Thank you for listening to another edition of WZYN's Preaching Time. This broadcast spotlights Bible preaching that will feed your soul. Visit WZYN's Sermon Vault at WZYN.org to download this sermon and many more helpful Bible messages. Now for today's preacher, Justin Cooper, with a message entitled, His Cross. You know, the preaching of the cross is of them that perish foolishness. And it's foolish to the world. Why would you go to church when they're just asking you? Just don't go. That's foolish. Why go? Right? Why get up early on a Sunday morning and put on a suit and tie or a Sunday dress and go to church? That's foolishness. It is to them who perish. And there was a day when I would have thought the same thing until I met the man that she sung about, realized the veil was gone, and got born again. And now it's the power of God unto salvation. Thank God to everyone who believes. This morning, Colossians chapter 2. Let's look in verse number 13. We'll read down through verse number 15. If you're able to stand, let's stand together. And we'll just stay in these three verses for the message today. And I just want to show you a great truth. in these few verses. I've been preaching through the epistles of Paul on my radio broadcast, verse by verse, and I just got through the book of Colossians and got hung up on these verses, and so I want to share with you what God did in my heart when I was reading these verses. Verse 13, the Bible said, "...and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." I want to draw your attention to a phrase, a phrase that's full of hope, grace, mercy. Verse number 14, the end of the verse, there's a statement made, the Bible says, to His cross. For a little while this morning, I'm not going to focus on COVID. I want to focus on the cross, if we can. And I'm glad you'd say, well, Jesus was nailed to a cross. Yes, but He also nailed some things to His cross. He didn't hang there as a victim. He hung there as a victor. And for a little while, let's think on that phrase, nailing it to His cross. Lord, I pray for Your power to preach. I pray You'd help this Bible truth to be presented clearly. Help us to see it. The way you'd have to see it. I think we'd rejoice if we're saved. If there's one here today who's not born again, I think they'd run to an altar and cry out to you for salvation so that they can leave this place saying, I'm glad it's been nailed down. I'm glad it's nailed to the cross. Meet with us, I pray. Thank you for our church in Jesus name. Amen. You can be seated. Since the fall of man in Eden, a dark cloud of condemnation has hovered over the head of every sinner. The Bible says, even right now, the wrath of God abides upon those who are lost. The lost person lives their life every single day, many times ignorant of the truth. They're only one moment away from their own meeting with God. If we could see with God's eyes today, we'd see the storm clouds of His fury and the hammer of His judgment even now hanging above every lost man, woman, boy, and girl who's still breathing air. Don't forget the truth. The Bible says God is angry with the wicked every day. They live their life, and it's there. They do their own thing, but it's there. They might not even acknowledge the truth, but it's there. The hell that those who've already died lost are suffering through as you sit in a church pew is just one heartbeat away from every individual who's living today yet without Christ. Think about this for a moment. For the lost person, every sin they commit is recorded. Every transgression is marked. Every shortfall is noted. Every iniquity is numbered. Every misstep, every misspoken word, every evil thought, every unholy action, all of it is written down and added to their account. It's like the old song says, the old account was large and growing every day, for I was always sinning and never tried to pay. The Bible says just one sin is enough to separate us from God for eternity. Look, could you imagine having to stand before God with a lifetime of sin still written down on your account? One day every person is going to meet God face to face. The holy God. The righteous God. The just God. And to think that some will stand before God with every sin they ever committed still on their account. The lost person at this moment is still in bondage to their sin. Sin holds them captive. It has them in a stranglehold. Sin poisons their life like a snake and it tugs at their actions like a puppet controlled by strings. Every day they live, they lust and crave after sin. All the while, sin loathes them and sin kills them. Right now, for the lost man, listen to me, condemnation is upon them. The wrath of God is stored up against them. Hell is prepared to welcome them. Death is ready to pay them the wages due because of their sin. Now, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to live life like that. I wouldn't want to have to live my life with the storm cloud of condemnation ever hovering over my head. I wouldn't want to live life with every transgression margin, every sin still on my account. What a horrible place to live with the wrath of God. One moment. away from falling upon your head. But making it even more sincere and severe than that is this, the law of God. God's righteous standard that no man can measure up to. God did not give us His law for salvation. God gave you and I the law for exposure. God's law is not a veneer that covers up the imperfection. God's law is a looking glass that shows you and I that all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. In fact, if you read the Bible, and I'll read the verses in a moment, the law is what gave life to sin. In Romans 7, verse 