Godly music for us, and thank you. Appreciate what you do. Last week, I had the privilege of preaching on Passover and the crucifixion, the connection of those two. I did not realize that I was gonna be able to preach again this Sunday, until Wednesday morning when pastor called me. But, words laid on my heart to preach again on the cross.

Hard to preach on something more important than that. But the title of the message today is the preaching of the cross. I'd like for you to look in your Bibles at first Corinthians chapter one verse 18. First Corinthians chapter one verse 18. I apologize.

My voice is a little bit gravelly this morning. I don't know what's going on, but, hopefully hopefully, it won't be too annoying to listen to it. First Corinthians one eighteen, we read, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. And if you will look at chapter two verse two, same book, first Corinthians. Should be the same page if you're looking at the same Bible I'm looking at.

First Corinthians chapter two verse two, for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And in Galatians chapter six verse 14, Turn a few more pages over there to Galatians chapter six verse 14. Yeah. Galatians chapter six verse 14. Give you a few minutes to find that.

Okay. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Friends, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ has the power to transform the life and destiny of everyone, everyone who embraces its power and its message. As we draw closer to our annual remembrance of the pinnacle of Christ's ministry, the linchpin of the gospel is death on the cross. Let's take some more time to reflect on our Savior's death on the cross.

For it is this gruesome and distasteful signal event that forever changed the history of humanity. You see, prior to this event, before Jesus died on the cross, mankind had no certainty that his sins, our sins could ever be forgiven or that God would ever accept us. We didn't have any certainty about that until the cross. However, after the crucifixion occurred, before He gave up the ghost and died, He triumphantly shouted from the cross to Tetelestai, John nineteen thirty. That's Greek, obviously, but it means it has been accomplished.

We read it as it's finished. It literally means it's been accomplished. Well, we need to look deeply into this mighty declaration by the son of God because the fate of our soul depends exactly on what it is that Jesus accomplished. We wanna know what did he accomplish on the cross. Would you please bow your head now with me as I implore the Holy Ghost to guide and fill and empower me to deliver his message to us today?

Father in heaven, as we come to this this sacred time of the worship service when we study your word, we look into the truth that you have for us. I'm acutely aware of my weakness, my inability, and I need your help. I pray that you will fill me with your Holy Spirit, that you will be present here with us and speak to not only my heart, but the hearts of those who hear this message, that you will give us hearts that are tender and receptive and responsive and not hard and callous and indifferent to you. We ask that you will exalt our great God and savior Jesus Christ in our midst today. We desire to please you, Lord.

You are worthy. In Your name we pray. Amen. So first of all, what is the preaching of the cross? Well, the New Testament writer's interest in the cross is predominantly Christological.

That refers to Christ's identity. And more broadly, it refers to the nature and the work of Jesus Christ. So when you read in the New Testament about the cross, the perspective of those who are writing about it is to say, well, what what did Jesus accomplish? Why did he go to the cross? What is this for?

What's the purpose of it? What's the meaning of it? That's what it means when it says their interest in the cross is Christological. They're concerned with the eternal, the cosmic, the soteriological significance of what happened once for all in the death of Jesus Christ, the son of God on the cross. So soteriological.

I love that word. It's another theological term and it has to do with salvation. It's a simple term. It means when they're writing about the cross, they wanna know how does it relate to the salvation of mankind? How does what Christ did there relate to us in salvation?

So the word cross was used as a summary description. Right? It summarizes the idea of the gospel of salvation that Christ died for our sins. Going back to first Corinthians chapter one, let's look up verse 17 and also 18. Okay.

First Corinthians chapter one, once again. We read there, first Corinthians chapter one verse seventeen and eighteen. For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is the power of God. So we see here the phrase, the preaching of the cross, that could also be the word of the cross.

Right? And we see here, it's the preaching of Christ crucified. These are similar related terms in the New Testament. So the word cross stands for the whole glad announcement of our redemption through the atoning death of Jesus Christ. So when we hear the word cross in reference to the New Testament, or you read about it in the New Testament, that one word cross stands for the announcement of our redemption through what Jesus did when he died on that cross.

