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Turn with me tonight to Matthew chapter 27.
I'm going to speak to you tonight on
the offense of the cross.
Matthew chapter 27.
We'll read half of it and then we're
going to go to the word and preach
a little bit and then we're going to
come back to the second half as we
conclude tonight.
Father, I thank you that you are present
with us.
Your presence has been felt all this evening.
God, thank you that we serve a living
God and an enemy that has been totally
defeated.
Now tonight, Lord Jesus, I pray that your
word will become alive and real in our
hearts.
God, make it a living word to us,
I pray.
That every person in the house that hears
this word today will go home with a
victory song in their heart, Lord Jesus.
It doesn't matter how tough the day has
been or how great the attack, but God,
there's a song of victory in our hearts
because of what you've accomplished on the cross.
Now, Lord, I ask that you hide me
behind that same cross in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Matthew chapter 27.
Let's just begin reading from verse 35, and
you're going to keep your finger in Matthew
27 the whole time, and I'll read other
scriptures to you, but this is where we
will meditate.
Matthew chapter 27, verse 35, And they crucified
him and parted his garments, casting lots, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
the prophet.
They parted my garments among them, and upon
my vesture did they cast lots.
And sitting down they watched him there, and
set up over his head this accusation written,
This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
Then there were two thieves crucified with him,
one on the right hand and another on
the left.
And they that passed by reviled him, wagging
their heads and saying, Thou that destroyest the
temple and buildest it in three days, save
thyself.
If thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross.
Likewise also the chief priests mocking him with
the scribes and the elders said, He saved
others, himself he cannot save.
If he be the King of Israel, let
him now come down from the cross, and
we will believe him.
He trusted in God, let him deliver him
now, if he will have him.
For he said, I am the Son of
God.
The thieves also which were crucified with him
cast the same in his teeth.
So here we have the description of the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
I've titled this message, The Offense of the
Cross.
And it actually came about this last week.
In fact, yesterday, last night, my wife and
I went to NYU, the medical center to
share with the students.
Many of the students in the medical team
there had invited people to come and go,
with them to go and watch the movie,
The Passion.
And so one of their requests was from
watching this movie, was they asked if they
could have a pastor come and speak to
them, and just to give them the Christian
perspective.
They had questions about the movie, there were
things that were related in this particular movie,
and they wanted to ask a pastor what
some of the things meant, and there were
things that they were confused on, and they
wanted to ask questions.
So I agreed to that.
I said, okay, my wife and I will
come down and we'll sit down.
They had this meal, and my wife and
I sat there, and they bombarded us with
questions.
They gave us a whole list of questions.
We read through them, and we began to
answer them, and then they began to just
engage us in one question or another on
the crucifixion of Christ.
It was an awesome time.
I loved every minute of it, just because
we came to the conclusion that when I
got to the end of this, I came
to the conclusion, it didn't matter what you
thought about the movie one way or another,
the conclusion is this, Jesus Christ is preached.
And there were unsaved kids there as well.
They went to the movie and were stunned
by it, but they wanted to know.
But the whole conclusion at the end of
the meeting, we brought it all down.
We spoke about the covenant of Christ.
We spoke about His redemptive work.
It was a glorious opportunity to bring to
them the knowledge and the presentation of Jesus.
I just said, God, give me this opportunity.
I love these occasions when we can just
sit down and take something like this and
bring to them the heart and the understanding
of Jesus.
And the movie has come out, and it's
caused a controversy with Christians and non-Christians
alike.
It has stirred up controversy with the Jewish
community.
It has even stirred up envy in Hollywood.
Hollywood now says, well, look at all this
money that was made off this movie.
Now, maybe we should be making Christian movies.
And whether they do or don't, don't hold
your breath, folks.
But what it did for me this last
week in knowing I was coming to this
meeting on Thursday night with all of these
students, and these are medical students.
These aren't just anybody.
These are people studying to be doctors in
all the different and various departments of that
particular field.
These are smart people.
They had smart questions.
And so I knew I was coming into
an environment with people that were going to
ask some rather intelligent and pointed questions.
And so this last week what I did
was I immersed myself into all the scriptures.
I went through Matthew, Mark and Luke and
John.