9-13, listen as I read it, For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good. Was then that which is good make death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good. That sin, here it is, by the commandment, might become exceeding sinful. So God gave the law. Why? To show man that he's a sinner. And the Bible says in Galatians, by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. That means this, good works aren't good enough. Man's morals are not moral enough. Ordinances and observations are not good enough. Rituals and routines, all for short of satisfying the demand of God. Nothing I can do, nothing you can do, can shatter the condemnation that rests upon us. Nothing we can do can appease the wrath of God. No action man can commit will ever measure up to the law, and the law will look at man's actions and say, justified in my sight. The law mocks at simply going to church. The law laughs at our attempts to be holy. The law would look at our religious observances and simply shake its head. The law does not cleanse a man. The law simply condemns a man. The law does not make you righteous. It cannot make you righteous. The law was given by God to show us we have no ability to ever become righteous on our own. You can do what you will, try what you will. You can keep this, do that, do the other, but there's nothing about the law that can make a rebel from God right with God. A person can give all their money. You can do all the good you can. You can get baptized in every body of water in the Silicon Valley by every preacher you could pay enough to baptize you, and still yet the law would not be satisfied. God gave us the law to teach us that sin is exceedingly sinful. And the wages of sin is death. And man is not able to do away with the sin on his own. And that lesson must be learned before Jesus calls us into eternity. Because here's what the Bible says, if you don't let the law be your teacher, the law will be your judge. Romans 2.12, for as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law. And as many have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. Now let me say this, you know you, and I know me. Would you want to stand before God with every sin you ever committed, from first breath to this moment, your heart beating a few, still on your life? Would you want to have to stand before a holy, righteous, just God with every wrong thought, every wrong word, every wicked deed, every covetousness, every bit of gossip, every sin, small, big, whatever you ever committed still on your account? That's enough to make you tremble in your pew to think about the prospect of standing before a pure, holy, righteous God with all that sin still on you. But let's break it down. What about just today? Would you want to stand before God with just the sin you committed today still on your life? Am I the only person who cussed out the alarm clock? Hello? No. I wouldn't want to stand before God with just the sins I committed in the last hour still on my account. Think of it, standing before holiness wrapped in unholiness. Standing before righteousness in your unrighteousness. Standing before Him who is without sin, full of your own sin. Would you want to measure your life up against His life? Would you want to have to measure your intentions up against His intentions? Would you want to have to measure your words up against His words? Would you want to have to try, listen to me, and stand before God and make the case that somehow I am just as righteous as God is? That would be a horrible thing to consider. Think of the weight of that. Living life every day, every sin still on you. Sins of the past on you. Sins of the present on you. Sins yet to be committed in the future still upon you, written down on your account. Picture how pitiful it would be with every instance of iniquity marked by God and standing in front of Him. That's why the Hebrew writers said it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Now, I'll say this, there must be a way to wipe our slate clean. There must be a way. to scatter the clouds of condemnation away. There must be a way to appease the wrath of God. There must be a way to satisfy the just demands of the law. If I'm ever going to have entrance into heaven, be accepted in the Beloved, and have the judgment of the law satisfied in my life, there has to be a way to have forgiveness, wipe it out of the way, nail it down, and say it's over. Now, with that truth in mind, I want to draw our attention to a powerful phrase in the Bible. It says it right here. nailing it to His cross. Nothing is as gruesome as crucifixion. The cross is more than an ornament for your necklace. It's more than an architectural addition. It's a horrible, gruesome thing to consider. Crucifixion is such a heinous act, it wouldn't be hard to believe it was invented by the devil and delivered to earth from hell itself. Historians say around 70 A.D., the Roman Empire would crucify those they deemed to be criminals at a rate of 500 per day. That means 500 people every day were taken and nailed through their hands and nailed through their feet and fixed to two crossed timbers to suffer in agony until life left their bodies. Thousands of trees were cut down. Thousands of boards were formed. Those thousands of boards were then joined together. Thousands of men and women would have forded the gulf of time and stepped off into eternity from those crosses. Think of it with me. Arms hyperextended. Muscles strained, nerves burning with pain, lungs struggling to gather even the tiniest gasp of air. The Bible refers to the cross as a cruel tree, and one commentator said it was like dying a thousand deaths to hang