So in the New Testament, the author who wrote the most about the meaning of the cross was the apostle Paul. This is interesting because Paul, before he became a Christian, was an accomplished Jewish scholar. He was a rabbi. He knew the Old Testament. That's all they had at that time.

Inside and outside, backwards and forwards, he could quote probably the entire Old Testament from memory. And when God saved him and he spent a number of years pondering the significance of what Christ had done before he began to preach. Talks about time he spent in Arabia. He was in Damascus for a while. And then he met with some of the apostles.

So Paul thought deeply about the meaning of the cross. And here are some examples of how this is used in the New Testament relating to the cross. So Paul considered Jesus' crucifixion to be the ultimate act in emptying himself of his heavenly glory. Right? We read about that in Philippians chapter two verse eight.

I'd like to turn there. Philippians chapter two verse eight. Would help if I looked at chapter two instead of chapter one. Hang on a second here. Chapter two verse eight, referring to Christ says that he was found in fashion as a man, and he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Here we find a reference to He became a man. Right? He wasn't always a man with a physical body. That happened, of course, at the incarnation and the virgin birth. He became a man.

So He was found in fashion as a man. As a man, He humbled Himself. So that's a reference to the fact that he's he's truly God, but he's humbled himself to become a man. And he humbled himself so far he was obedient to God's will and going to the death that he experienced on the cross. Now look at second Corinthians chapter five.

Let's go back to second Corinthians chapter five. Get a little workout here in your bible. Second Corinthians chapter five verse 19. This is Paul writing again. Remember?

One of the greatest theologians, one of the greatest minds understanding God's word in the New Testament. In second Corinthians five nineteen, we read, to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. So here we see not only that Christ willingly died as a substitution, a sacrifice for us for our sins. But the reason he did that, what he accomplished by doing that was to reconcile the world. God reconciled the world through Christ.

If Christ had not died on the cross, there would be no reconciliation between sinful mankind and holy God. It took the death of Christ as the perfect sacrifice for sin on the cross for God to do that. And then look again at Ephesians this time. Ephesians chapter two verses fourteen, fifteen, and 16. Paul writing now about the result of what Christ did on the cross, what God accomplished through his death on the cross.

Ephesians chapter two verses fourteen, fifteen, and 16. For He, that is Jesus Christ, is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. For to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. What's he talking about there?

Well, we have two groups of people in God's mind. There's Jews, there's Gentiles. You're either one or the other. Right? And they were separate from one another.

Back during the time when Jesus walked on the earth, there was not a whole lot of love between Jews and Gentiles. Right? So the wall of partition between them was that separating boundary that the Jews had in the law of God. We studied that last week in Sunday school, the Pentateuch. Right?

Those were laws that God established for how his people, the Jews, would demonstrate God's holiness to the surrounding peoples of the world, the Gentiles. Okay. That was a big wall. That was a big dividing line right there. The Jews weren't always successful in fulfilling that role.

That's what God's intention was. So this division, the separation between these two groups of people, God didn't intend for that to last forever. And so that wall was torn down when Christ died on the cross. It was through the cross, God reconciled, brought together Jews and Gentiles. And then if we look at Colossians chapter one let's turn a little bit further over in your Bibles to Colossians chapter one verse 20.

We'll read that by the blood of his cross, God made peace not just between Jews and Gentiles, but he reconciled everything to himself, all things. Let's read that. Colossians one twenty. And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him, through Jesus, that is, to reconcile all things unto himself as God. By him, that is through Jesus, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.

So here's what happened. Going back to the book of Genesis, first book in the Old Testament in the Bible. In Genesis chapter three, we read about how God placed the pinnacle of his creation, mankind, Adam and Eve, in the perfect place to live, on the perfect planet in the entire universe of uncountable trillions of stars and planets and places it could have picked. He picked earth. He put them in the garden of Eden.

Perfect place. No sin. Everything was wonderful. They had a perfect unbroken relationship and fellowship with God until until until sin entered into the world and destroyed it all. Everything was destroyed.

The relationship that Adam and Eve had with God, their creator, the relationship that they had with the creation. Right? Everything turned against them. God told Adam, you're you're gonna earn your bread by the sweat of your brow. There's gonna be thorns and there's weeds.

