David Ravenhill emphasizes the profound significance of the cross in the Christian faith, arguing that many believers have a skewed understanding of its purpose. He explains that the cross is not merely about personal salvation but about God's desire to reclaim His creation for His glory. Ravenhill outlines three stages of spiritual maturity—children, young men, and fathers—highlighting the importance of moving beyond a self-centered faith to a life dedicated to serving God. He urges the congregation to recognize that they are not their own, having been bought with a price, and to live in a way that glorifies God. The sermon concludes with a call to surrender one's life fully to Christ, embracing His lordship.

Let's look to the Lord in prayer again, shall we, tonight. Father, once again, we ask that you would, Lord, breathe life into this Word. Lord, even as it was inspired so many years ago when it was first written, we pray, Lord, you'd inspire it all over again tonight. Lord, take it beyond the letter that kills. Father, bring the life of God into it. Open our eyes, open our understanding, open our hearts, Lord, to comprehend your purpose, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. If you have your Bible tonight, turn with me to John's epistle, or the epistle of John, and I want to speak to you on a theme that has been one of the major themes of my own ministry for the last 35, 37 years, 38 years now, I think it is, I'm losing track, I'm getting old, but the theme of the cross, because I am convinced that the church really doesn't understand why Jesus Christ died. Now that may sound very, very basic to many of you, you may think, boy, I grew up in church and that was the very first thing I learned, but you know, I really believe with all my heart we don't understand the atonement or the death of Christ. We have a very lopsided, if you like, man-centered view of the cross, and yet the cross is the very center, the very core of our being as believers. It's the very foundation on which our faith is built. Paul says, I preach Christ and Him crucified as of first importance, not as a, you know, something on a scale of one to ten, you know, the ninth or the tenth thing, no, the number one issue Paul proclaimed was the cross. And so we need to understand the cross, it's the very crux again of our belief system, if you like. So that's what we're going to be talking about. I'm going to lay a little bit of a foundation, first of all. So here in the epistle of John, chapter 2, verses 12, 13 and 14, John says, I'm writing to you little children. Then he says, I'm writing to you fathers. Then he says, I'm writing to you young men. He is not literally writing to the children. He's writing to three levels of spiritual maturity. The Christian life, if you like, can be divided into three categories that we all will go through, I trust we will at least. The first one is, I write to your children. We begin the Christian life the way we begin the natural life, we begin as babies. Nobody is ever born into the kingdom of God a mature saint, at least I haven't found any yet. We all begin as little baby, as newborn babes, the Bible says, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Just as a baby is put to the breast and as it begins to draw that life out of the mother in the literal sense, then it begins to grow and it begins to develop and so on, we need to get into the word of God. So he says, I write to your little children because your sins are forgiven you, for his name's sake. The realization that we're sinners, the realization the blood of Christ has paid again for our sin and that we can be washed in the blood. There's no greater realization than that, that we pass from death unto life. All things are passed away, all things have become new. The wonderful thing about a baby is, it has no past. A baby may toss and turn, cry at night because of a number of reasons, but you'll never find a baby tossing and turning, regretting something it did five years ago, because there was no five years ago. It is a brand new being, it has no history and so if any man being Christ, he's a new Christian, there is no history. All things have gone and those things that have condemned us in the past, those things that the enemy has used to bring condemnation, they're all over the moment we are in Christ Jesus. So he says, I write to your little children, your sins are forgiven you, for his name's sake. He goes on to say to the children in verse 13, the latter part, I've written to you children because you know the Father. When we are born again, we come into a new family, a new kingdom, a new relationship, new brothers, new sisters and so on and so forth, just as when you are born in the natural, in a normal home at least, you are born into loving parents, a father and a mother, and you come to know your father and mother. In this case, he says, you know the Father. Now that's the beginning. Then he says, I write to you young men, I write to you young men, he says, because you've overcome the evil one. It isn't too long after we are born again, maybe a couple of months, maybe a couple of years, whatever the case may be, but eventually we realize we're in a spiritual battle. The enemy is out to undermine everything that God is doing in our life. We've got to learn to resist, we've got to learn to overcome. And so he elaborates a little bit more in verse 14, I've written to you young men, because you are strong, the word of God abides in you, and you've overcome the evil one. If I were to put that at least in a more logical sense, I would write it this way, I've written to you young men, because the word of God abides in you, because the word of God abides in you, you're strong, because you are strong, you can overcome the evil one. We will never ever overcome the evil one in our own strength. And the only thing that gives us strength is the word of God, the revelation of who God is and so on. And so we need to saturate ourselves in the word of God, that gives us the ability then to resist and to overcome the enemy. Now he deals with fathers. Notice there is a progression now, a development in spiritual maturity. Begin with babes, then young men, and then fathers. And he says, I write to you fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. And he says that twice in verse 13 and then in verse 14. Now I've always been a little bit disappointed in John's revelation. You know, I would have thought, you know, because we're talking about this, you know, growth of maturity, that he would have said, I write to you children, your sins have forgiven you, you know the Father, I write to you young men, you're strong, the word of God abides in you, you've overcome the evil one. I write to you fathers, because you've been on at least 340 day fast, you know, you've cast out half a dozen demons, and you know, you've exercised all nine gifts of the Spirit, you've memorized 500 scriptures, you've led, you know, 25 people to Christ, you've had a home group, you know, for the last five years in your house, or you know, something that seems to have a little bit more, you guys are really mature. And all he says is, I write to you fathers, because you know him that's from the beginning. And then I've had to ask myself, what's the difference between knowing him that he's from the beginning as a father, and knowing the father as a child? Doesn't really seem to say much. In other words, it doesn't seem to, you know, reach this great sort of crescendo of of maturity. It seems to sort of go up and then just drop. Well that's not really the case. There is a difference between knowing the father, knowing him that is from the beginning. My wife and I have three daughters. Our oldest one is in China. She's a missionary there, been there for, I don't know, 10 years or more. We have a married daughter in Dallas, and four grandchildren, another married daughter in London. So they're sort of spread out around the globe. I don't know, you know, what we did to