Dr. Will Beauchamp - The Cross of Jesus Christ

[Music] so [Music] do [Music] uh [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] anniversaries if you've had a birthday or an anniversary you can either stand in your section or you can come to the front it's totally up to you birthday all right good deal that's where is 50. [Music] any others birthdays anniversaries help me out bill burgess's birthday today the 10th all right we're going to sing for brother bill today jeff birthday jeff duncan's birthday good deal we got a bunch of burden anniversaries good deal the dachshunds have an anniversary back there wonderful any others any others all right we got our birthdays up here jeff's coming we got the datsun's anniversary back there all right jeff lead us in happy birthday okay [Music] god bless you happy birthday to you happy birthday to you only one [Music] all right into the datsun fan list sing happy anniversary [Music] amen let's give them a hand this morning good to see you this morning on this extended weekend if you're visiting with us for the very first time we want to welcome you especially but if you're visiting would you just slip your hand up our ushers have a gift for you a gift bag um upstairs we've got some upstairs guys we got anybody upstairs we need to get those gifts back you'll fill that out our restaurants will come by put that uh that visitors card in the offering bag and you keep the gift any others visiting for the very first time i think we're all home folks got him up there all right let's stand together uh ron's not with us today's in corn he'll be back wednesday so we miss him and jeff's gonna lead us this morning stand together as ron ron as jeff leads us in a number page number 279 279 oh i want to see him [Music] as i journey through this land singing as i go [Music] but my lord leads me on through him [Music] on the streets of glory let me let my voice hears all past home at last ever to rejoice when in service [Music] [Music] oh i want to see him look upon his face there to sing forever of its aiming grace along the streets of glory let [Music] [Music] on the streets of glory let me let [Music] we'll sing that first verse again we'll ask the ushers to come on the course for this morning's ties and offerings as i journey through this land singing as i go pointing souls to calvary to the crimson flow many arrows pierce my soul [Music] oh i want to see him look upon his face there to sing forever of his saving grace along the streets of glory let me live my voice here's all past hold at last ever to rejoice we do want to continue remember brother alan o'keefe in our prayers uh and and all those who are sick as well let's remember them this morning brother nelson would you pray for us [Music] so [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] me was [Music] peace [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] is [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] me [Music] [Applause] turn to galatians chapter 6 galatians chapter 6. i'll be reading the verse in just a second galatians chapter 6. hey amen amen galatians chapter six you're there saying man you know fashion trends are fascinating if you don't believe me just go to the mall don't go to walmart no don't don't i said fashion trend i like looking at old photo albums how do you like look at old photo albums right to see what we were wearing uh back then i don't know about you but i look at them and i say mom what were you thinking putting me in those outfits go look at some of your old yearbooks and uh see what you used to wear i like looking at our yearbook because see i i grew up in the 80s um in the 80s when it came to music you can't top the 80s music amen but it was an awful time to grow up when it came to fashion in the 80s we wore we're going back now are you ready we wore parachute pants y'all remember those parachute paint yo what do you talk parachute pad look it up sometime we wore british night tennis shoes with paisley socks some of you wore spandex shorts outside of the house you ought to be shot for that i'm just telling you that right now but what might have been even worse was you ladies hair in 1980. the height of your hair the hair spray that you used will never be duplicated but the men were no better there was a hairstyle by the way that's now come back you already know what i'm going to say the mullet the mullet we like to call it the achy breaky bad mistakey but it's back some of you were voted best dressed in high school yet we look absolutely ridiculous but we thought at that time we were being fashionable now i said all that to say this if the disciples were here today okay we're in our culture in our community what do you think they would say would be the strangest thing that we would wear as a fashion what would it be they would look at us and say why are you wearing that well the answer is easy actually the one thing that would startle them would be the cross for us today the cross is something of fashion right we we wear it around our necks people have cross earrings we see t-shirts and tattoos we we put it on our rear view mirrors we hang it up in pictures in our home but for the disciples for people of the new testament the cross was nothing more than an instrument of torture created by the persians perfected by the romans so that they could get every ounce of pain out of you as possible the cross was to bring absolute shame and embarrassment in fact the romans thought the cross was so bad they would not let a roman citizen be put on one cicero who lived in roman times wrote the cross speaks of that which is so shameful so