In the Shadow of the Cross - Edwin Eby

Good evening to uh each of you. In the name of Jesus. It

is a uh a blessing to be here, and I am glad that I

can be here. There's not much to introduce, but yeah, God has

been very good to us, and I am glad to be here with you

this evening. I do remember being through these parts sometime back, uh quite

some time back, and now the years have gone on and got his broughthers

back here again, and I'm glad to be here with you. We have

three children, one son, two daughters, Idaho, Georgia, and Maryland,

and thirteen great grandchildren. We just skipped the grands we don't have any

of those. We only have grand great grandchildren. And my wife is lost

is here with me. I'll just say something nice about her. She always

wins at the type of our parties because he asked if you made your bed

or not, and she always wins that she always makes her bed. And

uh. Second thing is that when I go away, and I go away

a lot, she always has everything that I need in my journeys. So

I'm glad to be here with you this week. I'm trying to get my

little laptop here up here to start for my notes, So if you can,

can I bear with me on that I didn't print my notes tonight and

bright along with my laptop my notes. So I'm glad to be here with

you this evening, and I'll just restart it here and then we'll get it.

Get my notes up here and get going with you. I am sorry.

This is Palm Palm week. We'll say. Last Sunday was Palm Sunday,

and we were headed towards Easter one Sunday. We look forward to that.

And tonight I do want to to speak about cross, about the cross

of Jesus Christ. I want to do that tonight, and I ask you

to turn in your bibles to Galatians chapter six, verse fourteen and seventeen have

two verses here that I want to read. The title of the mess say

is in the shadow of the Cross. And in Glatians chapter six, Paul

writes the following verse fourteen, but God forbid, or that is, God,

stop me from glorying in anything save in the Cross of Jesus Christ,

by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. And

then he says in verse seventeen from henceforth, let no man bear trouble me,

for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. And

so we see that Paul says that he would glory in the cross of the

Lord Jesus. And he says the world is crucified unto me, and I

unto the world. As we have these two opposing things going on in Apostle

Paul's life. I onto the world, and the world unto me. And

also he says in verse seventeen, let from henceforth, let no man trouble

me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

Now, Harry Newswonder used to believe that if there were some tapes laying around,

some old cassette tapes of Harry Nwis Wonder or of the Apostle Paul,

that they would be well used. And I probably disagree with brother Harry on

that, because the speech was contemptible. At least he said so his reading

was powerful, and probably now one would listen to him very much. But

one thing we know is he was a beat up man. If you go

over into Second Cristians chapter eleven, you'll find all the things that happened to

Paul, and it was a very beat up man. And he says,

henceforth, let no man trouble me, for by bear in my body the

marks of the Lord Jesus. That is, I believe that he had in

his body of physical scars. He had a lot of physical scars in his

body, and I believe that was a literal thing that he did. He

was quite beat up as a man, and probably not such a handsome man

at that by this time in his life when he was writing these to the

Galatians and then the other scriptures. I want you to look at and keep

your finger here in Galatians chapter six I want you to go to Matthew chapter

sixteen. We have the words of Jesus. In verse twenty four. He

writes, then he said, Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will

come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow

me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will

lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man

profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or

what shall a man give in exchange for his soul, for the Son of

Man shall come in glory of his Father with his angels, and then he

shall reward every man according to his works. Barely I send you there shall

be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they shall see the

Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And so we have these words of

Jesus about cross bearing, and I want to put these together tonight and think

about these as it has to do with the cross of Jesus Christ. And

I like to think sing a theme song tonight, number seventy seven in the

Life Songs, and we'll just sing one verse each evening. Yeah, number

seventy seven. Hmmm. I stand amazed in the presssis Stjesus the Naso,

and wonder how he could love me, a singer, condemned and clean.

Oh, how marvelous, so wonderful? And my song show ever be?

