Is 53:4-6
4 "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the
LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
In Rom 1:16 we read, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew
first and also for the Greek."
And in 1Cor 1:18, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
Some use the cross as a charm in their ears or around their neck,
but that will not profit them.
The cross is where Jesus died for us. That's where He shed His
blood - unlike the blood of bulls and goats or any other human being.
There are those who still sacrifice animals for their problems,
but that cannot solve your problems.
The word of the cross is the power of God unto salvation. God put
all our afflictions and transgressions upon Him. On the cross the Lord Jesus shed His
Precious, Divine blood for us. The Lamb of God was bruised for our iniquities. He was
wounded for our transgressions. By His stripes we are healed.
A blind man came for prayer to receive his sight. When he was
challenged to first confess his sin before he was prayed for, he replied that he doesn't
have sin. He lived in darkness.
The Gospel was then explained to him. We all have sinned and our sins nailed Jesus to the
cross. When we have sexual relationships outside of marriage we sin and nail Jesus to the
cross. When we slander, steal, etc we nail Him to the cross.
In Hebrews 6:4-6, we read that if we sin deliberately after knowing the truth we are
crucifying Christ afresh.
So whatever sin you do, you are crucifying Christ.
As these things were explained to him this blind man exclaimed, "I'm starting to
understand that my sin crucifies Christ." There was godly sorrow and true repentance.
So the message of the cross is not to be taken lightly. That's
where our sins were placed upon Him. He had the power to come down from the cross but He
chose to remain there for you and me. He knew why He was hanging there, because of all
your and my sin from our youth, to reconcile us to God.
In John Bunyan's book "pilgrim's progress" Christian was
sighing about his burden of sin. He looked for someone who could deliver him from his
burden of sin, until he came to the cross where the Lord delivered him from his burden. He
was a changed man after that.
There are those who have this burden of sin, they experience godly sorrow for their sin
and find relief at the cross of Calvary.
We are forgiven our sin and set free from the power of that sin at
the cross of Calvary.
That's why Paul could write that the cross is the power of God unto salvation. There are
many things we can be ashamed of but never of the cross of Christ.
To those who are perishing the word of the cross is foolishness.
We spoke about godly sorrow that brings repentance: Even if you
confess your sin, without godly sorrow you will go back to your sin like a sow being
washed going back to the mud. If there is godly sorrow in your life your life will change.
Whether you were in ancestral worship or in sexual sin. If you have godly sorrow you will
be a different person. It will be evident to all. Jesus will become precious to you and
you will love Him above all else.
John Brown wrote a song about how the gospel should go throughout
the whole world. On His deathbed he said, "I am very weak, even reading tires me, the
smallest exersion tires me, but fellowship with Jesus doesn't tire me." So he called
two of his sons, also preachers, and with peculiar earnestness he addressed his two sons,
"labour for Christ while you still have strength. How I regret that I didn't do more
for Christ. There is no one like Christ. Had I 10000 hearts they should all be given to
Him.
If God should make me young again I would study to devise better and wiser means to win
more souls for Christ."
Do you understand what he says? Give your all to Him. Is this your
feeling towards Christ? If not, shame on you.
Do you live your one life for Christ, or are you enjoying your
salvation alone and cannot care less for those going lost?