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I think this is my favorite day of the year.

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And I love the music of Easter.

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I was thrilled by the choir's presentation this morning of the scripture from 1 Corinthians

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15 and Revelation.

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And tonight our hearts will be no less thrilled as they sing to us the cantata, presenting

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the experience of the centurion.

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I can't emphasize enough how I hope that you'll be back to share the evening service with

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us at 6 o'clock.

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There's an article in the newsletter today I want to draw to your attention.

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Not that I want you to read it at this point, but on the back page there is an article entitled

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I think something like the Order of the Mustard Seed, which tells of an opportunity of prayer

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and involvement in the lives of our missionaries that I hope that you will take advantage of

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and be involved in.

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The title of the message today is The Cross Has No Meaning.

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The title appears to be a contradiction to the truth, to what the Bible says, to what

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we have long preached, and to all that you've ever heard about the cross.

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So before you stone me for false teaching, please hear me out.

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I want you to notice that after that statement there are three dots indicating that the statement

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does not stand alone.

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There is more coming.

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I can assure you that I have not changed my theology regarding the cross.

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I am not denying the centrality of the cross work of our Lord.

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However, by completing that sentence, I want to show you that the cross has no meaning

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in certain contexts.

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For example, the cross has no meaning apart from the resurrection.

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We affirm that Christ's death on the cross was essential for our salvation, and for good

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reason.

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God's righteous judgment on sin is the death of the sinner.

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He said, the soul that sins, it shall die.

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Therefore, to save sinners from their deserved death, Christ must die as their substitute.

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He must vicariously give himself a life for them.

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That is why he came.

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In Mark chapter 10 verse 45, he said, the Son of Man has not come to be served, but

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to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

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I want you to notice the preposition, for.

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It is a specific one in the original language that means in the place of.

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He has given his life in the place of many.

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That is, as a substitute for the many.

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He died vicariously, is the word.

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This is affirmed elsewhere in the New Testament.

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For example, in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, it says, for God has made him who knew no sin to be

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made sin for us.

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That word for is a different preposition in the original language that can have one of

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two meanings.

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It can mean in the place of, again, or for the benefit of.

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But however you take it, the thought is the same.

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That God has made him, Christ, who knew no sin, to become sin on the cross for our benefit

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or in place of us.

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In order for him to be qualified to be a substitute in our place, two things must be true of him.

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In the first place, he must be willing to die.

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I invite you to open your Bible to John chapter 10 and look at his own words in the eleventh

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verse.

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Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.

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The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

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Verse 15 of John 10, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my

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life for the sheep.

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Verse 17, for this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take

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it again.

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No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative.

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He goes on to say, I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up

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again, this commandment I receive from my Father.

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And so let there be no question as to the willingness of Christ to die in our place.

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He said, no one forces me to do this.

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No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself.

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He was willing.

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And in addition to being willing, our substitute had to be worthy.

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He had to be worthy to die in our place.

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Is he such?

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Well, words are used to describe him like blameless, spotless, pure.

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The Lord Jesus Christ needed not die for his own sin, because he had no sin.

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He was truly man, but he was blameless and without sin.

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And as such, he was worthy to die in the place of sinners.

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So he was willing and he was worthy.

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The result is that he provided for sins forgiveness and for the gift of righteousness to all who

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would believe.

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He died for our sins.

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But my point is this, that that cross has no meaning apart from his resurrection.

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You see, his death alone could not save us.

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He must also be raised from the dead, just as literally as he died.

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He must be raised again.

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Even as his death was an event in history, so must his resurrection be.

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Otherwise, his statements regarding his sacrifice must be held in suspect.

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The trustworthiness of what he said must be questioned, for he said, I lay it down and

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I take it up again.

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And he himself said it would be three days later.

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Now if in fact he did not rise from the dead three days later, how do we know that his

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statements about laying down his life for our sin were accurate and trustworthy?

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You see, it was essential that he be raised from the dead.