I got them all.
I went to Isaiah 53.
I began to immerse my heart in the
scriptures on the crucifixion of Christ.
And, beloved, I came out on the other
side so excited in my heart.
I could hardly wait.
I was so full with all the Word
of God concerning Jesus and the cross.
I was saying, God, give me these kids
today.
I was so excited.
I could hardly wait to get before them
and share.
And I didn't preach.
I promise you, my wife kept, made sure
I didn't preach.
And then we just systematically answered all of
their questions.
But I want to talk to you about
the cross.
I came to one other conclusion.
The subject is too large to exhaust in
one message.
It seems like the whole Bible is interconnected
to the cross.
It's an amazing topic that the cross would
become so offensive.
Why is it that the cross of Jesus
causes such controversy?
Why is it that it stirs up such
anger, resentment?
It stirs up people.
There is something about the cross.
You talk about the cross and it begins
to stir people up.
Well, the apostle Paul, listen to a couple
of scriptures what he says.
In Galatians he says, God forbid that I
should glory.
He says, I'm not going to glory in
anything else.
I tell you where my glory is.
He says that I should glory save in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
By whom the world is crucified unto me
and I unto the world.
You see, the apostle Paul, he knew something
about the cross.
There's something, and all through this message tonight,
I've selected.
I'm telling you, I've got reams of notes
at home.
So I've selected some scriptures that I want
to take you on a journey tonight about
the cross.
The apostle Paul looked at this.
He says, I'm not going to glory save
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he understood something.
He understood that at that cross, the world,
with all of its allure, all of its
power, all of its sensuality, everything about the
world, that world was placed on that cross.
He knew something.
He knew that the temptations of this world
were nailed to that cross.
And he says, I'm also nailed to the
cross.
So the world is crucified to me and
I'm crucified to the world.
There's a truth there, and he begins to
explore it.
In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, he says,
For the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness.
No wonder we've got controversy, because those that
are perishing don't understand it.
And it's foolishness to them.
Why make a movie for two hours or
whatever on the death of this man called
Jesus who lived maybe 2,000 years ago?
It's foolishness to them that perish.
But unto us who are saved, it's the
power of God.
To us that believe on Him and love
Jesus with all of our heart, the cross
is the power of God.
There's a power in the cross that when
it comes into my heart and my life
and when I understand it, I understand that
there is a power of God in this
cross.
I want to understand it.
I want to know what this power is.
I want to know what this, that God
has for us in this called the cross.
Why the cross?
Philippians, the apostle Paul writes and says that
he became obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross.
But why the cross?
Well, Ephesians tells us this, and he begins,
see, you've got to understand that he actually
is telling us, the scriptures will tell us
why the cross if we take the time
just to look them up.
He says in Ephesians chapter 2, it says,
and that he might reconcile both unto God
in one body by the cross.
So he's saying at one time there was
a Jewish people and they had access to
God.
Well, a high priest had access to God
one time once a year.
He could go into the Holy of Holies
and have access to the presence of God.
And he says, but the time has come,
and he talks about this in Ephesians, that
he says, it's not going to be just
enough for one man to go into the
presence of God, but he says, I'm going
to take all the Gentiles, everybody in the
world who would ever believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, he says, I'm going to reconcile
them all that anybody, anywhere, anytime who believes
in me can have access to God.
That's the power of the cross.
The cross gave us the opportunity that we
could all have access to the very presence
of almighty God.
In Colossians, let me read this to you
in Colossians.
In Colossians chapter 1, if you want to
turn there, verse 19.
Well, verse 13 says, who has delivered us
from the power of darkness and has translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son,
in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins.
Verse 19, in Colossians chapter 1, verse 19
says this, for it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell.
And having made peace through the blood of
his cross, by him to reconcile all things
unto himself.
By him, I say, whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven.
And you, and you that were sometimes alienated,
separated, apart from God, an alien.
And I know what it means to be
an alien, because I was born in Africa.
I'm an alien in this country.
I'm not green, but I'm an alien.
I had to take out citizenship by coming
into this country.
I understand what it means to be alienated.
It doesn't matter how long you are in
this country.