And every time I look at my backyard, I realize that's true. Every summer out there pulling up the weeds. Right? And he told Eve, you're gonna have pain every time you give birth to a child. How many of you women can testify to the fact that that's excruciating pain that men can't even relate to?

Right? So we were separated from all the good things that God intended. And by the death of Christ on the cross, it has all been reconciled. It's all been brought back together. Now we don't see that actually before our very eyes.

We're not living that right now here on this earth right now, but it has been accomplished. Jesus said, everything that needed to be done to bring this to pass has been accomplished. We're just waiting for the timing for it to all actually show up in our lives. So the cross in the New Testament is a symbol of shame and humiliation, as well as God's wisdom and glory being revealed through it. It's a symbol of shame and humiliation.

How many of you ladies today have a necklace with a cross on it? Anybody here? No, there's several of you. Okay. So we think of it as a pretty piece of jewelry.

Well, when Jesus died on the cross, it wasn't a pretty piece of jewelry. It was a symbol of shame. It's a symbol of humiliation. And Paul recognized that many people would see the cross as the great folly, foolishness of the followers of Jesus. But he affirmed that to those being saved, the cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

First Corinthians one eighteen, we already read that. And paradoxically, doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but Paul boasted or gloried in the cross of Christ. We read about that in Galatians six fourteen already. But God forbid that I should glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified under me and I under the world. That's stupid.

That's foolish. That's nonsense. Say the people of the world who do not humble themselves before the throne of Jesus Christ, confessing their sins and receiving the forgiveness that he offers. That's what they think. How many times have you heard it?

As you try to witness to people, believe me, you'll get that kind of response. So if who Christ claimed to be and everything written about His life at ministry in the Bible is false, if it's a lie, if it's a mistake, or if it's in any way not true and accurate, then indeed all who have ever mocked Christ and Christians as fools have free reign to do so. But are you willing to stake your eternal destiny on this slight possibility that it might all be wrong? Are you willing to do that? Well, we've looked at the various terms related to the crucifixion.

Now we're gonna turn our attention to the theological significance of the cross. What does it mean from God's perspective? In other words, what does the preaching of the cross mean? So Jesus' crucifixion was the means by which He procured or achieved or attained atonement for humanity. Now atonement, that's a good word.

I like that word. I like it. Not as much as soteriological, but I like atonement. Atonement refers to God's act of dealing with the primary human problem, which is, you tell me, sin. That's right.

So atonement, God did something about our problem. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament affirm that sin has broken the relationship between God and mankind. According to Christian theology, what you read in the Bible and what it teaches about this, God accomplished the way of restoration through Christ's death. Atonement refers to what Christ's death and resurrection accomplished in relation to human salvation. I'm defining the word atonement for you.

So more fundamentally, atonement addresses God's response to humanity's primary problem, sin, which has fractured the relationship between God and mankind. God restored this broken relationship, brought us back together by means of Christ's death on the cross. This is what happened. This concept draws from Old Testament sacrificial practice. Last week, we talked just briefly about the book of Leviticus.

And in that book, we learned in the first seven chapters about a variety of sacrifices, how they were to be performed, the animals that were suitable, how they had to be determined that they were suitable, and what the person who was offered that sacrifice had to do and what the priest had to do and all the rules to follow the ritual. But in Leviticus, the one thing is very clear and plain. Blood makes atonement for the soul. Serves as a divinely appointed means of covering sin. Leviticus seventeen eleven.

Let's turn back there, please. This might be the only time you ever look at the book of Leviticus, so let's do it together. Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11. I hope it's not the only time, but Leviticus seventeen eleven. Just for those of you who might not be familiar with it, Leviticus refers to the Levites.

That was one of Jacob's 12 children, Levi. And they were specially designated by God for the function of being the priests to represent the Israelites, the Jews in general to God. So when the tabernacle was built, and then later on the temple was built, and when the sacrifices were all established, there was a priesthood composed of Levites who perform these rituals. Okay? So Leviticus chapter 17.