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To prove his statements regarding his death for our sakes.

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He must be raised from the dead, otherwise we have no assurance that God accepted his

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work.

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That's the meaning of Romans 4 25, where the apostle points back to the saving work of

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Christ and he says, he who was delivered up because of our transgressions and was raised

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because of our justification.

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The apostle is saying there that he was raised so that we might know that our justification

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stands before God.

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His resurrection is proof.

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It is the validation of his death as being sufficient for our sins.

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If there were no resurrection, we would not have that assurance.

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He must be raised from the dead, otherwise we have no hope ourselves of escaping the

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grave.

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The apostle writes to the Corinthian church in that great fifteenth chapter, the most

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complete chapter in the whole New Testament on the doctrine of the resurrection.

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And he says in part, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.

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You are still in your sins.

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Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

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If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

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He must be raised from the dead, or there is no hope of escaping the grave.

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And those who have gone to the grave before us in Christ have perished.

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They have not fallen asleep in Christ.

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They are not absent from the body and present with the Lord.

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But they are gone and forever gone, never to be seen again.

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They have perished if Christ be not raised.

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That's why I say that the cross has no meaning apart from the resurrection.

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The two must be wed forever together.

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Secondly, I'd like to say that the cross has no meaning apart from the law, the law

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of God.

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The cross is indeed the expression of God's love.

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John 3.16, which many of us could quote this morning, for God so loved the world that He

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gave, there's the cross, He gave His only begotten Son.

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Why?

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Because He loved the world.

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But God proved, God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,

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Christ died for us.

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That's the proof of His love.

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Here in His love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the

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propitiation or the satisfaction for our sins.

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So you see, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the expression of His love.

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But beloved, it is more than that.

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The cross is also the evidence of God's holiness.

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The cross stands for the holiness of God, such as that expressed in the moral law which

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we call the Ten Commandments.

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You see that rugged cross, that bloody instrument of execution reveals the justice of God which

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was required due to the broken law.

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Galatians 3.13 says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse

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for us.

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What is the curse of the law?

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It is that the one who breaks it must die.

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That is the judgment of God's justice.

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That is the expression of God's perfect holiness.

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The cross has no meaning apart from that.

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Walter Chantry says, our Lord's wretched suffering must be tragic and senseless in the eyes of

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any who have no reverent esteem for the perfect commandments.

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On the cross Jesus was satisfying the just demands of the law against sinners.

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If sinners are unaware of the Decalogue's requirements for themselves, they will see

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no personal significance in Christ's broken body and shed blood.

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Without knowledge of the condemnation of God's holy law, the cross will draw sympathy, but

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not saving faith from sinners.

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And he is right.

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You see without this aspect, that of the law, the cross can be reduced to mere sentiment

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or emotion.

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The cross can become only an object of curiosity or perhaps at best an example, a moral example

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of sacrifice which all men should follow.

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Apart from the cross, the law rather, the cross has no meaning.

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It is only as the sinner sees the sinfulness of his sin through the application of the

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law to his heart that he will understand the necessity of the cross.

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That is true of even such a one as the Apostle Paul himself, for he was a great enemy of

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Jesus Christ in the message of the cross.

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But he himself said, is the law sin?

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May it never be.

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On the contrary, this is his testimony, I would not have come to know sin except through

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the law, for I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, you shall

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not covet.

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Paul is saying there that he would have had no sense of guilt for sin.

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It would not have been expressed within his own heart personally if it had not been for

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that tenth commandment that hooked him.

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The one that said thou shalt not covet is that commandment which brought the Apostle

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Paul to the end of his self-righteousness as a Jewish Pharisee.

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It was as he saw himself as he really was, a greedy, selfish, covetous sinner, that he

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realized that the law which he exalted fell upon him to slay him because he had broken

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it.

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By the way, this is the same commandment which Jesus used, isn't it, with the rich young

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ruler who came to Jesus and said, Lord, what must I do to have eternal life?