Oh marvelous song wonderful? Is my say yourseless to me? So tonight we

want to take these two scriptures that in Glatians chapter six, where Paul talks

about the cross of Jesus in Matthew chapter six sixteen, verse twenty four,

of where Jesus says that if any man will come after me, and if

he will enter into the kingdom, he shall deny himself and take up his

cross and follow me. And I'll remind us right now that taking up a

cross and denying ourself is not the normal things that happen to people. Taking

up our cross in the nine Jesus Christ is not the normal things of sickness

and all the troubles and sorrows that come upon the human race. Self denial

that Jesus is talking about is the things that we decide to do for Christ

and for his for his work that he is done in our lives. And

Paul says that he experienced this cross and gloried in it he unto the world

and the world unto him, and that he would not be detered from either

one of those. In fact, he experienced both of them. Now you

have two pictures here. On one side hangs Jesus impaled and bleeding and beaten

and in agony and in anguish, in the horror of that as a sacrifice

and a substitution for our sins, that we can go on and live for

him and finally good to heaven. And the other is Jesus instructing us that

we must identify and accept a cross in our own lives, the former of

an impaled Jesus. And what Jesus has done on the cross. We we

like that, we we love that, we grasp that, we get that

the other not so easily. And so I want to talk about that perceiving

the cross of glory. Now, the cross was a Roman way for revenge.

It was shameful for a man to die on a cross. Many men

had died by the Roman hand of the Romans, but in this case it

was God as a man hanging on the cross dying. Now, what kind

of a God is that that allows himself to be hang up on a shameful

cross? Who wants that kind of a god? The cross was shameful,

and Jesus was despised. He despised us so much. A Bible tells us

that he prayed with great anguish there in the garden while they came to help

him in his behalf, and he cried out on the cross, oh my

God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And yet it says

in Hebrews that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the

cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of God to

Father. And so Jesus took the despised cross and made it his work bench

and turned it into a thing with dignity, honor, and glory and majesty.

And we love that same as Paul did. We should, as Christians,

loved to see that, because it was that which saves us from death.

And that's why we sing such a song as I stayed amazed in the

presence of such a thing, that we could stand in the presence of a

cross with a God hanging on it. For us, it's not about the

manger where baby Jesus lived. It's not about all the angels and saying for

him that day. It's not about all that. It's not just about the

shepherds, the bright and shining star. It's not about the wise man who

traveled from Afar. It's about the cross. It's about my sin. It's

about how Jesus came to be born once so that we could be born again.

It's about the stone that was rolled away so that you and I could

have real life someday. It's about the cross, they sing. It's not

about all the good things and lust life. I've done it's not about the

treasures or the trophies I've won. It's not about the righteousness that I've found

within. It's about his precious blood that saves me from my sin. It's

about the cross. It's about my sin. It's about how Jesus came to

be born once so that we could be born again. It's about God's love

nailed to a tree. It's about every drop of blood that flowed from him

when it should have been me. It's about the stone that was rolled away

so that you and I could have real life someday. But you and I

could have life someday. It's about the cross. It's about the cross.

They're saying, I know how we love that. I know how we should

love that. We put crosses on our churches. I'm looking around here.

I don't know if you have any in this church. But people put crosses

on churches. They hang them around their necks, they put them on their

Bible cases. Brother was speaking our congregation last week about the cross, and

I began to look around at all the Bible cases, and all them on

the zippers have a little cross there. We put them on steeples, we

hang them around, we put them. On our pictures back east, we

see men kneeling down with a machine gun in this hand, praying before the

cross. Such a contradiction of truth. It's good that they pray, praise

God. They pray that it's a contradiction of truth and have a machine gun

in this hand and praying before the cross, because Jesus said, that's not

my cross, if you have them here or not. What a contradiction of

truth. But the cross by the Romans was a despised thing, and God,

Jesus Christ took that and turned it into his work bench. Number two.

The world views the cross as foolishness. Paul writes, the coincidence for

the preaching the cross. It's to them that praise foolishness. But unto us,

which we're saved, is the power of God. And I'm not ashamed

of the Gospel of Christ. What is the power of God under salvation,

Paul says. And we preach Christ crucified to them that perish foolishness, But

unto us, which are saved, is the power of God. Paul writes.