deserve that. But anyway, at least we have the grandkids down the block a little bit. 94 miles, it's a long block. But for most of my life, I existed for my children's sake. That's the only reason I existed. It was daddy do this, and daddy do that. You know, daddy teach me how to ride a bicycle. Daddy push me on the swing. Daddy, you know, buy me an ice cream. Daddy take me to Toys R Us. Daddy, you know, whatever it may be. And as they got a little more mature and older, it was daddy, I'm off to college and I need a car. You know, the toys just got more expensive. But basically, I existed for their sake. And I thank God that God condescends to that level of our maturity. But you see, the real key here is knowing Him who is from the beginning. A father sees things from a totally different perspective than a child. A child lives in the present. All he can think of is the immediate realm. You give him a toy, he's happy. His sister takes it away. Her brother takes it away. He bursts into tears, you know. I mean, he just lives in that moment of time, if you like. He's not thinking of tomorrow. Whereas a father is. A father's looking beyond the immediate. That's why he disciplines us. Because he knows that ultimately, if we are not disciplined, we're going to be a menace to society, and so on and so forth. And so he sees the end from the beginning. Now, if I were to give you three words to summarize these three levels, the first one would be regeneration. Not salvation. Salvation is an all-inclusive term that deals with the moment you get saved, the whole process of maturity, and right until the time we stand in our glorified bodies before the Lord. That's the word salvation. But the word regeneration, a new birth. And then for the young men, the word maturation. They've begun to mature. They've begun to develop. Begin to stand on their own two feet. And then the word to the fathers, the word consummation. The bringing together, the tying together of all things, all the sort of bits and pieces, if you like, putting the jigsaw puzzle together. Now, I've said all that to say this, that fathers know the beginning of things. The beginning of things is absolutely essential. In fact, John, more than any other writer, talks about the beginning of things. His gospel. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God. His epistle. What was in the beginning? What we've heard and seen and our hands have handled concerning the word of truth. The book of revelation. He talks about the alpha and the omega. The beginning and the ending. Something like 24 times, John uses this word beginning. And so the beginning of things is important. You see, we will never ever understand the cross until we understand the beginning of things. It's important. You see, the cross really, if you like, is God's medicine for our sickness, our sin, our selfishness. But what are we to look like when that medicine takes effect? In other words, what are we to look like when we are healthy, so to speak? Let's imagine that I demolish this podium. Totally take it apart. All these pieces of wood and all the sides and the shelves inside and so on. And I totally demolish it. And then I say to somebody, is there a carpenter here? And somebody said, I'm a carpenter. And I say, would you put this back together again? Now, let's assume they've never seen it in its finished form, in its original condition. Now, we could end up with a nice coffee table. We could end up with a bookcase, maybe a dresser of some sort, maybe a casket. You know, I mean, goodness knows what we would end up with because we haven't seen the beginning of things. Now, we need to understand the cross from the beginning of things. The cross, in other words, is God's means of bringing us back to God's purpose. But what was God's purpose? You see, Jesus made the statement, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man has to be lifted up. Now, you can look at that in a very superficial way and say Moses made a brazen serpent, put it on a pole, lifted it up. Whoever looked at it, you know, they had life. Jesus was put on a pole, so to speak, a cross. He was lifted up. And we can look at it that way. But then we can go a little bit deeper than that. Why did Moses make the brazen serpent? Children of Israel sinned. They rebelled. And as a result of their sin, God sent death. That's the wages of sin is death. And these serpents came into the camp of Israel. People were dying by the thousands. Their life was ebbing away. And Moses cried out to God. And God said, make a brazen serpent, put it on a pole. Whoever looks at that brazen serpent, the moment they look at it, life will course back into them. And they will basically be restored to their original condition, if you like. They're no longer sick. Disease is no longer working in their bodies. They're going to be healthy just like they were before they sinned. As Moses lifted up the serpent, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up. In other words, the cross is to bring us back to God's original purpose and intention. Now having said all that, let's go back to the beginning. As you know, Genesis is the book of beginnings. It is an important book. It deals with the beginning of sin, the beginning of discipline, and beginning of the family, marriage, and all those things. But in Genesis chapter 2, we have man in his original condition, if I can put it that way. And what we're going to do now for the next couple of minutes, we're going to try and get into the mind of God as to what why he created man. We're trying to understand what was in the mind of God. What was he after when he created man? After all, his crowning achievement when he created the earth, you know, was not Mount Everest. It wasn't, you know, some other area. Wasn't the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Islands. It wasn't Hawaii. You know, he didn't stand back and say, wow, you know, Hawaii. You know, now his crowning creation was when he created man in his own likeness, in his own image. He wanted sons and daughters. So here we have man in his original, if you like, pristine condition. Genesis 2 verse 15. The Lord God took the man and placed him or put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it. Now there are three things we want to look at here. The word submission, the word location, the word vocation. First of all, this principle of submission. The Lord God took the man. Not simply God, but God in his lordship. God in his sovereignty. God as master, as creator. The Lord God took the man. It doesn't say that man objected. It doesn't say that man resisted. It doesn't say that man dug in his heels. It doesn't say that there was a fight going on and man saying, God, I don't want to do that. And you know, we don't have heel marks all the way across the Garden of Eden sort of thing. No, man was totally subservient, submissive to his Lord. And so God was able to take him without any resistance on man's part. And then God placed him in the geographical place of God's choosing. He doesn't give choices. He doesn't say, you know, Adam, you know, I've just finished this incredible garden. I mean, if you're into roses and rhododendrons and you know, I mean, this place is gorgeous. There's a river that flows through it. I mean, if you love flowers and fruit and so on, I mean, man, it's unbelievable. On the other hand, if you're into sunsets, I mean, I'm just, I'm just finishing this Villa that overlooks the ocean and the waves and the sunset, you know, where would you like to be at? No. God says, Adam, this is where I want you right here. And he places him in the geographical place of his choosing. And then in that place, he reveals why he placed him there. He gives him a vocation. I have got a purpose for you. I want to serve me. This is how I want you to serve me. I want you to cultivate and keep the garden. Now, that was man originally. If we are to understand the cross, and we'll get around to this as we go through this message, I believe that God is wanting to bring us back to that place where at any given time he can reach into your life and my life without any objection, without any resistance. And he can place us in the geographical place of his choosing, whether it's here in Arizona or, you know, Texas or wherever it may be, Africa, India, China. And in that place, reveal why he placed us there. I placed you here in Africa because I have a will for you to do. My will. Now, turn with me to the book of Colossians. Like I said, all of these verses now are going to deal with the mind of God as to why he created man. Colossians chapter 1, verse 16. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens on earth, visible, invisible, thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities. All things have been created by him. Let's stop there. I trust you don't have a problem with the fact that God created everything. I never have had. The Bible says by faith we understand the worlds were framed. They were spoken. They didn't evolve. They were spoken by the word of God. They were created. I don't have a problem with the earth being a billion years old or 10 billion or a zillion billion, whatever it is years old. I believe God can create something right now with vintage. He's God, isn't he? After all, he created man with vintage. He wasn't born a baby. He turned water into wine. It was wine. It had vintage. And so God can create a rock right now that is brand new, just created, a new carbon 14 dated, and it could be a zillion years old. I mean he's God. So I don't have a problem with the creation. All things were created by him, and then notice, and for him. Now we're getting to the real reason. You see most of us as believers have no problem announcing that God is the God of creation. He is the creator of all things. But why did he create all things? They were created not only by him, but for him. You and I were created specifically for God. We need to understand that. All right, then into Revelation chapter 4. Verse 11. Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For thou didst create all things. Once again, the declaration that God is the creator, and then he says, and because of thy will they existed and were created. Because of your will, everything was created. King James says, and for your pleasure they were created. So not only did God create everything, but he created everything for his pleasure, for his will, for his purpose. Over into the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 10. For it was fitting for him, speaking of Christ, for whom are all things and through whom are all things. Let me put that in the order of the other verses. For it was fitting for him, through whom are all things. In other words, everything came into being by him, and then for whom are all things. So it's not only from him, but it is for him that all things were created. Romans chapter 11. If I said to you, Romans chapter 12, verse 1. How many of you could begin to quote that? Good, some kids back there. I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God. How many of you can quote Romans 11 verse 36? All right. Verse 36 says, from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Here is this great revelation that Paul has. He says, listen, from God everything has its origin. Everything came from him. And then he says, and everything exists through him. In him we live, we move, we have our very being. All things are held together by the word of his power. So God is not only the author of all things and the creator of all things, he is the sustainer of all things. So it is from him and through him, and therefore Paul says, and to him are all things. Now one of my pet peeves as a teacher, are chapter divisions. They were not inspired. They were written in there, you know, by some old monk or something, I don't know, hundreds of years ago. Help us find our way around the Bible a little better. But these were letters that Paul wrote. And so let's read it the way Paul wrote it. From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Therefore I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of God, that you give back to God that which is from him, that which is sustained by him, and therefore that which belongs to him as your reasonable service. Makes a lot more sense, doesn't it? If you see it in the context of what Paul is saying. Listen, everything came from God. Everything is sustained by God. Everything belongs back to God. That includes you. Give back to God that which is from him and through him and to him. It's 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 6. Yet for us, Paul says, there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for him. One Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things, and we exist through him. Notice Paul has got this thing, sort of, it's like a record that's stuck. You know, this revelation. Everything is from him. Everything is through him. Everything is for him or to him. Let me read it again. There is only one God, he's the Father, from whom are all things. One Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things, and we exist through him. And then he says, and we also exist for him. So it is from him and through him and for him or to him. Again. Now we're getting into the mind of God. These men, Paul was a father in the spiritual sense. He saw the big picture. He saw the beginning and the end of things. And he's able to go back and sort of plumb the mind of God and get into the heart of God's purpose. And he says, God, you created everything. But not only did you create everything, you sustain everything. Not only do you sustain everything, but everything belongs to you. You created it for your pleasure. You created it for your will. You created it for your purpose. Now with that sort of a background, we need to look at the cross in the light of that. Now before we look at these scriptures, they're all going to deal with the cross or what we call in theology, the atonement, the death of Christ. Let me give you an illustration. Let's suppose my wife and I have been married for one year. We actually celebrated, I think it was 37 years last year or was it 38? Don't quote me. Please don't tell my wife. But by way of illustration, one year. Let's say that when we got married, we had a number of debts and we have determined we are going to pay off those debts before we buy any other items. Let's also assume that in the area of town, the community we live in, over that first year, we have established a reputation of being Mr. and Mrs. Clean. Everything about our lives is immaculate. The way my wife keeps the house, you know, the way we dress, our clothes, the windows are always sparkling. I mean everything about our lives is neat and tidy and immaculate. And so we've earned the reputation in the community we live, Mr. and Mrs. Clean. Now, a year has gone by and we have paid off our debts and we've also accumulated $1,000. And I say to my wife one day, darling, you know, we have got to have our own transport. We've gone a year, we've sacrificed in order to pay off our debts, but we now have a thousand dollars and I am tired of calling, you know, the Smiths and the Browns and, you know, and so on to pick us up and take us places. It's getting embarrassing. Let's believe that we can buy a car for $1,000. Well, as you know, you don't get much of a car for $1,000. So I say to my wife, you pray and I'll go looking for cars. So she goes into the closet, I go looking down, you know, the car rolled there, all the dealerships and so on. And after much effort, I come across this car for $999. I mean, it is an old bomb, but the engine seems to run smoothly. And I drive it home. It's 20 years old. It's an old car. And this car is filthy. And so when I get it home, I drive it around the back of the house to keep it out of the view of the neighbors. And I begin washing that car. I take a great big bucket of water and I begin to wash that car, all the filth off that car. Then I take