horrible that it should never be mentioned in public society jewish people thought it was so bad that they said in the old testament cursed is he who hangs on a tree yet the cross today it doesn't mean the same to us as it did to them today the cross has become an ornament to wear no longer an offense to others oswald chambers said all of heaven is interested in the cross of christ and all of hell is terribly afraid of it while men and women are the only beings who more or less ignore its true meaning yet this will be the one thing the apostle paul will boast about you have your bibles open in galatians chapter six stand with us we'll read one verse this morning found in verse number 14 galatians 6 verse 14. paul says but god forbid that i should glory save that word means accept in the cross of our lord jesus christ would you pray with me father we thank you for this time together that we can spend studying your word lord we want to pray for those who are sick and cannot be here today we want to lift up those who are on the road to recovery god we pray and are moments left here today that we would get a a fresh glimpse of the cross that you died on to pay for our sins and god if there's one here this morning who's never accepted you of their salvation that that they've not come to you and have their sins forgiven god may your holy spirit begin to move this morning convict hearts so many here today who have needs in their own life burdens that they're caring god would you meet them here today we pray for it's in jesus name amen you may be seated paul had much that he could have boasted about in paul's day he was the church's greatest preacher he was not only the greatest preacher he would become the greatest missionary not only the greatest missionary but the greatest apologist and the greatest theologian uh you know in the new testament he wrote more books than anyone else in the bible almost half of the new testament he was a religious thoroughbred a full-blooded jew his pedigree was from the tribe of benjamin he had been selected as a pharisee someone said that he was the big cog in the synagogue yet paul's pride was limited to the cross he says i glory i boast i brag on one thing and one thing only and that is the cross of the lord jesus christ not only was his pride limited to the cross his preaching was limited to the cross he was saying first corinthians 1 we preach christ crucified we also know paul's praise was limited to the cross first corinthians 2 for i am determined not to know anything among you except jesus and him crucified so we asked the question what was it about the cross well it was not the cross itself that paul was so captivated by it was it was not those blood soaked beams of wood which once stood on a hill called calvary that had gripped the heart of paul i want you to know this morning the cross was nothing to glory about two thousand years ago you didn't brag about the cross 2000 years ago today we've turned the cross into a kindler gentler piece of gold jewelry that we wear to enhance our looks uh you you mentioned the cross today you you probably think of a jeweler but if you mention the cross in paul's day you would think of a jailer taking someone to an instrument of death you know crucifixion on a cross it was as i said the cruelest form of execution ever devised by man you know today uh when someone is put to death it only takes a few seconds everything is is done to prevent the person from suffering but not crucifixion crucifixion lasted for hours even days depending on the health of the person being crucified and every single second was one of intense and excruciating pain in crucifixion the typical cause of death was asphyxiation you would suffocate to death when they took you to be crucified they would hammer nails through your wrist not your hand but but through your wrist so that your bone joint would rest up against that nail as you would pull up to breathe now some people believe that they would nail the feet together and put a nail through the feet that's what the pictures show us right but that's not how they crucified people in the new testament you go to the israeli museum today and they actually have the bones the feet and the hands of those who were crucified they have a section for it and every single person every single foot bone that you see in that israeli museum every single one has the nail going through the side of the foot so imagine where your achilles tendon is going up in front of that through your foot and your foot would be nailed to the side of the tree and your left foot to the other side of the tree and when you needed to breathe think of this you would pull up nail on bone and you would push up nail on bone and achilles tendon to just get a little breath when the whole body weight was supported by the outstretched arms the victim would have severe difficulty breathing and as they would push themselves up by their feet just to catch a short breath they say the pain that would shoot through the entire body was excruciating and if death did not come from asphyxiation it could come from shock it could cause from loss of blood could come from heart attack dehydration exhaustion whatever the cause it was a a terrible and horrible way to die in fact when you read the gospel accounts have you ever noticed that not one gospel writer not one of them will give us detailed accounts of the crucifixion of jesus christ you read it it's as if every one of them draws a veil over the cross that jesus hung on no direct details in the new testament on how disfigured jesus looked nothing on how he suffered while on the cross