Under the Jesus Tongueenbach and under the Greeks foolishness. For the foolishes of

God is wise than the men, and the weakness of God is stronger than

men. You know, there's even missionaries. You say, do not highlight

too much cross, for it turns away, turns people away. Do not

highlight it too much. But Jesus said the very opposite. In John twelve,

verse thirty two, he says, if I be lifted up from the

earth, I will draw all men unto me. And so we have this

cross that Jesus hung on, and there he hung for you and I.

If this cross attracts you, and you place your faith in the one that's

on it, then you can have eternal life. But if you are rejected,

then you are attracted to the evil of this world. It cannot be

both, for Jesus said, no man can serve two masters. Either you

are attracted by the cross, or you reject the cross and call it foolishness

and despise it. And so the cross of Jesus will either be a magnet

compelling you to bear the same kind of cross and to bear in your body

the same marks that Jesus bore, or else you will despise it and cohort

with the world. It cannot be both no. In the story of the

Cross in the Bible and the Gospels, it seems that almost no one.

It seems that almost no one at the scene that day actually saw what was

happening. Aside from the thief and the centurion and a few lonely women,

it seems that most of those who are gathered around the cross watching Jesus being

crucified that day did not really see the importance of it. Maybe they saw

their own grief about it, or maybe their own life that surrounded the event,

or maybe they were gloating. Some of them were gluting that this man

had finally received his Josh reward, or they wickedly played games and amuse themselves

on the occasion as it gathered around there, and as the Son of God

hung on the cross. And it seems when we read the account in the

Gospel so Jesus being crucified, it seems as though no one stood in front

of the cross, in front of the impelled Lord Jesus of the universe,

and said, oh, Lord Jesus, you are the real authentic passover.

You are bleeding, and you are dying so that you could purchase my soul

and the souls of man from the clutches of sin and death, and with

your sacrifice, you're changing the sentence of mankind from death unto life. You're

winning the battle. Jesus. Hang on, You're paving the way from death

to life. Take caurage, Jesus, hang on. We need you,

Jesus. Finish it out. We're with you, Jesus. It didn't seem

like that went on at all. It seemed that beside just a few,

no one really caught what was going on. No one extolled the situation or

the occasion. It seems like almost no one perceived what was really happening.

There were the ones that were gathered around across there were blaspheming and says,

take the sign down, it's not true. They mocked, they laughed,

he's getting what he deserved. He saved others and he cannot save himself.

Ha ha. And they passed by, and they railed and wagged their heads.

If you could destroy the timbi three days and rebuild it, come down

off of the cross and saved ourselves, and so on, Let the King

of Israel descend from the cross, so that we may see and believe.

And yet at the same moment, the biggest event of the world was happening,

and yet no one was perceiving it. Have you ever experienced such a

thing in your life where a huge event was happening and you missed it.

You were there, but you missed what really was happening. Well, that's

what seemed to be happening around the Cross of Jesus. All these people were

around this cross, but hardly any only a few were actually understanding what was

happening. Has it ever happened to you You were in a certain situation,

You heard the commotion, you witnessed the event, but it was not until

some time later or afterward, that the magnitude of what was happening hit you

in the forehead, and you said, oh Lord God, See, multitudes

were around the cross, but they were missing it. Their eyes were blinded.

And so how often you and I see but do not perceive the keenness

and keenness to the event. Are we crying to our neighbors? Behold the

man? The centurion saught his smotest breast, and he said, surely it

was the son of God. Behold the man. And that invitation of the

centurion rings out through the ages. Only two lonely voices rang out into that

darkness. Most of the others were hiding in fear the cross companion and the

man, the centurion, man who was in charge of the crucifixion's smootest breast,

and said, God, certainly it was you. Plus there were two

valiant men, Nicodemus and Joseph, who were in the shadows and came out

after the event had calmed down and identified with Jesus. Some of the most

one of my favorite persons in the Bible was Nicodemus. At that moment when

everyone else was hiding, he came out in the open and took Lord Jesus

down off of that cross. See this evening for you, and I is

your voice ringing out to your neighbors. Behold the man, Behold the man.