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After an initial conversation about the word good, Jesus went on to quote to him some of

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the commandments.

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The young man said, I think with a sincere heart, Lord, I've kept all of these commandments.

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You see, he was looking at them from an outward expression.

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He hadn't killed anyone, he hadn't murdered, he hadn't stolen, and so on.

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And then Jesus said to him, go and sell everything you have and give the money away, and then

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come and follow me.

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Jesus did not quote the tenth commandment to him, but he put his finger on that sin

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in that young man's life, and that commandment, thou shalt not covet, was activated in him,

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and it showed to him, the young man, his own sin, for it says that he went away, grieved.

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He did not go away satisfied with himself.

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No longer could he be smug in his self-righteousness, but suddenly that word from the Lord had revealed

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to him the greed, the covetousness within his own heart, and that law exposed his sin.

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And so it is with the ten commandments in all of us.

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God did not give the ten commandments to us, that somehow by keeping them we could climb

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those steps to be worthy to be saved.

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As it says in Romans 320, by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in God's

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sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

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The function of the law is to make us aware of sin within our hearts, not to give us a

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ladder to climb to heaven.

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I plead with you, if your religion today is based upon keeping the ten commandments or

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obeying the golden rule, that religion is false.

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It will never bring your soul to heaven.

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It will never make you right with God.

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Will you understand that God gave that law that your own personal sin might be exposed

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to you, and that then you might flee to the cross to find their mercy?

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The purpose of the law is to put the sinner to death, that is to slay him to his own hope

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of self-salvation.

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The cross has no meaning to you, though, apart from the law.

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Aware of seeking to win to Christ too quickly those people who have no felt need for a Savior,

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that is, those who have no sense of being lost.

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For it is only as the sinner sees himself utterly undone, helpless and hopeless in his

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condition before God, that he becomes a viable candidate for the saving grace of God.

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It is only when he sees his own natural hostility toward God that then he will flee to the cross

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and there find forgiveness and the gift of eternal life.

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You see, the cross has no meaning apart from the law.

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And finally, I want to say that the cross has no meaning apart from personal faith.

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That is, there is no personal vital meaning to the individual himself, to the cross, apart

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from his own personal faith.

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One can sing about the cross, and it's said that the second favorite hymn of all Americans

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is the old rugged cross.

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One can sing about the cross, one can wear it as a piece of jewelry about the neck, one

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can make the sign of the cross when praying, one can remember the cross through ritual

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and ceremony, one can even, like some cults in the Philippines, allow himself to be crucified

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on a cross.

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But the cross sacrifice of Jesus Christ is without saving effect to that person, without

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his own personal faith.

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It is only the powerful saving message of the cross of Christ.

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As it is understood and personally appropriated by faith, that will save the soul.

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That is exactly what the New Testament teaches.

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I remind you of Philip, who was sent by God down to the desert to there meet the Ethiopian

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official on his way back home from a feast in Jerusalem.

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The man had already been led by the Spirit of God to be reading from Isaiah 53.

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And his question to Philip was, who is this talking about?

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Is he talking, is the prophet talking about himself or someone else?

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And it says there that Philip opened the scriptures and began to preach to him Jesus, who is the

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fulfillment of Isaiah 53.

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And as they went down the road conversing this way, the man said to Philip, look here

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is water, what prevents me from being baptized?

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And Philip said to him, if you believe, you may.

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You see Philip was emphasizing to him and to all of us as it is recorded in scripture

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that it is not some ritual we go through like baptism.

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That is not what saves us.

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Baptism pictures something outwardly, but it does not save the soul.

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He says if you believe, you may be baptized in confession of your faith.

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So said Peter to the household of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10.

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Listen to his words.

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He says, we apostles are witnesses of all the things Jesus did both in the land of the

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Jews and in Jerusalem.

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They also put him to death by hanging him on a cross.

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God raised him up on the third day and granted that he should become visible not to all the

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people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is to us who ate and drank with

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him after he arose from the dead.

