the blood of Christ. Usually when we read of the blood of Christ in the New Testament and in the Old, there are two different emphases. One has to do with the shedding of the blood and the other has to do with the sprinkling of the blood. The shedding of the blood primarily speaks of the removal of the defilement of sin. Whereas the sprinkling of the blood has to do with redemption from the bondage of sin. You remember that in the land of Egypt that the blood was shed but the blood was also applied. And you remember that in the offerings, that there were offerings where the blood was shed, but then the blood was taken and was sprinkled. And it was in the sprinkling of the blood that God found his satisfaction. So it's important for us to understand that once for all, there needed to be the shedding of the blood. But that there must be an ongoing, fresh appreciation of the blood. John writes in his first epistle, Chapter one, that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. He's speaking to believers there, that if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin. I used to think that that verse ought to read that if we walk in the dark, that the blood cleanses us. In other words, it's the people who walk in the dark that need the cleansing. But I came to understand that if you walk in the dark, you don't know that you get dirty, do you? There are people who come to me and they say, well, what's wrong with this and what's wrong with that? That seems to suit, doesn't it? I mean, can't I do that? If I'm trying to match up a tie with trousers, you know what I do? Well, I go over to the light. I look at it in the light. Because sometimes, especially with blues or greens, you know, it looks pretty good in the bedroom until you step out into the light. Ooh, I thought that matched. It doesn't match at all, does it? And sometimes when I get up early in the morning and I don't want to awaken my wife, And I go in and scrounge around to find some socks, and I put on blue pants and green socks. Some people dress like that all the time, but I try not to. And it's not until I get out into the light that I discover that I've got the wrong socks on. They don't match. They don't suit me. And dear Christian, if you're walking in the dark, then you'll ask questions like that. Say, well, what's wrong with that? I don't see anything wrong with that. Maybe what you need to do is bring it out into the light. And when you bring it into the light, you'll see that it doesn't suit. And you won't even ask that question. I work with some eager young men, serious about the things of God. They never come and ask me what's wrong with going to that movie. Never crosses their mind. You never hear people ask what's wrong with Bible study. Yeah, what's the matter with the prayer meeting anyway? I don't want to fight about it. No, we don't ask those questions. If we bring things out into the light, Then the scripture says that the spiritual man judges all things. No one has to tell him. He judges it. He knows what's wrong with it. And that's what we need to do, you see. We need to walk in the light. And when we walk in the light, it's like walking through a path through the woods. And you think you've kept yourself pretty clean. It's been raining a bit, and it's a little mucky. But you think you've kept yourself clean until you step out into the light. And you notice, oh, I didn't do so well after all, did I? Now you see it's for people like that that the blood is still effective. And there it's not a fresh application of the blood, but a fresh appreciation of the blood. We go back to the cross again. And what does the cross manifest to us? It not only manifests the love of God, the greatness of the love of God. It also manifests to us the wickedness of the human heart. These were religious folk, you know, sophisticated people, educated people, people conversant with Hebrew and Greek, who knew the Old Testament scriptures and the prophecies. They didn't even have to look it up when somebody said, quote, where's the Messiah to be born? And out of an obscure little verse in the minor prophets, they quoted it just like that. They knew the Bible, but they didn't know the Lord. And we see the manifestation of the human heart. Do you get pride in your lineage, in your background? When Billy Graham was over in Britain on one of his first campaigns, he decided to look into his genealogy, thought he might be related maybe to Alexander Graham Bell or somebody like that. He found he was a direct descendant of Graham of Claverhouse. who is affectionately known as bloody clavours, left his bride on his wedding night to, as he said, hunt the dogs. That meant the Christians. He used to take little Scottish boys and hold them over a cliff and ask them where their fathers were hiding. And maybe they didn't know. But that didn't make any difference. If they wouldn't answer, he'd just let them go. You see, if you go back far enough in your family tree... You end up where I end up. Our first parents. And sin. And rebellion against God. And that's the fact, isn't it? And when we stand at the cross, the cross has a leveling experience, doesn't it? It brings us all down to the same level. And it manifests that we are all sinners of the deepest die. And we all need the same solution. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. cleanseth us from all sin you'll notice that little word all there i don't know how it is with you but sometimes sometimes i think it would be nice if the lord saved me from most of my sin you know the some sins they're quite despicable to me i i don't like them at all they get in my way they bother me they're they're wicked habits and i wish they'd go they keep getting me in trouble and and i just wish The Lord would give me complete victory over them. But there are a couple of sins, and quite frankly, they're sort of my little darling sins. And I wish I could sort of squeeze in through the door of salvation, hugging them to my bosom. Say, oh, Lord, that's enough. That's fine. You can just leave a few, can't you? He says, oh, no. You don't realize that what you're hugging to your bosom is what will ultimately destroy your life. Watch out for the little foxes that spoil the vine. Watch out for the little leaven that leavens the whole lump. There really is no such a thing as a little sin. There's no such a thing as a little murder, a little rebellion, a little treason. God says every sin in my sight is so despicable that it costs the death of my son. And when we stand at the cross, we can't think lightly of sin, can we? I think when we stand at the cross it has a unifying influence because it reminds us of all God's people that dear brother or that sister that gets on my nerves maybe you don't have anybody like that here I don't know we could import or export a few from Canada if you'd like that would teach a patient but that particular brother or sister that seems to just get under my skin when I stand at the cross I remember that the greatest price in the universe that was ever paid for anyone was paid for them. God thought it worth his while to send his son from heaven to redeem that dear soul. And if I could just remember that God is still working with them, and when they're finished, they shall be the vehicles of divine glory forever and ever. That's what the cross ought to remind me. It has a purifying influence, and it has a leveling influence, and it has a unifying influence when we stand at the cross. There are many other benefits, and we'll think of some of these through the conference weekend. Then secondly, we think about the death of Christ. And again, the Bible seems to speak of the death of Christ in two specific ways. It speaks of the representation of the Lord for us. He tasted death for everyone. It was my death. And when I come to the Lord Jesus and repent of my sin, what am I doing but agreeing to be executed? I'm not arguing in the defense anymore. I'm not saying, but wait, but God, I'm not that bad. If you only knew me, I'm really quite a nice person. And, well, I'm not sure I merit heaven, but I'm not sure I merit hell either. You meet people like this all the time, don't we? They're not sure they're good enough for heaven. They're not sure they're bad enough for hell. What do you call a person like that who doesn't know where they're going? Or they're lost, aren't they? I met somebody on the street and said, where are you going? I said, I don't know. Well, you're lost. And these people are lost. And when we read this, that the Lord Jesus tasted death for everyone, that means that that's where I should have been. It was my death. He was representing. And he stepped into death for me. But does that mean I get away with it? Well, no. The Apostle Paul says that I am crucified with Christ. And not only that, but the flesh is crucified. And not only that, but the world is crucified to me. Listen, it was a slaughter. There was a tremendous battle there. And the great forces of the universe all converged there. Man was there. with his sin and rebellion and hatred against God. Hell was there with its fury, its passionate fury against the Son. God was there and poured out the judgment against us upon his lovely Son. And all alone the Savior endured it all. And was victorious and stepped out of death And now he says to everyone, inasmuch as you had a part in my death, will you now not enter into my life? You were there. You were guilty. It was your death that was being executed. And now on the basis of that, the Lord Jesus, as your representative, it means that you died there. What does it mean when a person dies at the cross? Well, it means I don't have any rights anymore. I dare say that fifty percent of the problems in assemblies would be solved if we learned that lesson. We don't have any rights anymore. Elders don't have rights to make up their own mind. You have the mind of Christ, brethren. And elders are not there to make up their own mind. The elders are there to discover the mind of God, to discern. That's why they're spiritual men, not organizers. God doesn't ask a man to be a good executive. He asks them to be a spiritual man, a man who is able to discern the mind of God. We don't have our own rights anymore. We gave those up when we went to the cross. When a man went to the cross, he was just facing one direction. And he'd left all his plans and dreams behind. He was committed. And that's what God's looking for today. Some people speak about getting saved as giving your life to God. Well, the point is that at the cross, you didn't have any life, did you? You were dead in sin. And the Lord Jesus took that place for you. And did he say, well, now that I've risen again, I'll give you a little piece of my life. Here, let's see what you can do with this one. You certainly messed up the last one I gave you. So here, try it again. Is that what he did? No, no, he made sure that we would be eternally secure. If he had given me a piece of life, I would have messed it up before the day was out. So he said, what I'll do is, I will hide this life securely for you. You may enjoy it. But you won't be able to destroy it. You won't be able to ruin it now. Your life is hid with Christ in God. Now that's a pretty secure place, isn't it? And your security is dependent upon that. And the Lord Jesus not only has dealt with your death, but he's also dealt with your life. And he keeps that secure. And you can never lose it. Unless, of course, God can lose it. And don't you dare speak such blasphemy. God can't lose your life. Well, then you can't lose it. Because your life is hid. With Christ. In God. But it not only speaks of the representation of the Lord for us. He tasted death for everyone. It speaks of the relinquishing of his all for us. Philippians chapter two. Even. The death. of the cross or even to death on a cross. I mean, this was it. This was the ultimate, wasn't it? It was a magnificent display of His grace in coming to planet Earth at all. I mean, to have come in His magnificent glory, it would have been a great step. Because the Scripture says that He humbles Himself to look on the things that are in heaven. Have you ever seen a photograph of our Milky Way, our galaxy? And they can't get a dot small enough to show our solar system. See that little speck, smaller than a period at the end of