they merely pick a a few fragmentary facts of what happened that day and then they just leave it alone it's too hard to discuss in fact the old testament is where we have to go and it gives us much more of what jesus's body looked like on the cross than any of the gospel writers get us give us who were there some who were there when you turn to isaiah and you look through the book of psalms it talks about how his back was so messed up it was like a plowed field his his insides were hanging outside they were exposed you know the bible says that his face was so marred i want you to get this he's not even crucified yet folks his face was so marred the bible says more than any other man he was unrecognizable to look at so i want to say this very carefully i want to remind you death on a cross was an awful thing it was a messy thing it was not a pretty white cross we see on tops of churches jesus was marred more than any man professor david allen from texas said jesus on that day was nothing but a mass of quivering flesh he said i don't even think he looked human after the romans finished with him that's why the gospel writers do not go into detail it was too horrible it was too awful of a scene why share that with you today here's why because today i'm afraid the church suffers under the curse of a crossless christianity we aren't moved today by the cross like we should be howard hendricks 20 years ago wrote this he said in pulpits all over america we're being told man's problem is a lack of self-esteem and what he needs is positive thinking so you know what you're getting from pulpits today positive thinking messages hendricks said others say man's problem is ignorance and what he needs is education some say that man's problem is poverty and what he needs is money but hendricks says this but the bible says your problem is sin and what you need is the cross of jesus christ in your life and i want you to know we will never influence a lost secular apathetic uncaring world until we get back as believers in glorifying on what jesus did for you and for me on the cross so this morning i want to share with you three reasons three reasons why we are to glory in the cross of jesus christ three reasons we'll be finished reason number one we are to glory in the person on the cross verse 14 but god forbid that i should glory except in the cross of who of our lord jesus christ i want to emphasize it is not the cross which makes christ so special it is christ that makes the cross so special dr harry reimer was a great christian scientist who lived many years ago he was lecturing in a college one day and at the end of class he allowed the students to ask some questions well there was a young jewish student there and he stood up and he said dr reimer can i ask what did jesus do that no one else ever did dr reimer replied son i understand you are a jew so i take it that you know the early history of your people and you know that the roman military commander titus and and other commanders and roman emperors they crucified around 30 000 young jews the students said that is correct there were some 30 000 young jews put to death by crucifixion on crosses dr reimer said well i'm going to name one of those jews and you name me another he said i named jesus christ now young man you name one of the other thirty thousand whom they crucified the jewish man said well i don't know the name of another one that was crucified and reimer said do you know why you couldn't call another name out of the thirty thousand why we only remember one name and can't remember the other twenty nine nine hundred ninety nine thousand he said because jesus is the only one crucified on a cross who was raised from the dead and is alive today it's the only one you see jesus turned the cross from a symbol of guilt into a symbol of glory he turned it from a beam of execution to a bomb of salvation so it is not the cross that is so wonderful paul says it is christ on the cross that makes it so wonderful so paul did not glory in the cross paul gloried in the christ that was hanging on the cross so number one we are to glory in the person on the cross number two we are to glory in the purpose of the cross what is the purpose of the cross well god had one specific purpose in mind when he sent his son to die on the cross here's the purpose first john 4 10 here in his love not that we love god but that he first loved us and sent his son here it is here's the word to be the propitiation that word means replacement it means substitute and he says this for your sin romans 5 8 but god commended his love toward us and that while we were what yet sinners christ died for us christ died for one reason here's the purpose of the cross to save you from your sin here's the purpose of the cross here it is to keep you out of spending an eternity in hell where every one of us deserve to be you know the new testament name jesus is the equivalent of the old testament name joshua which literally means jehovah is my salvation when jesus was born his mother was told you will call his name jesus why for he will save his people where from their sins you understand that all of the confession all of the repentance all of your faith your tears your remorse it would be absolutely useless without the cross of jesus christ there's no way out of hell there's no way into heaven except through the cross of jesus christ and listen do not tell me i've heard this 100 times you probably have to how can a loving god send people to hell god does not send people to hell you send yourself there god provides us a way out of hell and he did this through his son hanging