So when you see the book titled Leviticus, you at least have an idea. It relates to the priesthood and the Levites. In verse 11 of Leviticus chapter 17, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I've given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. That's pretty straightforward there. You can't make any mistakes about what it means.

So sacrifice functioned as God's provision for forgiving sins and renewing fellowship with his estranged people. But the problem was the old covenant or the old testament sacrifices, they required repetition over and over and over and over and over again. Why? Because the sacrifice of the blood of an animal could never take away the sins of mankind. It took a human sacrifice, but it had to be a perfect human, one who had never sinned.

Do you know of anybody like that? There's only one we ever read about in the history of mankind, Jesus Christ. So unlike Christ's once forever all time offering on the cross, These old testament sacrifices were repetitive because they weren't adequate to remove the stain of sin forever. But Jesus' offering when he died on the cross was not only adequate, it was what we needed. So the central significance of the death of Christ is contained in three great words, redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation.

We're gonna talk about each of these here. The thought of redemption is that of deliverance by the payment of a price. Think of a slave in the time of Christ. The vast majority of mankind did not enjoy freedom. They rather lived under slavery, unbelievable repression and oppression.

That's how things operated back then. And so it was possible to be redeemed from that bondage, that slavery, and have freedom, but it required usually the payment of a price. So this is the background for redemption, deliverance by the payment of a price. So mankind, all of us, we're all slaves to sin. And the price of sin is the wages of sin.

Right? The price of sin. What's that? The wages sin is death. It's a reference there, not just a physical death, which every one of us will experience, but also eternal death, forever separation from our creator.

So redemption, what Christ did on the cross, delivers us from this bondage. We're free. We're free now if we put our trust in Christ. Look at Romans chapter three, please. Romans chapter three verse 24.

So we read here Romans chapter three verse 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So the imagery here that you read about involves both the redemption by purchase. Right? Something's been purchased, freedom, our deliverance from the power and presence and the penalty of sin. And then the setting free of those objects of redemption.

So they're both included in the concept here of redemption. So number two, remember there are three words, redemption. I know you love this next word, propitiation. That's a challenging word. I'm gonna talk about it.

Christ in his death also constituted a propitiation or satisfaction of the righteousness of God. Look at Isaiah fifty three eleven. Isaiah 53 verse 11. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.

Did you see there? He's going to be satisfied. The sacrifice that Christ offered and completed successfully on the cross. We know it was completed successfully because Jesus said right before he died, it's been accomplished. I did what I came to do.

I did what God said I should do. It's been done. It's finished. So now God is satisfied with what has been done. That's the idea of propitiation.

It's not enough to say, well, yeah, I'm sorry, God. I didn't mean to sin. Do you think that's gonna satisfy Christ? That's gonna satisfy God if we just say that, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to do that.

I blew it again. That's not satisfactory. It took the death of a perfect lamb of God, the one that God appointed, the one that God approved, the one who obediently went to the cross and offered up his life and his blood. So this idea of propitiation is explained going back to I'm not gonna read it again, but back to Romans three twenty five and twenty six, we read there. This has to do with God being satisfied.

We are now justified by the blood of Christ. Likewise, in his sacrifice, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. That's two Corinthians five nineteen. So through the death of Christ, the sinner is transformed both in position and in nature. We now have eternal life.

We put our trust in Christ. And we are thereby reconciled to God and His holy standards. All of the six thirteen laws, the Jews thought they had to try to fulfill and keep, but couldn't keep a single one of them perfectly. They've all been fulfilled by Christ. And when He died on the cross, He said He took with Him, the nail to the cross, the ordinances that were against us all.

That's what He's talking about. He fulfilled them all. The perfect sacrifice. That's why God can say, I'm satisfied with what He did. That's why God can say, You're now redeemed.

I've been propitiated. I'm satisfied. So many non Christians in the first century AD were evidently hindered from following Jesus as a spiritual teacher or savior because of His crucifixion. And this Jewish view was probably based on Deuteronomy twenty-one 23, because there it talks about there's a curse upon anyone who is hanged on a tree. And Paul writes in first Corinthians one eighteen, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness.