some solvent and I remove all the grease and grime that the soap and water won't remove. And then I cut and polish it. And believe it or not, it begins to sparkle like brand new. I mean, that color comes up, nice, rich, deep color. I do all the chrome work. That's when cars had chrome and, you know, blackened the tires and so on. I then tackle the inside of the car and I take the seats out and I vacuum the carpets. Then I shampoo the carpets and I armor all the dash and, you know, treat the upholstery with upholstery cleaner. And after a while, that car, I mean, is absolutely immaculate. There isn't a trace of dirt anywhere on that car. You can run your finger anywhere. That car is spotless. And then I go into the house and I take with me this bucket of absolutely filthy water. And all these rags and all these sponges and cloths and towels and so on, everything is filthy. And I pile it all up on the kitchen table. I go to the vacuum cleaner. I take the bag out of the canister and I rip the bag open and I shake out all the dust. And here is this huge mound of fluff and dirt and dust and dirty towels and everything else. And then I call my wife from prayer and I say, darling, come on, quick, quick, quick, look. And she walks into the kitchen and I say, can you believe that we got this much dirt for $1,000? I mean, this is unbelievable, isn't it? I mean, could you imagine that you could buy this much filth for $1,000? Now, obviously, she's going to be greatly upset. She's going to take my temperature, say you've been out in the sun too long, you've gone crazy or something. She's going to jump up and down and say, listen, you're crazy. Don't you understand? We hate dirt. We've got a reputation. We hate dirt. You're going to ruin our reputation. And you mean you took $1,000, our life-saving, all our hard work and you blew it on something that we hate? Now, obviously, that would be absolutely ludicrous to do something like that. Absolutely crazy. But that's what we think Jesus did on the cross. Now, why did I spend my life savings? Because I wanted the car. In other words, the object of my payment was not the dirt, it was the car. But because I am Mr. Clean, that car is going to be an extension of who I am. And so, therefore, that car has to be as clean as I am. Oh, in theological terms, it has to be righteous as I'm righteous. You see, you don't want people saying, you know, God used to be a holy God and he used to hate sin and so on and so forth. But, you know, he obviously doesn't hate sin anymore because all these Christians now sin all the time and they say they're Christians. And so, obviously, God's Lord is standard and he's not as fussy as he used to be about. No, no, we are going to be his representatives. Therefore, be holy as I am holy. And so, God has to wash us. But really, what he is after is the car. You see, God does not have a sin collection. He doesn't collect sins like you may collect coins or stamps or baseball cards or something like that. You know, he doesn't have all these huge leather volumes up in the library of heaven and he pulls one down when, you know, there's a little bit of peace on the earth, which isn't very often. And he gathers around some of his cherubim and seraphim and some of the archangels and says, hey guys, you know, have I ever showed you my sin collection? You know, big smile on his face, you know, I've got that greatest sin collection in the world. You know, I've been collecting for ever since the Garden of Eden. I've got more sins than anybody else. And see this one here? This is my pride and joy. It's the only one of its kind in the whole world committed by an old man up in the mountains of Tibet back in the 13th century. And I've got it. You see, God isn't interested in your sin. The Bible says as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sin, our transgressions from us. Another place, he says he's buried our sins in the depths of the sea. Corrie ten Boone says he puts up a little sign, no fishing here. Aren't you glad? You see, God is not interested in your sin. What he is interested in is what he created for himself. He wants it back. Now, having said that, let's look at some scriptures. And all of these scriptures deal with the cross. They all deal with the reason that Jesus Christ died. And it's important because this is the very foundation of all our belief system, is the cross. It's the basic foundation of our faith. If we miss it here, we're going to miss it everywhere. If we start off wrong, we're going to end up wrong. So Romans chapter 14, verse 7 through 9. Not one of us lives for himself. No one dies for himself. If we live, we live for the Lord. If we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. Whether we live or die, that's all inclusive of us tonight, right? Some of you are on your way out. But whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. Verse 9, for to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of the dead and the living. Why did he die? To re-establish Lordship. For this reason, he died. Take away your sin. Oh, that's part of it. But not the whole reason. For this reason, Christ died, that he might be Lord of the dead and of the living. Over into the book of Titus. Find the book of Timothy. Second Timothy and then Titus is the next door neighbor here. Titus chapter 2, verse 13, speaks about our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Verse 14, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed. Now, let's pause there. You and I are familiar with this side of the cross. We're familiar with this side of the cross because we are selfish people. The moment you are born in the natural, self occupies the throne of your life. And we cultivate that selfishness, don't we? As the time goes by, we become masters at getting our own way. A baby can be two or three days old and here it is all along. Middle of the night, no music playing, the lights off, no mommy around. No aunts and uncles ooing and aahing and saying how cute and beautiful. No little toys, no siblings around, you know, fussing around that little one. And that little one feels all alone, neglected in this world. And so it lets out a bellow. Mother hops out of bed, honor to whom honor is due. Comes in, picks up that little one, turns on the light, turns on the music box, you know, begins to feed it or rattle a few toys. All of a sudden it's the center of the universe again and it feels so good. After a little while, you know, now that it's secure again, it's put down to sleep. And next night, same thing. Mother comes running in, train up a mother in the way she should go. And when she's old, she'll not depart from it. And that little one learns to get his own way. Becomes five, six years of age. It goes to school. It's got older siblings and those siblings come home talking about examinations or tests. And, you know, now it's the little one's turn to go to school. And teacher says, oh, by the way, on Friday we're going to have a big test. And that little computer goes off in that little five-year-old's mind. Test, oh, you know, that's when they put you on the rack and, you know. Thursday night, goes to sleep thinking, tomorrow, testing. Wakes up in the morning, first thing on its mind, test. Goes down to breakfast, mommy, I'm not feeling very good. I got tummy ache. And mother's being trained by now and so she says, well, that's all right, Johnny, you can stay home. Of course, the school bus goes by and about half an hour later, a miracle happens. Instantaneous healings. Sovereign work of God. And all of a sudden, you feel fine. You get to jump on the trampoline or do whatever you can do and run around. And, you know, we cultivate selfishness. We know how to get our own way. We perfect that. Now the problem is, when we look at the cross, we look at the cross from a selfish point of view. What's in it for me? After all, our whole life has been looking after number one. So what's in it for me? What has Jesus Christ done for me? Well, he died to take away my sin. He died to give me a mansion over the hilltop. He died so that I could escape the flames of hell and eternal judgment and so on. All of those things. And so therefore, all I've got to do is come forward. The evangelist tells you, come forward and you'll be, you know, wealthy, healthy and, you know, whatever. You'll join the clan of the rich and famous. And so you come forward. I mean, what a deal. I mean, it's not going to cost you anything. All you got to do is just come forward tonight. Receive Christ and you can have, you know, all this peace, joy, happiness, forgiveness, cleansing, mansion over the hilltop, you know, and all of these things. Now that's the side of the cross we're familiar with. Obviously that's true because it says here, he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed. In other words, on this side of the cross, let's say the left side of the cross is what Jesus Christ has done for us. He has forgiven us. He's given us his peace. We have peace now with God. We're taken from one kingdom, the kingdom of darkness. We're brought into the of God's dear son. We have a new family, a new father, a new destiny. All things become new. Now we're familiar with that because we've all embraced that. But then there is God's side of the cross. You say, well, what about God's side of the cross? I mean, does God get something out of the death of his son? Well, he does. And so this side of the cross is God's side. And what does it say? Titus goes on to say, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. In other words, what the blood cleanses on this side, the blood claims on this side. You see, he went to redeem for himself what? A people. He bought the car, in other words. This side, he washes the car. This side, the car is his. It's the car that he was after. A people for his own possession. You've all got possessions now. Chances are, unless it was your birthday or anniversary or Christmas or something, you bought what you possess. You went into a store somewhere here in Phoenix and said, you know, I like that dress or I like that sweater or I like that coat or I like that watch or I like these glasses or, you know, whatever it is. And you forked over the money and that thing became yours. It became yours because you purchased it. And the Bible says that Jesus Christ purchased, he gave himself for us, to purify for himself a people. That's what he's after. You see, he wants back what he created. All things were created by him and for him. And the cross then is God's way of getting you back. 2nd Corinthians. Now again, all these verses deal with why Jesus Christ died. They're all very, very foundational to our belief. Verse 15, he died for all. That they who live should no longer live for themselves. Now notice why he died. He died for everybody, so we're all included. That we who live, that's again all of us, should no longer live for ourselves. Now this is why he died, notice. He died to deal with selfishness. Well, if we're not living for ourselves, because let's face it, prior to the cross, we live for ourselves. It's my money, my time, my happiness, my whatever. I'll go here and I'll go there and I'll, you know, play golf when I want to play golf. And I'll go to Hawaii when I want to go to Hawaii. You know, I mean, it's everything revolves around number one, me. But the Bible says now that we accept Christ, we are no longer to live for ourselves, but for him who died and rose again on our behalf. In other words, the cross is to radically change our direction. Our whole motivation in life should change if we understand the cross. I'm no longer now motivated by selfishness. I'm now motivated by pleasing God. That's what Paul says. I have as my ambition, whether at home or abroad, to be pleasing to the Lord. I'm living to serve him now. Prior to that, I lived to serve self. My whole life revolved around self. Now my whole life is to revolve around Christ. For me to live, Paul says, is what? Christ. When Christ who is our life shall appear. My life prior to Christ was self. Now when Christ who is my life shall appear, then we shall be like him. Revelation chapter 5. Now I'm giving you enough of these verses because I want to make sure you get it. I'm going to hang you with them. The Bible says the mouth of two or three witnesses. So we're going to go a little more than that and give you five or six or seven. Now this whole chapter is dealing, at least a lot of it, with the lamb. Verse six, I saw between the throne the four living creatures and the elders of lambs standing as if slain. Verse nine, just to put in context, and they sang a new song saying worthy art thou to take the book and to break its seals for that was slain. Notice the death of Christ. For that was slain. You died on the cross, in other words, and it's purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and thou has made them to be kings and priests. Why did he die? He died in order to purchase with his blood men, not sin. You see the washing in one sense, and take this with a grain of salt, is sort of a byproduct. It's you that he's after. He went to redeem for himself a people. He purchased with his blood for God. You see Jesus Christ didn't just hang on the cross to add to your selfishness and say, hey guys, you know, I'm dying to cater to your selfishness. I know you've always wanted a mansion over the hilltop. I know you've always wanted all these goodies and so on and so. I'm going to die to make your selfish life even nicer. No, he died for God to purchase for God with his blood men from every tribe tongue and nation and to make them into kings and priests. One Corinthians chapter six. As you're turning to this, let me give you a brief testimony. I was raised in a Christian home. My father was in the ministry 70 years. He started preaching when he was 17 on the street corners and died at 87. Seven decades. Hard to beat that I think. And he was a hellfire preacher. I mean a real hellfire preacher. I mean the first 10 rows you needed an asbestos suit. And I know I was raised, you know, feeling the flames. I mean I knew I was going to a lost eternity from the moment I was born. I mean I, there was no question. I don't care if I was a preacher's kid. I don't care if I went to church every Sunday. I knew I was a lousy rotten sinner. The worst possible kind of sinner because I was self-righteous. God hates, you know, all your righteousnesses as filthy rags, you know. And so I knew where I was going, believe me. And I longed to have peace with God. I longed to have cleansing. I longed to have forgiveness. I would toss and turn some nights. Again, knowing that if Jesus Christ came tonight, that I was not ready. But I also had some goals in life. You see, I am the middle of two, of three siblings. An older brother, younger brother, and the middle one. And both of my brothers were absolutely brilliant. I mean straight A students. My younger brother earned PhD, worked for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, wrote books and traveled around the world with the Rockefellers and so on. Became world famous in the whole arena of African art. And he was in demand. My older brother went to South America, served God, but he was just, again, brilliant. And I brought home F's on my report card. My mother would sit up with me night after night working, you know, trying to help me get through my American history or whatever it was. I mean, I struggled academically. But I excelled in one area, the area of art. I could draw, you know, I was always doodling, painting, doing things, sketching. And it gave me a sense of self-worth. My other brothers weren't talented in that area. They had, you know, abilities in other areas. But I had this ability and therefore it gave me a sense of being somebody. And I wanted to go into the field of graphics. I wanted to get out of high school as soon as I could, as quickly as I could, and go and get paid for my doodles. And from the age of about 13, the Spirit of God began convicting