If you're not born here, it's very hard
to integrate.
To this day, I'm an African.
I was born in Africa, but I'm now
a citizen of this country.
But I'm getting to know this country, and
I love it.
So the same thing, this is what Paul
is saying here in the Colossians.
He says, you were alienated.
You were an alien to the things of
God.
You were green at one time.
You didn't belong to the things of God.
He says, you were alienated.
Enemies in your mind by wicked works.
You didn't choose God, He chose you.
It wasn't one day you woke up and
said, I got a good feeling towards God.
I hope I'll find Him when I go
looking for Him.
No, the Bible doesn't say that.
It says that you were alienated.
You were an enemy of God.
You were an enemy in your mind by
wicked works.
Yet now, even in that time when you
were an enemy of God, He says, but
yet now hath He reconciled in the body
of His flesh through death to present you
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight.
That's the power of the cross.
So that's what He says in Colossians.
You know why the devil hates the cross
being preached?
Because it's on the cross that his kingdom
was plundered.
It was on the cross.
The Bible says if you turn over in
Colossians, look at this in chapter 2 verse
13.
This is what it says in Colossians 2
verse 13.
You see, the devil doesn't want you to
preach the cross.
Because he knows it was on that cross
that his kingdom was plundered.
Every force and power that he could muster
up was destroyed and broken on the cross
of Christ.
That's why he doesn't want it preached.
Verse 13 says, in chapter 2 verse 13
says, And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He
quickened?
He says, there was a time you were
so dead, you were dead in your sins.
But Christ came and He hath quickened you
together with Him.
He says He came and made alive.
You see, the devil doesn't want the cross
to be preached.
Because in the power of the cross, it
takes men and women who are dead in
sins.
And God says, I'll come and quicken you,
make you alive.
Make you a brand new person, something that
you could never be in your own strength.
God says, I can do that.
Hallelujah.
That's why He doesn't want it to be
preached.
It's a powerful message.
But it goes on to say, And He
quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all
trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us.
Everything that was written that condemned me.
He says He's blotted that out against us.
Which was contrary to us.
And He took it out of the way,
nailing it to His cross.
And look at verse 15.
And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made
a show of them openly, triumphing over them
in it.
So you see, the devil doesn't want the
cross to be preached.
Because he was made an open show where
every power and principality was spoiled by Christ.
You know what that means to us today,
beloved?
He was stripped of all authority and power
and rendered useless.
The devil has no weapon that can be
formed against you, can ever prosper again in
your life.
Hallelujah.
So when they put those nails in that
cross, when they were putting it through His
hands and they were nailing Him to the
cross, you know what Jesus was declaring to
the world?
Every beat of that hammer in those nails
in my hands, every stripe on my back
is a declaration that every power and principality
that the devil has ever used to hold
you captive is now being spoiled.
Hallelujah.
Oh, tell you, I got excited about the
cross.
The cross is awesome.
Listen to what Isaiah says.
Isaiah says this.
Listen to the affliction that came upon Christ.
Surely He hath borne our grief.
There's times of grief.
He's carried our sorrows.
Yet we have seen Him stricken, smitten, afflicted.
He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.
And with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to His own.
And the Lord hath laid upon Him the
iniquity of us all.
Every last one of us, everything that we
have ever done wrong, it was taken and
placed upon Christ.
He was oppressed.
He was afflicted.
Yet He opened Noddy's mouth.
He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter.
And as a sheep before her shearers is
done, so He openeth Noddy's mouth.
His visage was so marred more than any
other man.
And He's formed more than the sons of
men.
So, beloved, that's why the devil doesn't like
the cross to be preached.
Because in the cross, he took my sins.
In the cross, he broke the power of
hell.
Oh, if that can just get into our
spirit.
Oh, the devil can bark, he can yell,
he can scream, he can shout, he can
lay a trap for you.
But I want to tell you, no weapon
formed against you can ever prosper again.
All the saint has to do is to
say the name Jesus.
All you have to do is rise up
and say, devil, in Jesus' name.
I don't care what you're doing right now.
I don't understand it.
I don't need to understand it.
All I need to know is Colossians tells
me that all your power was spoiled at
the cross.