the sentence. See that? That's your solar system, they say. And our Milky Way, well, it's just one of billions of galaxies out there. Well, in that little solar system there, there's a big star. Well, it's kind of an average star, actually, but that's the sun. Now, you could take your planet and put about a billion and a quarter of them into the sun. Well, anyway, that little tiny speck there, if you could see it, a billion times smaller than the big speck in the little speck. That's the... Well, you get the point, don't you? Well, that little speck there, planet Earth, there are five other little, five billion other little specks on that little planet there. That's you. See, there you are. What do you think? Well, we get pretty important, don't we, sometimes? It's a great thing to stand out there like David and look up at the stars and consider the heavens. And what does the Bible say? Of all those magnificent stars, and every time they build a bigger telescope, they discover more stars out there. It just says he made the stars also. That's all. The work of his fingers. Just there they were. And in all of that, in all of that mighty universe, that the Christ, the Messiah, should come to this planet, what a stoop that was. But he came lower than the angels as a man. Of all the creatures on planet Earth, there was only one that had ever rebelled against him. None of the other creatures had. They all recognized him. Fig tree recognized him. The donkey recognized him. The fish in the sea recognized him. The wind and the waves recognized him. Only man didn't recognize him. And he came. in the likeness of rebellious flesh. Well, that was a long way down, wasn't it? But more than that, he came into a race of people that were the scourge of humanity. A curse and a byword on planet Earth, the Jew. And he identified with them. But not just the Jews either, did he? But he identified with the northern part of the country called Galilee Haggim, Galilee of the Gentiles. I was despised by the sophisticates in Jerusalem. Didn't just go to Galilee either, did he? He went to Nazareth. And Nazareth was despised even by the Galileans, Nathaniel, who was an Israelite in whom is no guile. He said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Who'd want to live there? Didn't just live in Nazareth either, did he? He belonged to a very poor family in Nazareth, so poor that at his dedication they could only bring a couple of birds caught in the street. not just that either but he was a baby he could have come a full-grown man couldn't he he he did in the past appear as a man but he actually entered into the womb of Mary and was born into the world with all of its necessary dependence on his mother and then Having gone that far down for us, we see the beginning of the rejection process. As the world recedes from him, Nazareth casts him out. Imagine being rejected by the people who are rejected by everybody. Galilee turns a deaf ear. And solemnly he lays his curses on Korazine and Beth Saida and his hometown Capernaum. Jerusalem. The people that had cried Hosanna now cry the louder as we read. Crucify him. Away with him. We won't have this man to reign over us. See him now on the cross, rejected by his own people, crucified by the Romans. Even those malefactors hanging beside him railed on him. Is that far enough down? He was obedient to death on the cross. Could he not then, having cried, it's finished, suddenly burst the bonds and stepped in. And shall die. for us. Oh dear Christian, he died for you. He died for me. Can we not live for him? Is it too much to get up in the morning and read your Bible? How far did he come for you? Can you not cross the room to pick up your Bible? He was put to shame. They stripped him. They spat in his face. Are you afraid of picking up the phone and calling up someone and telling them the good news? For fear, you might be put to shame. How far did he come for us? he relinquished all that he had he became poor that we might be rich I'm going to leave the other two for another study but I close with a little poem written by William Blaine The cross reveals the story of all our sin and shame. Yet tis our only glory, our wonder to proclaim. Sin is dethroned within us. Earth's treasures are but draw us. And Christ alone as Lord we own when gazing on the cross. No greater cause for sadness than that dear cross have we. Yet all our springs of gladness in it alone we see. As pardoned blood-washed sinners, to God it draws us close. Thus we can leave it all else and cleave to nothing but the cross. Our curse and condemnation, it clearly fully proves, yet brings us free salvation and all our guilt removes. O wondrous combination! Our every gain and loss, our death, our life, our peace and strife, all center in the cross. O may we live before it, and its reproach is there, till he shall come who bore it to meet us in the air. Or should the waves of Jordan our struggling spirits toss, calm unto death, we'll yield our breath, still clinging to the cross. Shall we just commit ourselves to the Lord? O God, make these things real to us. We sing about the cross. We preach about the cross. But may the cross become so real in our lives that we shall glory in nothing else but the cross, that we shall know experientially what it means to take up our cross daily. and follow the man who went to the cross for us. We thank thee for the wondrous victory it has gained for us. That sin need no more have dominion over us. That we are free from the bondage of the fear of death. And that all our sins have been dealt with. O Father, if the cross is wonderful to us, what of that man who died there? We know that this is the first place we really met him, the place we came to know him for who he was, and we'll never get very far away from him. Our song forever shall be as we stand about the throne unto him who loved us and washed us in his own blood, how we thanked before him. And we would sing and praise thee and worship thee and adore thee and represent thee to the world. For what the cross has done for us, we give thee our heartfelt thanks. In the blessed name of thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.