upon a cross. At some points in history, crosses would have covered the hillside in more abundance than trees. And the cries of those being crucified would have drowned out the singing of the birds. It was a horrible death, a humiliating death, a haunting death, a hovering death. And the Bible said, Cursed is every man that hangeth upon a tree. It was very gruesome. Imagine as women would watch as their husbands were nailed to those crosses. They would watch as their sons were fastened to those trees. Men would witness as their friends and countrymen were fixed fast to the timbers throughout history. And even in our day, there have been countless people who've hung on countless crosses. But I want to tell you today that there's only one cross that we can say is His cross. And there's no cross like that cross, those other crosses offered dead. But thank God His cross wrought hope for you and I. Those other crosses meant hopelessness. His cross meant life. Those other crosses meant defeat. His cross put us on the winning side. Those other crosses held men that time has forgotten. His cross held one that eternity won't forget. Can I say for all eternity, way to be thankful this morning. We had a shout till we see Jesus face to face. Thank God we can say the veil is gone. Our sin is gone. Why? Because of His cross. Consider it with me just for a moment. In your mind, would you see it? Picture Calvary. See Jesus there. See his cross. The cross is upright. Its victims fixed to the timbers. See Jesus there. The hammer having fallen upon the head of the nails. See Jesus, his twisted branches covered with thorns have been beaten down into his forehead. See his cross. Fresh blood runs from the wounds in His hand. His back is torn by the whip. A crowd of scorners have gathered around the base of His cross. They mock Him. They revile Him. They laugh at Him. See Jesus there. See His cross as pain overflows its threshold. His beard's been torn from his cheeks, suffering cycles throughout his body. See Jesus, his bruises rise upon his face, his joints are dislocated, spit runs down his brow. Agony is amplified as every nerve in his body is pulsing with pain. See Jesus in your heart and mind today. See his cross, the one who healed the sick is nailed to the cross. The One who helped the hurting nailed to the cross. The One who sought the forgotten nailed to that cross. The One who blessed those who cursed Him nailed to the cross. The One who fed the hungry is now nailed to His cross. That's the Great Shepherd dying for His sheep. That's our Lamb going to His own slaughter. That's our Great High Priest. Preparing Himself to be my sacrifice and yours. See Jesus as He hangs there. He thirsts and they give Him vinegar. He cries and they sneer. Those hands that had fed the multitude are pierced by the nails. Those feet that walked on water are now fixed fast. That voice that said, Peace be still, now cries, My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me? See Jesus there. See His cross. He's gone from heaven to earth in glory to humanity and is thrown to Calvary. See Jesus there, His disciples are hiding. His mother watches on in agony of soul. He that was the hope of so many is hopelessly hanging on a tree. Darkness covers the world. At midday the sun is snuffed out of the sky. In will might the sun in darkness hide and shut its glory in. When man, or when Christ, the mighty Maker, died for man, the creatures sin. The rocks break in pieces. The temple veil is ripped asunder. All of heaven turns away as the Son of God hangs, bleeding and dying between heaven and earth. The Roman soldiers sneer. The rabbis look on with satisfaction. The devil thinks he's won the day. But I'm glad to say never before, never since and never again has the effect of our sin been seen. But can I say never before and never since and never again has the love and grace and mercy of God been on display like it was that day at Calvary? And I think that's why the writers said, when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gains I count but loss. contempt on all my pride. From that moment his voice rang out in Bethlehem's manger, up to that second he cried, it is finished on the cross. Jesus lived in the shadow of Calvary. Every step he took was me moving him closer to a skull-shaped hill and a blood-stained cross. And now we come to Colossians and find a powerful phrase, a wonderful phrase, a phrase that sets us free this morning. The Bible says he took it out of the way. How? He nailed it! to His cross. And we can have faith today, believe Him. Every sin ever committed, every transgression, every misstep, every misspoken word, every shortfall in our lives was taken by Christ and fixed fast to His cross that day at Calvary. Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction to me. You see what the Bible says? Let's look at the verses. It says in verse 13, and you being dead in your We were dead spiritually without God, alienated, cast off, unreconciled to God. We were unlawful, if you will, out of fellowship with God. But not just that, and the circumcision of your flesh. We were out of fellowship and out of covenant with God. There was nothing we could do to stand the gulf. There was nothing we could do to make a way. There was nothing you or I could do to take the burden of guilt and shame off of our lives. But thank God, Jesus made a way. I'm glad the verse didn't stop in the first half. The second half gets much better. The Bible says, have He, watch what it says, quickened, made alive, quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Here's the good news. Jesus died to forgive your sin. Jesus died to take the penalty away. Jesus died to pay the debt in full. God sent His Son, Jesus, and He died on that cross for our sin. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. for what the law could not do, and that it was weak to the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." So here's what happened. We had a big need, but thank God we have a big God, and He met that need through His Son on Calvary. Now, verse 13 starts off with what you were. Then it transitions into what he did. And thank God, the end of verse 13 and verse 14 shows us where we stand now with him. You read on and verse 14 shows us what Jesus did. Look at the first part of the verse. It says, "...blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way." Now, that phrase, blotting out, What's that mean? That means erasing. That means covering over. That means hiding. That means concealing. Picture it in your mind as that man or that woman stands before a righteous God. Every sin still on their account. Every deed done wrong still on their account. And there's the account in front of them. But then all of a sudden, every bad thought, every bad word, every idle tale, every lie, every sin written down, Jesus walks over and He takes that record And he sees that, that black ink of sin. He takes his red blood and covers up that black stain of sin. And he blotted it out from the cross of Calvary. You say, that man's condemned to die. That man's guilty of sin. No, my record's been cleaned. It used to look like that, but Jesus blotted it out. They say those rabbis wouldn't scribe the right on that parchment in those days that the ink wouldn't soak into the paper. It wasn't acidic enough. And if they wanted to reuse the sheet of paper, they just take their thumb and they wipe it away like it never happened. been there before. Now, that might not encourage you. Maybe you're perfect today, but that encourages me just a little bit to think that my record of sin, the day I got saved, not just the sin I'd done, but the sin I will do and do now. Can I say it was all taken out of the way? It was blotted out by Jesus when He hung on the cross of Calvary. Gone, gone, gone. Yes, my sins are gone. Every violation, gone. Every accusation, gone. Every situation, gone. Blotted out by the hand of Jesus. Now that's enough right there to make a Baptist shout, till Jesus comes. But it's just like Jesus to do us better than we deserve. And the verse doesn't stop with blotting out. But it goes further than that. He didn't just blot it out. Thank God the Bible said those ordinances, that law that was contrary to us, He took it out of the way. He didn't just wipe the slate clean, He tore the slate up. Just threw it away. What sins are you talking about? I don't remember them anymore. Now you and I forget on accident, but thank God He chose to forget on purpose. Blotted out, took it out of the way. Isaac Watts asked the question, Was it for crimes that I had done?" He groaned upon the tree. And I'd answer him and say, absolutely. And watch what the Bible says, and I'll be through. He nailed it to his cross. In Bible times, it was not uncommon for a guilty man to be crucified. And to mock him and scorn him, they would list the crimes he was guilty of. And they would nail it to the cross above his head. In fact, Pilate could not find an offense against Jesus, so he had to sarcastically say, Hail, King of the Jews. And they fixed the sign above his head. Also, they would say when a man owed a debt to a debtor, when that debt was paid in full, that debtor, back in those days, would drive a spike through it, signifying the debt had been paid in full. So here's Jesus dying on Calvary. See Him there. The crown of thorns pressed to his brow, the nails pierced through his hands. There's a sign above his head. No, not the one that you read about in the scripture, but see with the spiritual eye and watch as that hand fastened fast, unfastens itself and takes that divine hammer and begins to fix another sign there on the cross. And you say, Jesus, what's that? What are you nailing up there? And he'd look at you and say, I'll tell you what I'm nailing up there. My life for yours. That's what I'm nailing up there. Your sin for my righteousness. That's what's happening right now. He said every bad thought, every idle tale, I tell you there's more than Jesus dying on the cross. Thank God my sin was dying on the cross. My transgression was dying on the cross. My penalty and pain and judgment and the wrath of God was dying on that cross. Can I say greater love hath no man than this? And a man lay down his life for his friends. Oh, but what wondrous love is this, O my soul, He spared that dreadful curse for my soul. And that's what He did on that cross. He's becoming sin for me. Thank God in resurrection, He's becoming justification for me. At the right hand of the Father, He became righteousness for me. And on that cross, as those nails were driven through His hand, Jesus wasn't hanging there a loser. He was hanging there a winner. Because as they nailed our Savior to the cross, He took our sin. He took the law of God. He took every ordinance written against us. it to His cross. It died there at Calvary. I love the language of the King James Bible because the King James Bible presents this truth in such a beautiful way. You see what it said? It doesn't say they nailed it to His cross. They said He nailed it to His cross. You say, how can that be? It's because He's God and you're not and I'm not. He's got all power and we don't. And thank God only He could bring life through His own death. Greater love. There is none. He blotted out my transgression. He took it out of the way. And then finally, he nailed it to his cross. Jesus vacated that cross. But not my sin. Not the demands of the law. That died at Calvary. Let me give you a couple of Bible verses. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 41. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 1 Peter 2, 24-25, "...whose own self bear our sins, and His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed." Romans 8, 1, "...there is therefore now no condemnation..." That's a pretty good statement. "...to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Wherefore, remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcised by those who are circumcised in the flesh, made by hands that at that time He was strangers from the covenant of promise. Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. But it says, now you may deny by the blood of Christ. God coming in His love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Do you comprehend what that means for you today? Can I comprehend what that means for me today? Thank God you don't have to live under the weight of your sin. You don't have to stand in judgment in front of God one day and try to measure yourself against Him. But thank God for imputation. Do you know what imputation means? Imputation means to give something to someone who's totally void of whatever that is you're giving them. That's like a country explanation. To give something to somebody that they don't have. They're totally void of it. And you lay it on them. So here's what was happening at Calvary. Picture it with me. We traded out condemnation for justification. He gave it to us. We traded out alienation for reconciliation. He gave it to us. We traded out justice for mercy, because He gave it to us. We traded out law for grace, because He gave it to us. We traded out wrath for His peace, because He gave it to us. We traded heaven for hell, because He gave it to us. We traded death for life, because He gave it to us. Now, don't shout me down when I'm preaching good, but I like that. He even traded up the grave for resurrection because He gave it to us. We traded up the cross for the crown because He gave it to us. We traded up judgment for promise and damnation for salvation. We traded books. I went from the book that recorded my sin, and now my name's written down in the book of life up in heaven. I've traded out rags for robes, and chains for liberty, and fear for faith, and emptiness for satisfaction. Now I have His righteousness. Now I stand before God clean. Now I'm in the family. Now I'm part of the bride. Now I'm a block in the building. I've been grafted in. Thank God, heaven-bound, with the hammer that... Why? Because Jesus nailed it to His cross. If you're here saved and can't shout over that, then you either have laryngitis or you're brain dead. Say amen right there. And if you're here lost, you need that. Because right now you're either living post-nailing it to the cross or pre-nailing it to the cross. And you might have wandered in here with all that weight. Could you imagine right now you're in a church pew, all that sin is still on you right now. And if you were to die right now, you'd have to try to measure your righteousness up to His. You'd have to measure your record against His. But with amputation, Jesus said, here, you take my record, I'll take yours. I was studying for this message, and I found an old hymn that John Wesley wrote, and it was the truth of the sermon. And here's what it says. Listen to me, I'll close. The Messiah dies, cut off for sins but not his own, accomplishes the sacrifice, the great redeeming work is done, it is finished, all the debt is paid, justice divine is satisfied, the grand and full atonement made, God for a guilty world hath died. The veil is rent in Christ alone. The living way to heaven is seen. The middle wall is broken down, and all mankind may enter in. The reign of sin and death is o'er, and all may live from sin set free. Satan has lost his power. He has swallowed up in victory, saved from the legal curse I am. My Savior hangs on yonder tree. See, there the meek expiring lamp is finished. He expires for me. Accepted in the well-beloved, enclosed in righteousness divine, I see the bar to heaven removed, and all thy merits, Lord, are mine. Now, today, you can either rejoice in that truth, or you have to make a decision whether or not you want to stand before God wrapped in your own righteousness, or you'd like to get saved today and stand before God, because you will see Him one day wrapped in His righteousness. Now, this isn't the topic of the message, but that's why we still come to church when they say, please don't go to church. Why? Because we're just sinners saved by grace. And this God we preach about changed our eternity, and we can't help but see and speak and say, we have to. Because I was going to hell and now I'm going to heaven. Maybe as a Christian you've wandered in here, and listen, you're only the devil. He'll make a stoop out of your shoulder, whisper in your ear, and he's an accuser. But I said this the other day on the radio, you introduce your accuser to your advocate. And let him rub his nose in the blood on the mercy seat, and remind him that it was nailed to the cross. If you're today and you don't know for sure if you were to die, you'd be ready to meet God. Don't put it off, don't play around. You say, I've made a profession. I'm asking when you're born again. Do you know for sure Heaven's your home? Because if you're to die before you get to the house unsaved, you'll stand before God. You just enjoyed listening to His Cross, a Bible message by Justin Cooper. Tune in tomorrow at the same time to hear more good Bible preaching. Also visit wzyn.org to find more helpful sermons.