on this crawl you know the verse for god so loved the world what did he do he gave his only son that whosoever believeth him should not perish but have everlasting life before the beginning of time god the father looked at you looked at his son and he said son you have to go to earth to die to provide them a way out and jesus said i will go someone as well said it was that the cross man did his worst to god but it was at the cross god did his best for man so we are to glory in the person on the cross we're to glory in the purpose of the cross thirdly and we'll close we are to glory christian in the power of the cross you know before jesus died on the cross that cross it was a symbol of shame it was a symbol of of weakness a symbol of defeat but ever since jesus died on that cross and and came forth victoriously from the grave that cross now has become a symbol of power honor and victory you see the christian has three enemies in their life and look at the person next to you and say you are not my enemy you're not the problem go ahead do it some of you are struggling we have three enemies here they are you ready here's your three enemies we have an internal foe called the flesh and we have an external foe called the world and we have an eternal foe called the devil but do you know through the cross of jesus christ we can have victory over all three of them because of the cross through the cross we can have victory first of all over the flesh galatians 5 24 and they that are christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and its lust we can nail the lust of the flesh to the cross of christ every day and you can in this sinful world walk in victory because of the cross that's why paul said in galatians 5 16 walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh through the cross we can have victory over the flesh through the cross you can have victory over this old world again look in verse 14 of galatians 6 look what he says but god forbid that i should glory save in the cross of our lord jesus christ now look at the rest of the verse by whom the world is crucified unto me and i unto the world listen not only do we have salvation through the cross but we all have sanctification because of the cross i want you to know today jesus not only died that we might live happily in heaven he also died that we might live holy on earth jesus died to deliver us from living like the world someone says he he delivered us from worldly christianity but i don't even like that term worldly christian i think it's a contradiction billy sunday said it best he said you might as well talk about a heavenly devil as to talk about a worldly christian paul says through the cross this world has been crucified to me so we need to stay understand as a child of god you understand this world has nothing to offer you everyone's trying to fill these voids with things of the world and that it doesn't fill do you understand the best this world can offer you is a shallow substitute for what jesus christ can offer you so through the cross we can have victory over the flesh through the cross we can have victory over the world and through the cross we can have victory over the devil speaking of his crucifixion jesus said in john 12 31 now is the judgment of this world now the prince of this world shall be cast out how verse 32 for if i be lifted up crucifixion i will draw all men unto me so understand ever since calvary satan has been a defeated foe his time is short uh one day his time is going to run out and the only hope for a hurting hateful and hopeless world is this cross of jesus christ so here's what i leave us with we need to anchor our churches again to that old rugged cross and we need to anchor our preaching again to that old rugged cross and join together and say with paul god forbid i will glory in anything except in the cross of our lord jesus christ we glory in the person on the cross we glory in the purpose of the cross we glory in the power in the cross close at this story when the great tornado swept through oklahoma city many many years ago it leveled thousands of buildings thousands of homes were flat many were killed in oklahoma city at this tornado but remarkably they said there was a little bible believing church left standing didn't get knocked down nothing was messed with it it was great it was standing it was located on a hill it overlooked the entire city this little church and on this church there was a a huge steeple and at the top of the steeple it was a beautiful white cross so the rescuers decided to make that little church looking over the city their base location for assisting all others who needed their help and so at night time the rescuers would shine a big spotlight on the top of that steeple directly on that white cross and the workers they would then drive throughout the community throughout all the city and they had loud speakers on their cars and trucks and here's what they would say if you're hungry come to the cross if you're thirsty come to the cross if you need shelter come to the cross if you're alone and you need someone to help you just come to the cross and i read that and i thought you know people keep looking for something new right something to fill the void something to ease the pain when all we need to do is get them back to what god's people have depended on from the very beginning and that is the powerful cross of jesus christ as we bow our heads this morning i ask you the same question do you hunger this morning do you hunger and thirst for righteousness do you hunger for for true meaning in your life do you thirst for satisfaction and