Isn't that exciting, beloved?
So, what I did was, in the study,
I took the seven statements that Christ made.
I went through all the scriptures and there
are seven statements that Jesus makes upon the
cross.
From the time that they nail Him to
the time that it's over, He makes seven
statements.
And let me tell you those real quickly.
Now, Jesus was crucified at nine o'clock
in the morning.
And by a little after three o'clock
in the afternoon, He was dead.
He had yielded up His own life.
But at nine o'clock in the morning,
when the Bible tells us when they nailed
Him to the cross, Luke is the one
that brings it up.
In Luke chapter 23, verse 34.
Don't turn there, let me just read it
to you.
It's when they first nail Him to the
cross.
These are the words that Jesus utters when
He is first placed on the cross.
This is the first statement that Jesus makes
on the cross.
Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them.
The very first statement.
The very first thing that He proclaims as
they nail Him to the cross.
Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do.
That's at nine o'clock in the morning,
a little after nine o'clock in the
morning.
Luke continues to say that the next statement
that He makes is this conversation between the
two thieves.
And Jesus was placed right in the middle
of these two thieves, showing us this is
what the gospel is like.
That Christ will always be presented to this
world and there's going to be people who
will reject Him.
Both rejected Him, but there was one who
turned.
And this is what it's going to always
be like.
You'll always find those that will reject Him
and go to hell.
There'll be those that will accept Him and
go to heaven.
And that will find paradise.
And so the second statement that Jesus makes
upon the cross is verse 43.
In Luke 23, He says, Verily I say
unto thee, Listen to the thief that says,
Lord, will you remember me when you come
in your kingdom?
And Jesus says to him on the cross,
He says, I tell you, I say unto
you, today.
And actually in the Greek it literally means
right now, at this very moment of time.
It doesn't mean later on, but the English
says today.
But Jesus in the original language actually makes
that there and then.
He was experiencing the touch of heaven upon
Him.
He says, Today shalt thou be with me
in paradise.
The third statement in John is found in
John.
This is in a chronological order.
This is what's taking place.
And in John chapter 19, He looks down
and there is His mother.
And He says, Mother, behold thy son.
Then He saith to the disciple, Behold thy
mother.
Fulfilling His scripture in Psalm 68, God saideth
to solitary and families.
Apostle John takes her into his home from
that time onwards, the scripture tells us.
But it's very interesting, at that third point
of His conversation on the cross, these are
the seven statements of Jesus on the cross,
that at this point in time, it's about
12 o'clock, it's noon.
He's been on the cross for three hours.
And from 12 o'clock noon to 3
o'clock, this is what the Bible says.
It says in Matthew chapter 27, verse 45,
if you go back to Matthew, verse 47,
or verse 45, chapter 27, verse 45, Now
from the sixth hour there was darkness all
over the land unto the ninth hour.
So in other words, from the top of
the hour to the ninth hour, which is
3 o'clock, there was darkness.
Mark chapter 15 says the same thing.
And when the sixth hour was come, there
was darkness over the whole land.
Luke 23, verse 44 says it was about
the sixth hour, and that there was darkness
all over the earth until the ninth hour.
And it's an amazing thing, right in the
middle, He makes these three statements, and then
for three hours, there is this darkness that
comes upon the whole face of the whole
earth, or over the whole land, as Mark
says it, Luke says, darkness over the whole
earth.
And all the writers are silent about this
darkness.
There's a silence about it.
After 3 o'clock, after the three hours,
then you go back and you can see
in Matthew, the fourth statement, Jesus emerges after
three hours of this darkness, and He says,
My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken
Me?
And then John chapter 19 follows the fifth
statement, and He says, I thirst.
There's a thirst in His heart.
And then in John chapter 19, verse 30,
He makes that most profound statement on the
cross, when He says, It is finished.
And then Luke closes the chronological statements of
Christ when He says, Father, into Thy hands
I commend My spirit, and Jesus dies.
And so you've got this six hours that
Jesus is on the cross, and you've got
these first statements where He's dealing with these
people on either side of Him, and His
mother, and John, and then there's these three
hours of darkness, and He emerges, and He
says, Why hast thou forsaken Me?