me of sin. And I would be in meetings, big meetings, small meetings, good preaching, bad preaching, it didn't matter. The Holy Spirit would convict me. And I would literally sometimes shake, I mean hundreds of times, I would literally shake on the conviction of sin. Couldn't even hold the hymn book many times, knowing that God was wanting to draw me to Himself, and yet refusing to go. Not because I didn't want to have peace with God. Not because I didn't want to have forgiveness. I did not want God interfering with what I want to do with my life. You see, it was an issue of lordship. And finally, at the age of 18, I came forward in a meeting like this, before there was any counselor to come and pray for me. My prayer was something like this, Lord I'm coming tonight because I'm a sinner and I need your forgiveness. I need your cleansing. But Lord, I'm not only here tonight to give you my sin, I'm here to give you myself. And Lord, I give to you my life tonight. I lay at this altar all my goals, all my plans, all my ambitions, all my desires. And I take you not only as my Savior, but as my Lord and Master. I did that when I was 18 years of age. And by the grace of God, I've never looked back. That's over 40 years now, only just. But uh, and I've never looked back. I put my hand to the plow. That night, I went home and a couple of days later, I was reading. And this verse became very real to me, sort of my life verse really. 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20. Do you not know your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own. Notice your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You are not your own, for you have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body. You are not your own. You've been bought with a price. You are not your own. Not just your sin, you, your body. Not just your spirit, you know that part of you that you can't see and it sounds so sort of spiritual and so we don't really have to deal with it. No, this body, who I am, belongs to Him. It's no longer mine, it's His. And it's to be used to glorify Him. You see, when Paul wrote this, you could go into any marketplace in any major city like Ephesus or Rome or wherever it may be, Corinth, and you could go to the auction block and you could buy yourself a slave as you could in this nation up until, what, 150 years ago. And if you were the highest bidder, you took that slave home, male, female, young, old, rich, poor, whatever they were, and you could do that with that slave, whatever you wanted. That slave no longer had any rights. You could starve that slave, beat that slave, feed that slave to death, love that slave to death, work that slave to death, whatever you want. I mean that that slave had absolutely no rights. It had been purchased for one reason, to serve his master's interest. And Paul repeatedly says, Paul, a servant, a slave of Jesus Christ. The moment Paul got saved on that Damascus road, out of his mouth came these words, Lord, what will you have me to do? Not, Savior, it feels great to have that burden lifted, feels wonderful to be washed. Now, obviously, that was part of it, because he said, I was a blasphemer and a violent aggressor and so on, God, in his grace, you know, he testifies to that. But that moment that he got saved, he came under the lordship, Lord. And when he says Lord, immediately he has to bow in submission and say, Lord, what is your will? And God says to him, get off your feet, Paul, go into such and such a city, and I'll tell you why I've appeared to you. I appeared unto you for this reason. I've appointed you a minister of the gospel and so on, you know. In other words, God had something very specific in mind for Paul the moment he acknowledged his lordship, the moment he bowed the knee. So all these verses, again, deal with why Jesus Christ died. He died to purchase you, to buy you. There was a legal transaction that took place. Turn with me now, let's look at a couple of other scriptures before we close, into 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 2. I want you to see now how far we have drifted. The Bible in the book of Hebrews warns us about, beware lest you drift. Some of you have been fishing, maybe you forgot to put the anchor down, and you know, you're doing something, there's a little bit of a breeze, and you look up and you realize that the wind, you know, you've drifted away from the wall for the dark, whatever it is, and you can't believe you've drifted that far in that amount of time. It's just been so gradual, but you've been preoccupied with other things. Hebrews says, beware lest you drift away. Let me show you now how far we've drifted away. Verse 1, false prophets arose among the people. Now I was never very good at English grammar, thank God for editors that do these books, but I do know that that's past tense, false prophets arose, past tense. In other words, Peter is saying we have had a problem in the church in the past with false prophets coming in. Then he says, just as there will be. What's that? Future. Peter is saying we are going to have a problem in the future. In other words, he's making a prophetic statement. We've had a problem in the past with false prophets. We're going to have a problem in the future with false teaching, and false teachers will come in among you, and they will secretly introduce destructive heresies. Now when something is done secretly, you are unaware that it's going on. My wife and I were missionaries in New Guinea for a couple of years with the Youth with a Mission in charge of the YWAM base there in Port Moresby. We purchased our first home in Port Moresby, $12,000. That home was built up on concrete pylons about 10 feet high. We had no air conditioning, and so it allowed the circulation of the air, but it also kept you out of the range of poisonous snakes and different things. In the area where we live, we lived on a little bit of a hillside. There was a lady just a couple of doors down that was raped one night. There had been a number of break-ins, and so I made sure that before we went to bed, I locked all the doors. I got up one morning, walked down the hallway from our bedroom into the living area, and the front door was wide open. I thought, I am convinced I locked it, but maybe I forgot. Maybe the wind blew it open or something. I closed the door. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Went around into the kitchen, and the kitchen door was also open. I knew immediately that there were signs of trouble. They cut through the mosquito netting right beside the kitchen window, I mean the kitchen door, and removed all the louvers, all the windows there are louvered windows. They come into the house, left both doors open for a quick escape. We searched through the house, immediately checked to see if the two children, we had two at the time, were alive and okay, and they were fine. Went into our bedroom, looked around, and discovered a number of things were missing. They come down the hallway into our bedroom and gone right to my wife's side of the bed, underneath her pillow almost. They'd unplugged the tape recorder, stolen the tape recorder, gone around to my side of the bed, taken my wallet out of my slacks, and a number of other things were missing. It was all done secretly. We had no idea that it had taken place until it was too late. Peter says, teachers, false teachers, will come into the church and they will secretly introduce destructive heresies or damnable doctrines, even, notice now, even denying the master who bought them. Think about it. They will bring in a form of teaching that looks at the cross and says, Jesus, I need you as my savior, I'm a sinner, I need cleansing, I need forgiveness, I need peace, I need joy, I need happiness, I need eternal life, I need to have a mansion over the hilltop one day, and so on. Jesus, I need all of those things, but Jesus, I will not have you reign over me. I don't want you as my master, I don't want you as my lord, I don't want you to tell me what to do. I want to maintain the right to my time, my money, my emotions, my desires, and so on and so forth. I just want to get cleaned up, but I don't want you interfering after that. They will introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who what? Bought them. Here we have the cross again. Why did Jesus Christ die? He died to buy you. It was the car that he was after. You see, you can't escape it. Time after time, if you look into the very core of why Jesus Christ died, he died for a people. Not just for sin, for you, and you, and you, and you, and you. That you who live should no longer live for yourselves, but for him. Over into the book of James, James chapter 4, verse 13. Come now you who say today or tomorrow, we shall go into such and such a city, spend a year there, engage in business, and make a profit. Now, nothing wrong with that. Here is somebody deciding what they're going to do with their life. We've all done it. After all, we go to a counselor somewhere during our high school years, and that counselor maybe begins to, you know, career counseling. Tells us, I think you'd be a good accountant, you'd be a good doctor, you've got the brains to do this or that, or you don't have the brains to do this or that, whatever the case may be. And we get career counseling. And then, of course, we apply to college, and we become an accountant, or a doctor, a dentist, a nurse, a mechanic, you know, a pilot, whatever it may be. And we've all done it. And so here is an individual, he's just deciding, listen, I'm tired of living where I live. This city, this little tiny city is, you know, not much room here for growth. I'm going to move and go to Phoenix, engage in business, get my degree in business, and make a profit. So business 101 has never changed over the years. The whole reason to go into business is to make money. Now, there's nothing sinful about this so far. They're not talking about going to Vegas and opening up some sort of lewd joint. They're not talking about going down to Columbia and joining the cartel. You can make a lot of money that way if you can, you know, avoid getting caught. They're not talking about getting a, you know, high-speed printer of some sort and doing counterfeit bills. They're not talking about opening up a house of prostitution. I mean, they're just simply saying, this is what I'll do with my life. I'm tired of living here. I'm going to move here. And I'm going to go into business and make money. And James says, let me embellish this a little bit without distorting it. Here's a young couple. They've been raised in the church. James is the pastor, this wonderful old man of God, brother of the Lord, a man of great wisdom and stature. Maybe these kids have been born in church. You know, like many churches, they've been raised. They fell in love in the youth group. Now they're married and living in this little town. They're all excited because they're going to go off to Rome and go to the University of Rome and, you know, get their degree. And they've just got news that morning that, you know, they've both been accepted or whatever, and they've got a scholarship. And so they come to Pastor James and they say, oh, you know, Pastor James, we need to see you this week. You know, could we get an appointment? He said, sure, drop in, you know, sometime during the week. And so they dropped by the office and here they are sitting in Pastor James's office. And he says, well, what's going on with you guys? I haven't seen you since you got married. And oh, they say, oh, it's so exciting. You know, we've been talking about going to Rome for years and, you know, we've both been accepted in school and, you know, graduate school or whatever. And we've got great plans, you know, once we get our degrees to, you know, open a couple of Starbucks or something and, you know, whatever, you know. And here they are sitting there telling Father James, you know, all about what's going on in their lives. And then he says, okay, now you've had your turn. Let me tell you something, guys. Verse 14, you don't know what your life will be like tomorrow. You're just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. And here is this old man, maybe with a nice white beard, and he looks at this young couple and he says, hey, kids, let me tell you something about life. Before you know it, it's going to be gone. I can't believe I'm 75, he says. Seems like just yesterday we were there with Jesus and the rest of the disciples. He says, life is like a vapor. You know, one moment, the next minute it's gone. It's like the mist. You wake up and there's a little bit of a mist and by lunchtime it's evaporated, it's gone. The Bible has all sorts of descriptions about life. It's like a weaver's shuttle, just goes across the loom of time. It's like a breath. And so he says, listen, let me put life into perspective for you kids. I know you're only in your 20s, but listen, before you know it, it's going to be gone. Instead, he says, verse 15, instead, you should be saying, or you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we'll do this or that. And he says, you know, kids, the last 10 minutes I've heard all your excitement about what you're going to do with your life. You're off to Rome, the excitement of Rome, you're off to get your degrees, you're off to build a business and have a lifestyle that you always wanted. But you know, I haven't heard a single thing about the will of God. Not a single thing about God's will. It's all about your will, what you're going to do. I'll do this, and I'll do that. I'll live here, I'll live there. I'll go into business, I'll make money. And he says, but this sort of boasting is evil. You boast in your arrogance, he says. I can see this man in a real pastoral, fatherly way. You know, he says, kids, you've come in here to ask me to pray for you next Sunday because you're off to Rome, and to acknowledge, you know, before the congregation, ask God's blessing over your life. And yet you have the audacity to say and tell me what you're going to do, and never once mention the will of God. You know, that breaks my heart. It really breaks my heart to think you've been in this church all those years, and you've sat and you've listened to me time after time challenge you, and yet you've never included the will of God in your thinking. And he says, that sort of boasting is evil. To him that knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin. You see, what is sin? Sin is living for yourself. We know what we should do, but we don't do it. Oh, we're not cheating on our wife anymore. We're not cheating on the IRS. You know, we're not involved in pornography or some other thing. We're just simply doing what we want to do. I'll go from here to here. I'll go into business. I'll make money. I'll have a certain lifestyle. I'll wear a certain type of clothes, drive a certain type of car, have certain types of vacations, and so on and so forth. And you know, I'll give a little bit of money once in a blue moon to the work in the ministry, and if the pastor pleads long enough and weeps loud enough, you know, then maybe I'll give a little more than my 10 percent, and you know, we'll, you know, look after a few missionaries on the wall back there. But you know, basically, I'm here in Arizona because I, you know, I love the lifestyle. And Lord, don't even think they're asking me to go to India. You know, I know it's the same sort of temperature, but you know, the food's not as good, am I? Yeah. And Lord, I, you know, I don't want to go to Africa, and I don't want to, you know, whatever you do, don't send me back north, you know. I hate that cold weather. I mean, you know, we don't say it in so many words, do we? We simply just live it. You're not your own. You're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body, in what you do with your life, what you do with your time, what you do with your money. I mean, your life is to be lived now for Him. We no longer live for ourselves. That's why He died, it says, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him. The cross is to radically change us, give us a whole new perspective, a whole new sense of direction, a whole new sense of vision. Take up your cross, Jesus said to the disciples, if any man come after me, he's got to die to self. Isn't that the first thing Jesus dealt with? He didn't say, if any man come after me, he's got to quit smoking, gambling, drinking. No. He went to the very root of the tree, and He cut it down, and He says, listen, if you die to self, you'll stop all the rest of the things. Those are all an outflow of selfishness. The reason I cheat on my wife, I want to gratify myself. The reason I smoke and drink and all, I just want to, it's self-gratification. That's why I do those things. And Jesus said, listen, if you're going to be my disciples, you've got to die to self. Take up your cross. That means you're going to die, and then you follow me. I'm the one that leads you now. You spent your own life doing your own thing, going, I mean, that's what Isaiah says, isn't it? All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way. That's what sin is. It's simply living for ourselves. It doesn't matter how clean you live, you're still living for yourself. And Jesus said, you've got to turn from living for yourself and going your own way, and take up your cross now, and follow me. I'm going to lead. I'm going to guide. I'm going to direct you. Now you see, if we don't understand the cross, we'll never ever grow, develop, come to maturity in our life. It's the foundation, and if the foundation is not built properly, I don't care how high you build on it, how glamorous it may look outwardly, ultimately it's going to collapse, unless we've got that foundation right. Let's close in prayer. Father, I pray that you would take this word tonight. Lord, seal it in the very fleshy tables of our heart. Lord, let it be a word that would be never taken away by the birds of the air. Lord, a word that would change, again, this congregation. Lord, as we realize we're not our own, we were bought with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're no longer to live for ourselves. We're not our own, bought with a price. Touch lives tonight, Lord. Lord, there's people here that 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, or 30 years ago, surrendered their sin, acknowledged the need of you as Savior, and Lord, tonight they need to come again and say, Lord, take my life. The words of that song, take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold. Lord, we give everything to you. And Lord, we give back to you the very thing that you purchased 2,000 years ago. Lord, we've robbed you, we've stolen from you. Lord, kept that which is yours, never handed over the goods, as it were. And tonight, Lord, we give you what you purchased, so that you might present to the Father a people redeemed from every tribe and tongue and nation. Pray for every young person. Lord, even now is planning what they're going to do with their future. Lord, they would say, if the Lord wills, if the Lord wills, Lord, give us a desire to serve you. Desire, Lord, to make you first and foremost, to have you as the one that is preeminent in all things, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Why don't we just stand reverently? Again, these altars are available. You may want to come tonight. You say, well, I know I'm saved. The Spirit of God witnesses my spirit that I'm a child of God. But you know, I've never consciously made him my Lord. I've never surrendered. I've never bowed the knee and said, Jesus, I take you tonight as my Lord and my Master. Understanding that as you do that, you're not your own. He now is your owner. He now is the one that has come to direct you. You're now to live for his glory. If you're prepared to do that, want to do that tonight, why don't you come just as our brother plays? Maybe you're here tonight, you've never accepted Christ and you say, well, listen, I've always wanted a challenge. You know, they say since September 11th, the Muslim faith has increased in numbers. Why? Because men and women are looking, young people are looking for a challenge and the church is not presenting them with a challenge. It's so easy. They want something to die for. They look at Israel, you know, they're the daily suicides of young people that are willing to die for a cause, proud of it. They celebrate, their parents celebrate. They don't weep and, you know, worry about it. Boy, my son, he died, you know, for the Palestinian cause. I'm so proud of him. They literally make banners and hang them on the streets. We need a people that are proud to die, die to self, that they might live for God. And say, God, I'll gladly give up my goals and my ambitions and my dreams and my desires to serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I go to China or Africa, I don't care. This world is just a, you know, just a stepping stone. It's just a vapor that appears for a little while. And I want to look back from that eternal vantage point and say, Lord, I'm so glad that I live my life to serve you. When I was a little boy, we used to sing a chorus, only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. And when I'm dying, how glad I will be that the lamp of my life was burned out for thee. You know, there's nothing else worth it. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. And you can make something count for eternity tonight by giving back to God that which he purchased. He won't force himself on you. He could, but he won't. You see, he's got a double claim on your life. You are his by the right of creation. You are also his by the right of redemption. He created you, but he also purchased you. But he won't force himself on you. Two types of slaves in the Old Testament, the type that was brought on the block, and then seven years later, they were all released or could be released. But that slave could go to his master and say, Master, I've never had a boss like you before. Never had such respect and such love. You've given me everything I've ever needed. Given me a wife. I've got a home and so on and so forth. I know that technically I can walk out of here today and never see you again. I'm free. But I want to serve you because I love you. And that master would take his slave to the door of the house and punch a hole in his ear. And he then became a bond servant. And every person in the community knew that he was now serving, not because he had to, but because he wanted to. That's what God's looking for. Oh, he could come and use force. He's God, but he won't. He wants you to come and say, God, I've never had a master like you. You've washed me. You've cleansed me. You've forgiven me. You've given me such a peace and a joy. I've never had it before. Lord, I will serve you because I love you. That's what he's looking for. Why don't you come? These altars again are available. As I said this morning, if you're kneeling, you'll be left alone. If you're standing, we'll come and pray with you. Why don't you give back to him that which is his tonight? It's hard, isn't it? Hard to die. Nobody likes to die. I don't know what God will do with you, but it begins. It's like marriage. You say, I do. You don't know how many kids you're going to have. You don't know where you're going to end up ten years later. You know, it's an adventure in one sense. Same thing. You're saying, I do to Jesus Christ tonight. I don't know. Ten years from now, you may be in Africa. You may be in China. You may be in business. Your business may be booming, and God may leave you in business to provide enough money to sustain somebody on the mission field or a couple of kids in college. But just make it your prayer tonight. Lord, I'm giving you my life. You had my sin two years ago, five years ago, ten years ago, but tonight, Lord, I'm giving you my life. My body is now yours, and I'll do with it whatever you want me to do with it. Amen.