true joy in your life there's one answer come to the cross come to jesus he will set you free from your bondage he will give you joy everlasting he will satisfy you but you have to come to the cross heads are about eyes are closed i would ask you this morning has there ever been a time in your life where you've been saved what i mean by that have you put your faith in someone else to get you to heaven not in your good works not in your good deeds but you've put your faith in the christ who's hanging on the cross [Music] for you [Music] to take away all your sin on that cross he shed his blood and died for you on that cross so i asked you this one question have you come to him for faith in jesus christ no one's looking around you would say pastor will i've never done that i've never put my faith and my trust in the lord jesus christ [Music] would you remember me in prayer would there be one you just slip up your hand and put it back down by saying i'm not a christian i've never been saved would there be one upstairs or down below i'm not a believer i've never put my trust in that cross [Music] christian you're here today you have a need in your christian life you want to be remembered in prayer you just slip up your hand without saying pray for me this morning i have a need in my life bless all the hands i have a need bless all the hands last of all believer you have a loved one who's never put their faith and trust in the cross of christ and you want to remember them in prayer this morning you just slip up your hand by saying pray for me pray for my loved ones bless all the hands god we love you we thank you for your word lord we thank you that we can find forgiveness at the cross help us never to take for granted when we see the cross when we see those beams of what you did on that cross and how you suffered on our behalf god if there's one here this morning that has a need in their life a burden that they need to bring to you at these altars [Music] an unsaved friend or loved one that they want to pray about that they would bring them to these altars so god we turn this part of the service over to you convict those who need you in their life and help us as believers to go out and tell others about this cross thank you jesus for dying on this cross thank you for suffering thank you for the shame that you took on your body just for us it's in jesus name amen as we stand together as we sing if you need to come the altars are open [Music] i [Music] his grace all glory and praise shall rest upon him [Music] is [Music] that he [Music] we continue to sing if you need to come and pray truth [Music] was [Music] for me [Music] is [Music] i have stephanie sing that second verse as we continue to sing if you need [Music] that i had [Music] is [Music] yes [Music] you believe that say amen amen thank god for the cross of jesus christ thank you for coming this morning i just have a few announcements i do want to announce we will have a deacon and trustee meeting tonight at five o'clock this wednesday night our our school is actually going to be having a a little revival going on at school uh i believe two starting tuesday brother heath ferguson's gonna be here from texas and so he's gonna come in he'll be preaching for us wednesday night uh in the sanctuary all the youth uh fifth grade up will be in the sanctuary uh on wednesday night hope you'll come he does a great great job uh we love and appreciate brother heath that's this wednesday night i do want to announce that the youth will be going to a usf football game and so there's going to be a sign up sheet brother aaron's going to be out in the vestibule if you'd like to sign up and it's not only for kids if a family likes to go if a mom dad if you want to go um then then sign up as well tickets only ten dollars each and so we'd love for you to go to that and he'll be out there in the vestibule to get ready for that uh we are continuing to our invite challenge for the month of september please get your cards they're out in the vestibule hand those out to neighbors friends family members and then next sunday is sca day on september 12th we're going to have some from our staff and and school will be here and so we will be having lunch that day it'll be youth competition lunch but all of the the visitors and uh those from seo will eat for free and so um we're excited for that so hope you'll be a part of that also the golf tournament for the school will be september 17th friday september 17th if you're interested in that please get a brochure out in the vestibule as well all right any other announcements before we're dismissed yes all right the ladies are cheats is september 17th and 18th see jody if you haven't had the new information of where that's going to be they always have a wonderful time with that all right come back tonight brother jeff white will be preaching for us at six o'clock i hope you'll all be there for that yes yes i don't think you can sign up anymore correct all those sign ups are already done so if you're signed up for the their dutchman trip uh good to go all right bus leaves at 4 30. 4 31 you're getting left 4 30 be here don't miss it all right let's be dismissed in prayer come back tonight hope to have another good time in the lord all right brother o'dell would you dismiss us in prayer you

Channel: First Free Will Baptist Church

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Keywords: Will Beauchamp, Tampafreewill, First Free Will Baptist, Church, Tampa, Seffner, Florida, Jesus, Jesus Christ, The Cross

Id: c30ThGGSnYU

Length: 55min 26sec (3326 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021