I thirst, it is finished, and into Thy
hands I commend My spirit.
This intrigued me as I was studying up
the scriptures on this, and I began to
wonder, well God, what is this darkness?
What was the heaviness that was come upon
Him?
And I went back to Isaiah, it's the
griefs, it's the sorrow, the stricken, the smitten,
that word darkness means, literally it means in
the Greek and the Hebrew, that which is
chaotic, that which has come, and the cause
of sin.
So there's this tremendous darkness that is upon
the earth, and that Christ is in that
particular time, and none of the writers writing
about this three hours of darkness.
There's no statement what is taking place there,
and I began to dig around.
I said, God, what is this darkness?
Now listen to me, in Genesis, I'm going
to help you today on a thought that
God put into my heart.
In Genesis chapter 1 it says, And the
earth was without form and void, and darkness
was on the face of the earth.
Until what time?
Darkness was on the face of the earth.
The word darkness in the Hebrew language literally
means misery, falsehood, ignorance, that which separates, chaotic,
void, without form.
So darkness, we see right back in Genesis,
covers the earth.
Until what time?
There's this darkness that's covering the earth, and
we understand the misery, the falsehood, the ignorance,
until the Spirit of God begins to move
on the face of the waters.
See, darkness can only stay as long as
there's the absence of the presence of God.
But when the presence of God comes, when
the power of the Holy Ghost is there,
when the Holy Ghost shows up, when God
begins to speak, the Bible goes on to
say that it is God who spoke and
light came into being.
You see, God divides light from darkness.
When the light comes, there's a divide.
You cannot get rid of darkness in your
soul.
There's no way that you can get rid
of any part dark in your heart.
You can try, you can go to counselors,
you can take drugs, you can go to
institutions, you can do anything you like, you
can walk on your head.
It doesn't matter what you try to do.
The darkness stays until the Spirit of God
shows up.
And in every single life where there is
darkness and someone says, God, I call upon
your name, and God speaks into that life,
light takes its course.
Isn't that awesome?
And see, darkness is covering the face of
the earth, over all the earth at this
time for three hours.
Jesus said this in the Garden of Gethsemane
when they came to arrest him.
When I was daily with you in the
temple, you stretched forth no hands against me.
He says, I was with you all the
time.
Why didn't you try to take me then?
But then he makes a statement, but he
says, but this is your hour and the
power of darkness.
So Jesus understood that there was going to
be a work of the enemy that was
going to come against him.
This is your hour.
Take your best shot, he was saying.
This is the only shot you're going to
get.
The Bible says he was stricken, smitten, and
afflicted, and the iniquity of us all was
laid upon him.
Now I looked up the word stricken in
the Hebrew context, and it means to come
into contact with beatings, with stripes, but also
with darkness.
It means to come in contact with it.
So here in these three hours, it seemed
like it was seemingly quiet.
Nobody writes about it.
Three hours, he's hanging on the cross.
What's going on with this darkness?
Well, the sin of the world, the weight
of that is coming upon him.
I think that the enemy is trying to
take a hold of his life.
He says in Acts chapter 2, the New
Testament reveals the battle.
He says the sun shall be turned into
darkness.
Colossians says he's delivered us from the power
of darkness.
So we know that in this darkness that
there was a power that the enemy was
trying to come against Christ at.
And the light shineth in the darkness, but
the darkness comprehended it not.
Now, again, it simply means not just understanding,
but the darkness could not seize the light
and the life that was in Christ.
And it goes on, it says that we
are delivered from darkness to light, from the
power of Satan unto God.
But in my studies, I still was saying,
God, what is going on in this three
-hour period of time?
And I know it was the Holy Ghost,
and he led me to Hebrews chapter 12,
verse 2.
Let me read the scripture, you know it
so well.
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2 says, Looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of our
faith.
So the Hebrew writer is saying, we're going
to look to Jesus, who's the beginning and
the finisher of our faith, who for the
joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down
at the right hand of the throne of
God.
And I thought to myself, the thought came
to my mind, God, what do you mean
by endured the cross?
So I began to look that up, and
I went to the theological book of the
New Testament, of the Greek New Testament, and
this is what it means.
