[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Wednesday, March 27, 2013

[Paul]

Well folks, for the next three nights, beginning now, we are going to focus our messages on what some Christians call Holy Week, the last week of the earthly ministry of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I hope that you will enjoy these messages and that they, in some small way, will bless you.

I don't know when this was written, but it was done by Billy Graham.  This article is entitled "Three Things In the Cross," rendered as follows:

In the cross of Christ I see three things:  First, a description of the depth of man's sin.  Do not blame the people of that day for hanging Christ on the cross.  You and I are just as guilty.  It was not the people or the Roman soldiers who put Him on the cross--it was your sins and my sins that made it necessary for Him to volunteer this death.

Second, in the cross I see the overwhelming love of God.  If ever you should doubt the love of God, take a long, deep look at the cross, for in the cross you find the expression of God's love.

Third, in the cross is our only way of salvation.  Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by Me." (John 14:6)  There is no possibility of being saved from sin and hell except by identifying yourself with the Christ of the cross.  If there had been any other way to save you, He would have found it.  If reformation, or living a good moral and ethical life would have saved you, Jesus never would have died.  A substitute had to take your place.

The Bible says, "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22).  Many people have said to me, "How repulsive! You don't mean to tell us that you believe in a slaughterhouse religion!" Others have wondered, "I do not understand why God demands blood." Many people have wondered, "I cannot understand why Christ had to die for me." Today the idea of the shed blood of Christ is becoming old-fashioned and out of date in a lot of preaching.  It is in the Bible.  It is the very heart of Christianity.  The distinctive feature of Christianity is blood atonement.  Without it we cannot be saved.  Blood is actually a symbol of the death of Christ.  And all your sins are cleansed away by the death of Christ upon the cross.

And there you have Mr. Graham's short but insightful article on the cross and its meaning for all of us.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul