Peter Brandon delivers a powerful sermon on 'The Cross of the Lord Jesus,' emphasizing the significance of Christ's sacrificial death. He explains how Jesus' death was prophesied long before it occurred, highlighting the pain and suffering He endured, and the profound love behind His sacrifice. Brandon addresses common questions about the necessity of the cross and the shedding of blood, ultimately revealing that Christ died for our sins, making the message personal and transformative. He illustrates the importance of recognizing that Jesus' death was not just for humanity but for each individual, inviting listeners to embrace the forgiveness and love offered through the cross.

Now I want to speak on this great subject, the cross of the Lord Jesus. I'm just going to read a few verses. 1 Corinthians 15 and we'll read from verse 1. Moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel which I also preached unto you which also ye have received and wherein ye stand by which also ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I have preached unto you unless ye have believed in vain for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received 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 and that he was seen of Cephas and then of the twelve and after that he was seen of above 500 brothers at once of whom the greater part remain unto this present that some have fallen asleep. Many people have put questions to me about the cross of the Lord Jesus in my own country for instance one lady said to me and she was an ardent fervent Roman Catholic a sincere lady she said do you believe that Jesus Christ was the most obedient son that ever lived? Yes. Do you believe that he was perfect? I do. Why did that perfect son say to his father on the cross my God my God why hast thou forsaken me? Would you forsake your son in his dying moment? Now can you see religious but she had a problem another lady put this question to me when I forgive my children I forgive them I don't demand the shedding of blood why should God demand the shedding of blood it was a problem to her now what I'm going to do is to speak about the cross of the Lord Jesus for a few moments and first of all I want to show you how he died then I want to show you who died then I want to show you why he died and then I'm going to ask an obvious question for whom he died first of all how he died now if we have in my mind that the Lord Jesus died like a martyr then we have missed the mark completely the Bible tells us and the apostle Peter is the writer that he was a lamb slain before the foundation of the earth and that meant before God created any matter on the blueprint of heaven was the cross of Christ so it was no afterthought immediately sin found its birth in our first parents in the presence too of Satan God predicted that the cross would take place and this is what he said I will put enmity between thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shall bruise his hill that means through the seed of the woman a man child would be born that would bruise the head of Satan and whilst bruising that head he too would be wounded and that was made four thousand years before Jesus came a king was actually writing under inspiration that meant his hand and his heart was being moved by God and as he was writing he wrote the very words that the Messiah would utter on the cross my God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring and that was actually written one thousand years before Jesus came a prophet by the name of Isaiah one of the greatest prophets and poets that has ever lived beautiful language came from Isaiah and this man got a vision of the cross 855 years before it happened and he gave such a description of that cross it's the finest description of Calvary that we have in the Bible and it was actually written 850 years before it happened and right in the midst of that beautiful sonnet on Calvary he wrote these words he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed isn't that amazing and then about 510 years before the Lord Jesus died the last man to get the vision of the cross was a man by the name of Zechariah and this is what he wrote a Waco sword against thy shepherd against the man that is thy associate smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered and that was the last prophecy in the old testament concerning the cross then there came into our world the greatest prophet of all John the Baptist a man that had a spine of steel and yet at the same time a heart that was tender for God he stood all alone and crowds of people came to him for he was the herald of the Messiah and one day he said this ladies and gentlemen you have been looking for the Messiah to come he is here and how did he introduce him behold the Lamb of God which beareth away the sin of the world immediately Jesus commenced his ministry he made this prophecy as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up and just when he was about to die he made another prophecy now is the judgment of this world now shall the prince of this world be cast out satan and I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me now I want to ask the question do you know of any philosopher any prophet any king that was prophesied to come into the world and die like Jesus that makes him absolutely unique but the death of the Lord Jesus was not only predicted it was painful in fact I was going to share with you some of the deeper sufferings but I think it would hurt you mentally and emotionally but the Lord Jesus was buffeted I don't like to use the modern word it means his face was punched beyond recognition first of all by the Hebrew police then by Herod's soldiers and then by the Roman and the Syrian Greek soldiers or the Syrian soldiers and what they did was this they stood about five yards from the victim and each one would throw their heaviest punch on his face as far as the Roman centurion and the Roman Syrian soldiers there would be 39 and these men would all weigh over 14 and a half stone and one by one would step forward and smash their heaviest blow in his face and the Bible said his visage was marred more than any man and that was the Christ then the Lord Jesus was scourged now I do wish I had a Roman scourge here and if you saw it you would see a cruel instrument it was a piece of leather about a yard long and it would be impregnated with lead and each of those soldiers that punched him would then heap their heaviest blow upon his back with the scourge and one by one would step forward and smash his back with this scourge until the scripture says his back was like a ploughed field then after the buffeting after the scourging he was crucified now ladies and gentlemen crucifixion was the worst form of torture that man has ever invented it defies description if I went into the details of crucifixion most of you would be feeling terribly sick and Jesus Christ the son of God the mighty Messiah the sustainer of heaven and earth was buffeted scourged and crucified and when they had done their ugliest worst he said father forgive them they know not what they do but you mustn't imagine that the death of Jesus Christ was languid the death of the Lord Jesus was powerful now can I explain it to you he suffered three hours before men and then he suffered three hours before God where he bore our sins in his own body on the tree and after suffering six hours there were three outstanding miracles first of all he cried with a loud voice now you know if a person has been suffering with a very painful disease and he comes to the end of his life if he's conscious it's amazing and if he can speak it's almost a miracle when the Lord Jesus endured the worst suffering that human beings can even describe he was able to cry with a loud voice my God my God why hast thou forsaken me and then finished and probably when he said the work finished that went round the hills of Judea so it was like a mighty echo that's not weakness that's power then secondly he bowed his head now I don't want to be facetious but if you fell asleep in the meeting now your head would drop when you go to bed at night and all your work is done and finished you don't drop your head you put your head back on a pillar now the word to bow when Jesus was on the cross doesn't mean to drop the head on the contrary the Greek word means to bend it back it's the same word the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have their nest but the son of man had not where to lay his head that means to put it back and when Jesus had finished his work there was only one place where he could rest and that was when the work was finished and he put his head back and said with a mighty voice finished and then the third thing he gave back his own life spirit to God now human beings can die and die foolishly by suicide secondly we can die by natural forces that we call death but no one can sit in a chair and give away his life you can't do it but the Lord Jesus when his work was all done gave back his own life force to God he said I have power to lay it down I have power to take it again and therefore when the Lord Jesus died on the cross no one took his life from him when he finished the work he became obedient unto death and gave back his life force to God no wonder as Christians we say hallelujah what a savior but we must get closer to the cross than that who was this Jesus Christ who was this son of Joseph the carpenter we must get his identity right now there are three witnesses first of all there's the witness of a penitent malefactor now I want you to look at this man's position his hands and feet were crucified and that meant his body at this particular time would be full of gangrene and it would be swollen twice its normal size this did not happen to the Lord Jesus because of his perfection secondly he would have bronchopneumonia fighting for breath and every little movement of his body would exaggerate the pain and therefore he had pains that really to us human beings were indescribable now we all know when pain is in wits are out if you've got an awful headache if you've got a nagging tooth if you've got indigestion it's hard to think and this man in the midst of all his deep sufferings got a revelation now that's a miracle and he looked at Jesus Christ and there must have been a little voice of the Holy Spirit saying do you know who that man is no it's God God and you know what he said dost thou not fear God seeing thou in the same condemnation what a revelation then being in the presence of the almighty God he examined his own heart and said we indeed justly the due rewards of our deeds now this is something that's interesting every person in the Bible that was made aware of God felt the awfulness of his own sin and this man felt the awfulness of his own sin and he looked again and he saw something that was exquisitely beautiful he looked at Jesus and said here's perfection and this is what he said this man has done nothing amiss and then he got the greatest revelation of all he saw that Jesus Christ was dying for his sins but he saw more than that he saw that he was going back to heaven and he saw more than that he saw although they had crowned him with thorns that God was going to crown him with glory and that Jesus Christ was going to be the king of the greatest kingdom ever and you know what he said in his dying moment Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom and Jesus turned to him and said today thou shalt be with me in paradise what a witness to his glory there was another man let me give you his background as a centurion he had been 18 months in the imperial guard on water train intellectually and physically and when he was passed out by the superior officer he had to come before Caesar and everyone shook when they came before Caesar they would climb slowly up the steps of the ascent they would move carefully toward the throne of Caesar and there by his throne there would be the golden eagle and before he approached Caesar he would kiss the golden eagle then he would fall before Caesar and this is blasphemy but I want you to hear the words and this is what he would say oh Caesar you are God and beside you none else and that's how a man became a centurion if a centurion failed in his business or in battle invariably he committed suicide if a centurion swore his allegiance to another deity he was immediately saddened this centurion had seen hundreds of people agonizing on the cross that was his job but when he saw Jesus Christ it was different he heard coming from his lips father forgive them they know not what they do it hit him like that he saw that mystical dark and knew it came from heaven he was terrified he saw the head of the Lord Jesus going back he heard the mighty cry finished he saw him giving back his own life force to God and then he threw his job to the wind he said truly this man son of God and he acknowledged the deity of Christ what a testimony but there was someone else you know when Jesus was alive God was so delighted with his son that he actually went to heaven and said this is my beloved son in whom I find all my delight just a few days before he died he said to the crowds publicly I have glorified it meaning his son and his name and will glorify it again but on the cross there was silence there was wasn't a voice from God the son said my God my God why hast thou forsaken me no voice then he said triumphantly finished no voice then they took him down from the cross and buried him no voice but the third day came and all the almighty God and the Holy Spirit must have said something like this we're going to demonstrate now that he is the son of God we're going to ratify every claim that is made concerning his deity we're going to confirm all the work that he did on the cross when he bore the sin of the world and we're going to do it in such a way that it will be indisputable and you know what the almighty God did he raised him from the dead in such a way that he would never die again when the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead he died again when the Lord Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead she died again when he raised the widow's son of Nain that son died now notice the difference when God raised him from the dead forgive my excitement it's so wonderful he raised him in the power of an indissoluble life now ladies and gentlemen the resurrection is indisputable we can bring it into any law court and argue in its favor it's not a fairy story it's a fact and when God raised Jesus from the dead he was confirming all he said all that he did on the cross and he made him the universal savior so can you see the one who died was the creator think of it now why did he die why was there darkness why did he say my God my God why has thou forsaken me why was he called the lamb you know if we go back to the old testament and we go back to that old economy and I want you to do that in your imagination we'll imagine a boy about 18 or 19 who has reached the age of responsibility and he looks worried and his dad comes to him being an orthodox Jew and he said laddie you look very worried I'm concerned about you in fact I've been in your bedroom and you're not sleeping properly that's right dad what's causing you to be so worried I hope you won't be cross with me but I've broken some of the commandments what the ten commandments yes what one have you broken I've told a lie you've told a lie laddie that's not Moses's commandment that's God's but I've told it dad and what else I've stolen some money from mother a shekel well it says thou shalt not steal dad I'm guilty before God now the Jews were wise people they knew the deadly seriousness of sin we cover it up the Jews in that day knew that it could cripple a nation well he said son you know what you've got to do I can't go with you you're 19 you're responsible to God you must go to the flock you must take a lamb you must take it for a sin offering and he would go to the flock and he would pick out the best lamb it had to be one year old without spot and without blemish and he would tie a rope around its neck and he would take it to the door of the tabernacle that was a mobile church and then a priest would come out to meet him all dressed in white and he would say something like this is it a worship offering I'm sorry no what is it a peace offering no it's a sin offering what have you done I've broken the commandments I'm guilty well lady you know it means you dying or the little lamb the lamb and so he takes the lamb and he does this he lays his hand upon the head of the lamb and he confesses his sins and in the sight of God his sins were transferred on the lamb then he takes a knife with tears in his eyes for he loved a little animal and he killed him and then the blood would then the priest would take the blood and split the animal open and the inwards and he would pour the blood at the bottom of the altar and touch the horns of the altar and burn the innards on the burnt altar or the brazen altar then he would say take the lamb lady and he would hold that lamb and he would be saying something like this you died for my sins and he would be choked then he would take the lamb outside the camp and there would be a roaring fire and the priest would say now throw the lamb in the fire and that fire would speak on the judgment of God upon sin and he would throw the lamb in the fire and he would say something like this that lamb has borne the judgment of God it was a symbol when Jesus died on the cross he was God's lamb and on God's lamb the son of God he laid all the sins of the world and he was made so realistically one with our sins he cried the language of a man or a woman in hell my God my God why has thou forsaken me now would you mind if I point it he loved you so realistically that he died for your sins and that's what Paul says Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and then when it was all over he said with a mighty voice finished now there are two ways you can say finished sometimes you've been washing and you've been working at it all day and then you put it out on the line to air and down comes a shower and then you're tired and worn out and you take in the washing you throw it in the chair and you say I'm finished that's the bad way but the good way is this a brilliant artist was painting his masterpiece and it took him 21 years to complete it and then he put the last spot of paint on the canvas and then with tears running down his cheek he threw down the paintbrush and said finished it didn't mean he was finished but the work was finished when Jesus was on that cross he said finished the work was done what has happened the fire consumed a little lamb but note the difference the fire of God's wrath fell upon him but he consumed the fire he exhausted him so that he could say finished the work is done and therefore God can righteously now forgive us once and for all because of the blood that was shed at the cross now there comes the great mystery you know ladies and gentlemen I've been preaching the cross for 51 years and it always moves me because I was saved through the preaching of the cross I never get tired but I've learned this I can preach that Christ died for the people's sin until I'm blue in the face and I'm completely exhausted but nothing happens until God says let there be light and there comes a moment when God gives you light and the cross becomes personal it's not Jesus Christ dying for the world it's not him dying for the church it's not him dying for your family it's Jesus Christ dying for you now I can't make the cross individual it's only the work of the Holy Spirit and I believe he's doing that with one or two right now for the first time you're beginning to see if you were the only sinner that ever lived his love for you is so great that he would actually die for your sin then when you see that sight that it's personal it becomes terribly painful you say this Lord Jesus are you dying there because I've broken some of the commandments yes are you agonizing there because I've lost my temper and get irritable and jealous and selfish yes are you dying there for all my sins yes and are you dying there because I've got a sinful nature the source of all my sins yes now would you mind a bit of drama when that hits you it's like a thunderclap in your mind you'll say this oh God I never knew my sins were so deadly serious to cause his death but he won't leave you there the moment you are broken and you begin to realize that your sins cause that horrible death he will show you something that's very beautiful he will show you that he loves you and wants you and he will induce you by his love ladies and gentlemen you'll never be loved like your creator loved you he loved you unto death and that the death of the cross and that's the love that he has for you right now and that proves he wants to forgive you he wants to save you he wants to give you eternal life how do I know that he died for us and in a meeting like this the Lord Jesus comes to you and he wants to give you that forgiveness he's no longer on the cross he's risen and in a simple meeting like this he comes to us and offers us forgiveness and salvation now how does it happen we were having some meetings in Brisbane this would be 1980 and there was a young couple coming every night from the United Church and he was the Sunday school superintendent and his wife was responsible for the infants and I think she had about 60 little children under her care a fine couple and one night I was speaking on the cross it was an Easter Sunday and I was preaching on that scripture Christ died for ourselves and I looked out over the congregation and I saw something that was infinitely wonderful I saw that young couple getting a revelation and you know what I saw both their heads down and they were weeping then I saw them switching off from me and they were praying then as I went on preaching I looked again and I could see radiant happiness and I knew what had happened the revelation had come they knew that Christ died for their sins and they were broken they knew that he loved them unto death and they were helped and then they switched off from me and just received the forgiveness of sins that came through the blood of Christ then I made the appeal if anybody wanted to speak to me would they come and have a chat with me in the vestry I was sitting there quietly and there was a knock on the door and I said come in it was this young couple and he was the speaker and he said we are Methodists good in the United Church yes lovely I'm the superintendent and my wife is responsible for the infants lovely we've been teaching the children all about the cross that's wonderful we taught them that scripture that you gave tonight Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures he was buried and then he rose again the third day according to the scriptures then he stopped and you know when a man moved emotionally he is a little shy to show his emotions he turned away he looked down he said I never knew that he died for my sins my sins my sins I said do you know now yes he says in that meeting I bowed my head and just asked the Lord to forgive me and cleanse me through his precious blood and his wife was shocked she says dear that happened to me too and I said I saw it all happen how did you when I was preaching and he said the peace of God filled my heart and I've received the forgiveness and I know now the meaning of Easter and this is what he said Christ died for my sins and entered into peace oh I wish that Easter blessing for you all