So let's wrap this up by considering some of the ways all this applies to us. Well, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ demonstrates conclusively several facts here. Number one, we cannot save ourselves by any means. It's only by faith in what Jesus accomplished already by his death on the cross. That's how we receive salvation.

We can't do it ourselves. Number two, God loves us beyond any shadow of a doubt. He proved it when he gave his only begotten son to die on the cross for us. I have an only begotten daughter. I do not want her to go to a shameful, hideous, painful death like Jesus suffered on the cross.

That would tear my heart out to have something like that happen. Can you imagine what it did to God? He's got a father's heart. His only begotten son, his well beloved son, the one who always did what was right and always pleased him and was himself God. I can't grasp that.

What did that do to God's heart? Well, if nothing else, the death of Christ on the cross proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, God loves us. Number three, God bent over backwards to provide the only effective means of salvation. It's the only way any of us can ever be saved. Well, we've come full circle to tetelestai.

It's been accomplished. Everything we needed in order for God to legitimately forgive our sins, Jesus accomplished completely in his death on the cross. What more needs to be said or done? Well, there's just one thing in order for His death to be effective for you and me. Each one of us must personally come to Christ in genuine, repentance to receive his generous gift of forgiveness and everlasting life.

I've done this. In fact, I did it about fifty four and a half years ago. It's hard to believe. On that day in November 1971, the Hershey Community Theater in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when I first heard and understood the gospel, I was born again And I entered into everlasting life. Fifty four and a half years is nothing compared to the everlasting life that God gave me that night.

So what about you? Can you honestly, before God say, yes, I've done that too. Maybe it wasn't at the Hershey Community Theater for you. Probably not, but it was somewhere, someplace, sometime you heard the gospel and he responded. Can you say, yes, I've done that.

I earnestly hope that's so because no one else, not me, not even God Himself can do that for you. You alone, you alone, each one of us as individuals are going to stand before our creator on the last day. We will have to give an account for what we did with His son. Listen to these verses from Romans chapter two. Or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up under thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds. For there's no respect of persons with God. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. It causes us to do some serious thinking, doesn't it? Has your attitude been?

You despise the riches of God's goodness, His forbearance, His long suffering, His patience, putting up with our sinfulness for how many years, how many decades. And we don't know that the goodness of God is there to lead us to repentance, But instead, because of the hardness and impenitence of our hearts, we treasure up into ourselves wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Think about this because this applies to you if you haven't yet put your trust in Jesus Christ. There's no respect of persons with God. He's going to render to every man according to his deeds.

God's going to judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. This is a fearful thing. In fact, let me close with two quotes from God's word. Hebrews ten thirty one says, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. My friends don't trifle with God.

Don't ignore his offer of reconciliation because it is appointed unto man once to die. But after this, the judgment. Hebrews nine twenty seven. Now, if you haven't trusted Christ as your savior for whatever the reason or excuse, these two Bible verses ought to strike terror into your heart. Please don't leave here today without Christ as your savior.

I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. If you feel guilty for anything that you've done in your life, take that as the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Take that as God demonstrating to you once more forbearance and patience. He's trying to get through the hardness of your heart. He's trying to break through that impenitent attitude.

He's trying to get you to see you're a slave. I've got the keys that'll unlock those chains. I can provide deliverance, redemption. I will be satisfied if you just accept the sacrifice that's already been made on your behalf. It's free.

All you gotta do is say, yes, Lord, I gratefully receive your gift. I ask you for forgiveness for my sins. Simple. Even a child can do that. Let's pray.

Heavenly father, thank you so much for making the gift of everlasting life, forgiveness of our sins, the promise that we'll be with you forever in heaven one day, making all of this available to us. It's your gift to us, Lord. There are many people here in this congregation today who've already gratefully received that gift. I don't know people's hearts. I can't read their minds.

I don't know what's going on, but you do. And if there's somebody here, somebody within the sound of my voice, and you're speaking to their heart and convicting them of their sin, would you please motivate them, Lord Jesus, to humble themselves before the mighty hand of God and repent of those sins and trust Jesus as their savior. We ask this in your name. Amen. Alright.

Thank you so much.