It means to wait for hostile attacks and
to stand firm against them.
It also means to remain firm of that
which one resists, holding out, standing fast, enduring
all evils.
It means to, it covers courageous, active resistance
to hostile attack, and in this sense, use
alongside expectation and waiting.
And suddenly I began to understand, as the
sin of the world was placed upon Christ,
the devil tried to seize that opportunity to
kill him, but he resisted that.
And he comes out, and after this period
of time, he comes out of this time,
and he says, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?
I thirst, I long for fellowship.
That thirst wasn't just something to drink, it
may have been, he might have been very
thirsty at the time, but it has a
deeper significance than that.
It means, God, I long to have the
fellowship of just knowing your power and your
salvation.
And then he says, it is finished, everything
that God had asked him to do had
come to its final conclusion.
Up to that point in time, there was,
I tell you, as a sword, I saw
the devil trying to take his life, trying
to come down against him, but our God,
he wasn't just passively on the cross waiting
the time out.
No, he was resisting every single thing that
the devil wanted to throw and try to
take his life.
He resisted and would not allow it.
And he comes out on the other side.
That's what Colossians says, he came out of
this absolutely making an open show of the
devil, hallelujah.
And he says, so he was tempted in
all points, and yet without sin it was
placed upon him.
Now let me bring you to the thought,
the point of the preach tonight.
That's all just by way of introduction.
Let me tell you what I think the
preach is.
Go back to Matthew chapter 27.
This to me, I think, is the most
exciting part of it all.
It's almost like, I could almost say this
is the rest of the story.
You've got this first beginning nailed to the
cross.
He's dealing with this thief and that thief
and his mother and John and then this
three hour period of darkness.
And then he emerges from that and he
makes the rest of his statements.
But the moment that he yields up his
own life, Jesus laid down, he said, no
man taketh my life from me.
I lay it, I have the power.
God has given me this command that I
can lay my life down and I will
take it up again.
And so we see that Jesus lays down
his own life.
And the moment that he gave up the
Holy Ghost, he gave up the ghost, the
father intervened.
See, the blood of the righteous lamb had
atoned for sin.
He said it's finished.
All the legal requirements that God had required
of him had been met.
And God in all his power and glory
was now free to act.
And see, I just love it.
This is the pinnacle of the whole power
of the cross is that God is waiting.
And as soon as Jesus says it's finished
and he yields up his life, the lamb
of God was slain.
He's given up his life.
He's now that God is free to act
because the legal requirements of the law were
all met in Jesus Christ.
Now, look what God comes back and does.
Pick up the story now with me in
verse 50, chapter 27, verse 50.
Jesus, when he had cried again with a
loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
So he's now dead.
This is like three o'clock in the
afternoon, a little after three o'clock.
And verse 51, number one.
You see, God is almost like saying to
the devil, Devil, you can have your three
best hours at my son.
You better do the best that you can,
three hours all you get.
If you think that's power, if you think
that's a lot of power and principality, I'm
about to show you what true power is.
I just see the father just waiting to
say, you want to know what true power
is, devil?
I just know that this is the law
of God has been waiting for all eternity,
for this very moment in time.
Verse 51, number one.
Behold, the veil of the temple was rent
in twain from the top to the bottom.
So number one, God says, you try to
keep my people from me.
You caused man to sin in the beginning.
You try to separate man and get them
into hell.
I want to show you something today, devil.
I'm separating, this curtain that separates man from
my presence.
God says, number one, never again will man
be not allowed to come into my presence.
From today onwards, any person who believes on
my son can come into the presence of
almighty God.
He says, this is what I'm going to
do, devil.
See if you've got power to stop this.
Rip, and he opens up the way into
the holy of holies.
And the invitation to every single person who
would believe on the son of God is,
come on into my presence.
Can you imagine that we who are wicked
and our hearts desperately wicked, God says, because
you received my son and he nailed your
sins to the cross, you tonight can come
into the presence of a holy God.
Devil, that's power.
You cannot hold one of these people back
again.
Never again will you ever hold them back
from my presence.
Boom, he opens up the way into the
holy of holies.
Beloved, do you know what that means?
