The cross of Christ

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 5 JUNE 2022 PM

1 CORINTHIANS 1 VERSES 17 – 25

4 words from verse 17 – “the cross of Christ”.  What does the cross mean to you?  Is it something you wear around your neck as a symbol?  Is it something the preacher is always talking about?  Is it something you sing about in hymns?  The cross separates men and women.  What you think about the cross will determine what God will do with you at the end of your life’s journey.  “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.”  There are thousands of people out there who would tell me that I am crazy for preaching about the cross of Christ.  God who overcame the wisdom of God is greater than the wisdom of the world.  This cross of Christ is so important.  It is deeply distinguished from every other cross.  Hundreds if not thousands were crucified under the Roman jurisdiction as a punishment.  The person on the cross makes the cross stand out.  All of the other people crucified were guilty of something.  This man, the man Christ Jesus had done nothing amiss.  God made him to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God.  This would distinguish the cross of Christ.  It was planned by a holy God.  Acts 2 verse 23 “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”  It was no surprise to God that he would die on the cross.  No second thought that God should send his only son in to the world, that Christ should go to the cross even before the foundation of the world.  We can see many types presented in the Old Testament that all point to the cross.  From Genesis to Revelation we find something of the cross.  Psalm 22 “my God, my God why has thou forsaken me.”  That was written 1000 years before Christ came into the world.  Isaiah 53 “he was wounded for our transgressions.”  That takes us to the cross because of its importance, because it was planned by the God of heaven, because of the person on the cross.  He had never sinned, never done anything wrong.  Pilate examined him and said, “I can find no fault in this man.”  Jesus did only those things which pleased his father.  He is unique in every sense of the word.  He stands out as different.  Look back to Psalm 53 verse 2 “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.  Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”  This man is different.  You need to focus on this man.  Paul said, “we preach Christ and him crucified”.  You cannot separate the cross and Christ because they are nailed together.  We are preaching about the cross not the material made for the cross.  The cross can be made from all kinds of things - wood, silver, gold or ceramic or glass or diamonds.  Make it out of anything.  It has all to do with the person that was on the cross.  The cross of Christ is distinguished because of that person.  The one who was holy, undefiled, separated from sinners.  “There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin, he only could unlock the gates of heaven.”  Without the cross there is no salvation.  Nothing we could do or plan or think about to get us into heaven.  The way of the cross leads home.  Except a man comes to the foot of the cross, accepts Christ as Saviour there is no salvation.  Not coming to a church, not even speaking to the preacher, coming to the cross by faith.  The cross is distinctive because of the one who planned it but also because of the purpose.  He was there to die in my place.  What a substitute.  He suffered the just for the unjust.  1 Peter 3 verse 18 he suffered that he might bring us to God.  There is separation in that verse.  You and I are born far from God, turned our backs on God, without hope.  Living in a world of sin.  The just for the unjust.  Why?  That he might bring us to God.  Separation and salvation.  God raised him from the dead.  Why?  The Lord was on the cross to save sinners.  Jesus sent his son not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.  “My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?”  To save people even today.  He is on the cross because he wants to save you and me.

 

Take the letters of the word CROSS – Christ redeemed our sinful souls.  The cross is central to the teaching of scripture.  Not only central from Genesis to Revelation.  Before Adam sinned in the Garden God knew all about it.  Even when they had sinned God produced a sacrifice.  A sacrifice was made available to cleanse him from all sin.  Central to the teaching of scripture.  Central to the heart of God.  It is the wisdom of God.  It is the power of God.  It hasn’t changed.  The preaching of the cross is foolishness but unto us that are saved it is the power of God.  Are you saved by the blood of Christ?  The cross is central to our calendar.  We are living in 2022 – two thousand years after Christ died.  We are counting up to the day of Christ’s coming again.  We have to make the cross something that is personal.  As you look at Calvary you see Christ hanging by his hands and feet – all for you.  He took your place, he died for you.  As well as a central revelation it is also a revelation of the love of God.  Sometimes it astounds me how God could love me.  God leaves you his word, demonstrates his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, he died for us.  We can be saved if we believe in him.  What love it is.  More than I can explain yet you can see it.  What a revelation of the love that Jesus had for me.  It is a revelation of the depravity of man.  There is the awful wrath of God which was poured out on his son.  We are told Jesus’ face was more marred than any mans.  His back was like a ploughed field.  The suffering Christ went through on Calvary.  He demonstrated something of the depravity of the human race.  Demonstrated just how far man would go.  “He came unto his own and his own received him not”, yet he still loved them.  He still went to Calvary.  We are guilty in word, thought and deed.  You know what you have done.  We are sinners.  You don’t have to teach a child to have a tantrum because it is in them already.  It is all because of their sinful nature.  What a revelation.  You don’t need me to tell you that you are a sinner.  The scriptures are clear – “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Without the cross of Christ there is no forgiveness of sin.  A revelation of God’s love and the depravity of man.  Why did Christ die?  Many tell me they go to church; they do this and that, give to many charities but when I ask them why did Christ die, they don’t know.  He died to take away your sin.  1 Corinthians 15 verse 1 “which also ye have received and wherein you stand … how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” That is a historical fact.  Without the bible you could read all about a man crucified outside Jerusalem.  That is historical.  Christ died for our sin – that is theological.  That is where we find it difficult to get our minds around.  He died for our sin according to the scriptures.  He rose again – that is supernatural.  He is alive tonight.  He has been seen by many including the apostle Paul.  Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.  If you want to know the way to heaven the cross is the entrance.  Christ is the access into the presence of God.  It is available to all.  There was no sacrifice like it.  The thousands of sacrifices in the Old Testament could only cover over sin.  After he had offered the one sacrifice for ever, he sat down at the right hand of God.  It was a sufficient sacrifice.  He alone could make it.  He gave himself for me.  The cross is sacrificial and substitutionary.  Someone who takes the place of another.  He was sinless and, in his love, and mercy he took my place and died for me.  What does the cross mean to you?  The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but to us who believe it is the power of God.  He is able to save through the cross.  Why not come to the cross, make him your focus.  Not on the cross of wood but on the person of the cross.  Believe on the Lord and you shall be saved.  It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me.  That is all we have for eternity.  Christ died; God is satisfied.  Is it enough for you?  Will you trust him tonight?