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He goes on to say, he ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly to testify that

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this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.

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Of him all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in

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him receives forgiveness of sins.

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You notice again the emphasis on personal faith.

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Everyone who believes.

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It is not enough for one to go through a ritual of baptism as a baby.

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A little water on the head does not save the soul.

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It does not bring one into the family of God.

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Only personal faith, intelligent, understandable faith makes one a child of God and brings

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to him the forgiveness of sins.

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Not only did Philip and Peter say this, but I point now to the Apostle Paul.

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Listen to the words of this man.

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Brethren, sons of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, to us the word

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of this salvation is sent out.

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For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, recognizing neither him, Christ, nor

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the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfill these by condemning

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him.

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And though they found no ground for putting him to death, they asked Pilate that he be

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executed.

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And when they had carried out all that was written concerning him, they took him down

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from the cross and laid him in a tomb.

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But God raised him from the dead.

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And then he went on to preach the resurrection and his conclusion comes to these words.

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Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through him, through Christ, forgiveness

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of sins is proclaimed to you.

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And through him, everyone who believes is freed, that is, is justified from all things

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from which you could not be freed through the law of Moses.

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You see, whether you turn to the preaching of Philip the Evangelist, or you turn to Peter

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the leader of the Twelve in Jerusalem, or you come to Paul the great apostle of the

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church, you find the very same message.

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It is Christ's death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, and the necessity of personal

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faith in that living Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

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That's why I say that the cross has no meaning apart from personal faith.

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Now, to believe is more than intellectual assent.

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I assume that you are here this morning because you have some kind of belief regarding these

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things of which we've spoken.

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But please, let's be clear about what faith is.

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Faith really involves two actions.

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On the one hand, faith involves repentance.

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That word means a change of mind.

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To have saving faith means that one changes his mind regarding his current object of trust,

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whatever his life is currently focused upon for salvation, be that some church, or be

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it science, or money, or self-works, or religion, or some ritual or ceremony.

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Saving faith means that I change my mind about what I have been trusting.

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It's repentance on one hand, but on the other hand, it's reception.

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Saving faith means I stop trusting this, and I do now actively commit myself to a person,

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and that person is Jesus Christ.

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I receive Him for who He is as God come in the flesh, and for what He did, His death,

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burial, and resurrection.

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Saving faith means that I make Him, Jesus Christ, the sole object of my faith.

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Faith is not an emotion.

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It is not something that we work up inside.

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Faith is a decision.

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Faith is a commitment.

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Faith is an attitude or a disposition of trust.

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Saving faith is placed in Jesus Christ.

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As someone has said, our faith is only as valid as its object.

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My friend, what is it that you are trusting this morning, hoping for the salvation of

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your soul?

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The cross has no meaning apart from personal faith in the living Son of God.

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In truth, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the most important events in all

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of human history.

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You consider anything you wish to consider.

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There is nothing that is more important in all of history than this, His death and resurrection.

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His coming, His cross, His resurrection have affected you in ways in which you know nothing

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about, perhaps.

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But please understand that there is no saving effect until you act to believe on Him who

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died for you and was buried and rose again on the third day.

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Charles Blondin was known as the Little Wonder.

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He was a French acrobat and tightrope walker who enjoyed doing dangerous stunts.

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In 1859 and again in 1860, he performed one of the most amazing stunts in the annals of

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those kinds of events.

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There was a rope that was stretched across Niagara Falls both of those years and this

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man walked across that rope.

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Not once each year, but numerous times.

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It was 1,100 feet across the American side of the falls, 160 feet down to the raging

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waters below.

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Not only did he walk across the rope, but he walked across it blindfolded.

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Then he walked across it with a wheelbarrow.

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And believe it or not, he even then walked across it on stilts.

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After accomplishing these amazing feats, he turned to the huge crowd that was watching

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him and he asked them if they believed that he could take another person across with him.

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And they all applauded and dissented, yes, you can do that.