I leave the church tonight and when I'm
walking home and I'm walking down the street,
I say, oh Jesus, I love you.
God, I thank you that you care for
me.
And God says, oh I love you, I
care for you too.
We're talking to a holy God.
We have a relationship with the eternal God
who made the heavens and the earth.
He says, you can come into my presence,
you can love me, you can talk to
me.
Never again, bored.
Don't let the devil lie to you that
your sin can keep you out.
You confess that and call on the name
of Jesus, you come right into the presence
of almighty God.
Hallelujah.
Number two.
So he opens up the way, I just
love it, it gets better all the time.
Come into my presence.
And then number two, he says, and the
earth did quake and the rocks rent.
Let me tell you, beloved.
Yeah, the earth shook and the rocks broke
and split.
But you know what speaks to me?
Every hard heart, every conflict that has held
you in captivity, God will shake it loose.
He says, devil, you think you've got power
to hold them?
I've got power to shake it loose.
You think you can bind them?
I've got power to loose them out of
those prisons.
Paul and Silas at midnight and God gives
an earthquake and everything shakes and these men
come out free.
You see, beloved, God will take the hard,
stony heart and he'll break it in pieces.
He says, you hardened their heart, I give
them a new one.
Hallelujah.
So it doesn't matter.
The temple is opened up, they can come
into my presence.
But more than just coming into my presence,
I'm going to give them a brand new
heart.
Ezekiel says, I'm taking out the heart of
stone and I'm giving them a heart of
flesh.
Hallelujah.
It gets better even more than that.
And then he goes on to say, listen
to this, I just love this.
Can you imagine being there with the disciples
and all those people round about and you're
standing and walking maybe on an unmarked grave
and suddenly this thing begins to open up.
The graves open up.
The Bible tells us at that particular time,
the graves begin to open up of all
those who had loved the Lord and died.
And they came out of the graves after
his resurrection and went into the holy city
and appeared unto many.
So here were all the saints that had
died in the past and all these graves
opening up.
He says, devil, you want to see power?
That which is dead, I'm going to make
alive.
You can try to kill them, I'm going
to make them alive.
You can condemn them, but I'm going to
put life into them.
I'm going to quicken them.
I'm going to give them resurrected life.
They're going to come into my presence.
I'm going to give them a brand new
heart of flesh.
And more than that, I'm going to give
them resurrected life.
They're going to have the life of my
son living within them.
And I tell you, it's going to quicken
their mortal bodies.
Hallelujah.
You try to kill them, God's going to
give them life.
And then the last thing that he does
that I think is marvelous, which we have
today, is he says, And they feared, and
look at verse 54, Now when the centurion
and they that were with him were watching
Jesus, Saw the earthquake and those things that
were done, They feared greatly, saying, Truly, this
was the Son of God.
You see, beloved, the greatest power on the
earth today is this, That the name of
Jesus will be proclaimed.
The name of Jesus.
You see, the devil tried to rub out
the name of Jesus.
He tried to take that name of Jesus
down.
But in the last of what takes place
on this resurrected time, This moment in time,
when he's on the cross, This is what
it says.
And they said, Truly, this is the Son
of God.
There came a recognition that Jesus is God.
Jesus is God.
That whenever I say the name Jesus, We're
not just talking about a name of a
person.
We're talking about the name of the Son
of God.
That in His name, every knee shall bow
and every tongue shall confess at the name
of Jesus.
There is now no weapon, there's nothing that
can hold me back.
God has opened the way into His presence.
And every single person who calls on the
name of Jesus shall be saved.
You call on the name of Jesus, you
shall be saved.
You shall be saved.
Hallelujah.
Delivered.
Set free.
Not bound.
New heart.
New life.
Presence of God.
Every person who calls on the name of
Jesus shall be saved.
Shall be.
Shall be saved.
You shall.
You shall be saved.
It doesn't matter what lie the devil says.
You shall be delivered.
Set free.
And the presence of God come in.
Resurrected life.
Take over death.
Hallelujah.
That's why He said the cross.
The cross is an offense to the world.
Life to you and me.
Hallelujah.
Let's stand together.
Glory to God.
Hallelujah.
You've got to struggle tonight.
You come say the name Jesus at this
altar tonight.
And you watch the chains broken and the
doors open and life come where there's death.
Father, thank You tonight for the cross.
An offense to the world.
But power to those that believe.
Now God, I'm believing tonight that You, the
God who shook the mountains and an earthquake
came and broke the rocks.
That You are going to do the same
tonight.
For every person who comes to this altar
and calls on the name of Jesus shall
be saved.
In Jesus' name.
You come.
If God spoke in your heart, just step
out.
And you come to the altar.
You call upon the name of Jesus.
And I'm telling you tonight, you will be
touched by His power.
And I've got some psalms I want to
read to you tonight in closing.
So you come and I've got a word
for you tonight.
Hallelujah.
Praise God.
Let me read some psalms to you.
The equivalent, the Old Testament equivalent when Jesus
said, when in Hebrews where it says that
He endured the cross.
It wasn't passive, folks.
It was active.
And the Old Testament equivalent of this powerful
word is, it actually is two words.
It's the word trust and the word wait.
It's the Old Testament equivalent to this word
endure.
So while He was on the cross and
the enemy was trying to come against Him.
There was a trust in the Father.
And there was a waiting for the power
and the salvation of His Father to come
through.
It was going to happen.
Let me read some scriptures to you tonight.
As you come to this altar and you
say, I want to put my trust in
Jesus tonight.
Well, let me tell you what you're going
to be getting.
Psalm 25.2 says, Oh my God, I
trust in Thee.
Let me not be ashamed.
Let not mine enemies triumph over me.
See, trusting in God will not allow your
enemies to triumph.
Psalm 5.11 says, But let all those
that put their trust in Thee rejoice.
Let them ever shout for joy, because Thou
defendest them.
So in the moment you say, God, I
put my trust in Jesus.
He says, you can begin at that very
point in time.
The Bible says that you can begin to
start shouting for joy.
You don't have to worry about how it's
working out, how it's panning out.
You don't have to care anymore, because the
very second that you put your life into
the trust of Jesus.
He says, the Bible says, let them ever
shout for joy, because Thou defendest them.
It's like in the past tense, it's already
been done in other words.
You can begin shouting tonight, because you put
your trust in the Lord.
Oh Lord, my God, in Thee do I
put my trust.
Save me from all them that persecute me
and deliver me.
Let me read one more to you.
Lead me in Thy truth and teach me,
for Thou art the God of my salvation.
On Thee do I wait all the day.
You see, to the rest of the world,
those three hours of darkness.
It looked like just to them, nothing was
happening.
There's nothing written about those three hours.
But Jesus trusted in the Father.
And the moment that He came out of
that time and He says, God, it's finished.
I give it to you all.
And God comes through and the power of
God is demonstrated.
That's why we can rejoice.
Now you pray with me tonight.
Lord Jesus, I take up the name, Jesus.
For Your name means Jehovah is Savior.
You are my Savior.
And in You do I put my trust.
You put your trust in the Father.
And He came through.
Tonight, Lord Jesus, I put my trust in
You.
I'm not going to look to my circumstances.
I'm not going to look to the attack.
The devil can scream and yell.
But this night, I put my trust in
Jesus.
And the Bible says I can shout with
joy knowing that my God will defend me.
And Lord, I thank You that tonight, no
weapon that is formed against me will prosper.
But Your name will defeat my enemies.
Now let me pray for you.
Lord Jesus, I believe with all of my
heart that the Apostle Paul knew the power
of the cross.
He saw that on that cross, not only
was my sin nailed to it.
Everything, everything, all sin was nailed to that
cross.
He took it from me.
It was nailed there.
But Lord, also every power and every principality,
every attack, every work of hell, every breath
of the devil that He would try to
utter against us was absolutely spoiled on the
cross.
Now, Lord Jesus, tonight we receive it and
we believe it.
And we begin to shout.
We begin to shout in our heart, Lord,
tonight.
Our God is an awesome God.
Hallelujah.
Glory to God.
Just give Him thanks tonight, beloved.
Tell Him tonight He's an awesome God.
You're an awesome God.
Hallelujah.
You're an awesome God.
This is the conclusion of the message.