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And so then he approached one particular man in the crowd and asked him to get on his back

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and go with him.

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The man refused.

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You see that is the difference between mental assent and real belief.

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You know what Jesus Christ did for you.

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But have you committed yourself to Him alone for the saving of your soul?

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By the way, the history records tell that there was one man who got on his back and

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went across the Niagara Falls on that tightrope.

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That's faith.

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I think my favorite story to illustrate faith is a very simple and homey one.

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It is the story of a little boy who was looking for his father at dusk one evening.

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This was a number of years ago when it was necessary for people to dig wells.

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That's rarely done these days as it used to be in the older days in our nation.

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He finally came to this large hole in the ground where his father had in fact been digging

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all day with a shovel to create a well for his family.

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And the little boy looked down into the darkness and he said, Daddy, are you down there?

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And out of that darkness the father said, Yes, son, I'm here.

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He said, Daddy, I want to come down there where you are.

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Most little boys are that way, aren't they?

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And the daddy said, Well, son, just jump, I'll catch you.

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And the little boy said, But Daddy, I can't see you.

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And he said, Son, just jump, I'll catch you, I promise.

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The little boy walked back and forth around the lip of the well and said, But Daddy, I

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don't know where you are.

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I can't see you down there.

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The daddy said to the little boy, But son, just jump, I can see you.

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You may feel I can't see God.

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How do I know?

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What's my assurance?

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My friend, you may not be able to see Him, but in this book He has given you His solemn

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eternal Word.

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And He says to you today, Believe, believe.

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Blessed are they that have not seen and yet who believe.

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Just jump.

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Take Him in His Word.

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You may not be able to see Him, but He knows you and He sees you.

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And He will save you.

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Let's pray.

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Father, thank You for the message of the cross.

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Thank You for the personal message that everyone who believes on the Christ who died on that

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cross and who was raised from the dead, everyone who believes will receive forgiveness of sins.

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I pray that You will cause that message to be quickened to hearts across this auditorium

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this morning.

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Father, we come from many different backgrounds, some of us perhaps from religious backgrounds,

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others of us from even agnostic pasts.

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We come today to the cross and we cannot escape this message.

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I pray that the cross will today have meaning to every one of us.

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Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed.

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I wonder just before we bring the service to its conclusion, if you, my friend, would

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pray a very simple prayer of faith and receive Jesus Christ, in your heart would you pray

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something like this and mean it?

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Lord, I turn from what I've been trusting in.

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I turn from my sin.

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I know that Jesus died for my sin and rose again.

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And I receive Jesus Christ as my Savior at this moment.

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No longer do I trust what I have trusted, but Jesus, I trust You and I leap into Your

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arms believing that You will catch me and save me.

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With our heads still bowed, I wonder, my friend, if you prayed that prayer, if you'd be willing

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to lift your hand just silently where you are.

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It is not my intention to embarrass you or to come back to where you are at all, but

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I'd like you, as an indication of that prayer and the sincerity of your heart, to lift your

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hand where you are, where you're seated there, so that I might pray for you in closing.

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God bless you.

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I see your hand, ma'am.

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Anyone else?

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Yes, yes, sir.

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This means yes, I see your hand back there.

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Yes.

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God bless you.

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By lifting the hand, what you're saying, Jesus Christ alone is my Savior.

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I believe in Him.

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Anyone else?

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God knows your heart.

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Father, we thank You for these who today have personally appropriated that message that

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we have proclaimed of Christ's death and resurrection.

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Now I pray that as your Spirit brings that message into their hearts and they trust it,

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that you will cause them to grow in their faith.

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I pray that that growth will be healthy.

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Lead them into the things of the Lord in the word and in prayer, into fellowship with a

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local church where they can be nurtured and encouraged.

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Lead them in the decision of public testimony through baptism.

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But thank you for this beginning of their walk with you where their life has been turned

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around because of your faithfulness.

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In Jesus' name, amen.