And so we have this situation. On one hand, it's despised and

foolish, I under the world and the world under me, Paul says,

and our glory in that cross. And so we have these two opposing situations.

One is the glory of the cross and the other is the foolishness and

the opposition. And we have this situation where most of the people that were

around that situation completely missed it. And so it is today. While there

are crosses everywhere, while they are on their bibles, they're on our signs,

they're in our churches all over the place where we like to put signs.

Too many are missing the truth of the cross. Now, think about

that, and I want to pivot just a little to the man of the

cross. Days. About a week before this event of Jesus on the Cross,

Jesus was still popular with the crowds, and he walked from Jerusalem to

Jericho, or from Jericho towards Jerusalem. And he was going there because that

he knew that his time had come, and he knew all things the Bible

tells us. And he was going from Jericho to Jerusalem, and he knew

that there he would be crucified. And people were flooding and flocking all around

him, and the crowds were cheering and watching. The emotions were charged and

electrified. Men were jostling about who would be the greatest in the Kingdom of

Heaven and who would sit next to him in the Kingdom of Heaven. And

Jesus looked at those men and he said, can you bear with me the

marks of the Lord Jesus, Yes, sir, but yes, Sir Jesus,

we will bear the marks in our body. And Jesus said, in

your life, will you be just like me? Yes, sir, yes,

sir, we can. And then Jesus said, are you sure and

are you certain that you're willing to bear in your body the marks of the

Cross? That is, Jesus said, will you really live a despised cross

bearing life? Will your neighbors really know that you are transformed by the power

of the Cross. Will you really be diverse from the world? Jesus asked

these men. Will men really know that you've been with me? Yes,

sir, Jesus will go all the way. In the middle of all that,

a Jewish blind man sat by the raid and you heard Jesus coming.

Now, we don't see blind men these days very much. Medicare takes care

of them, and we don't see blind beggars very much in our day.

There's ways that they can receive their help. When I do visit Bangladesh,

I see blind men sitting by the red side. You take a few takers,

which is a few pennies at the most. You drop it in their

little can, a little cop They cannot see you, but they hear you

you drop a few pennies in there. They sit there day after day,

waiting with their little cop for you to drop a few pennies in it.

Wealthy and rich as we are, well, we don't see that very much

in our country. But in this day, as these men come down the

road from Jericho to Jerusalem, jostling and bragging about how they would bear the

marks of the Lord Jesus Christ, a blind man sat by the way.

His father's name, the Bible tells us, was Tomais, and therefore we

call him Bart the Mass, that means the son of the Mass. His

father's name was Tomais. He was a Jewish man, and there he sat

by the road as Jesus and these men came down the road, and these

men were bragging about how they would bear the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There they come down the road. And here said blind Bard to Mass,

as he had sat for day after day after day, and then he

heard that Jesus was coming. The crowd was thronging Jesus, and he cries

out, son of David, son of David, Son of David, Please,

son of David, Help me help me, Son of David, Please

and love and behold, Jesus came over and helped blind Bardamass. Can you

and I imagine tonight the joy somehow can we imagine the joy of being given

eyesight? Can you imagine the joy that blind Bartimaeus had to see both the

light of the day and the man who saved him? Have you ever been

given the light of day? And have you seen the one who gave it

you? Well, it's a very interesting story. Back home. About twice

a month the local ministry and now we have little Minister's meeting breakfast at high

Hops six o'clock in town of Winchester, and we take turns exercising brotherhood in

at least two ways. One is the man that has his turn for devotion

also pays the bills. So we exercise brotherhood that way. One week it's

my turn, in one week it's another man's turn. And every four times

we get together we exercise brotherhood that way, and we know that the man

that's going to have the devotions that morning, a little word from the Lord

that morning, is also going to pay the bill for all the rest.

And we share a few scripture stories and on one of those occasions, I

was using this story of blind bar Tomass and focusing on him begging God for

mercy and so forth. And then I said to the brothers, I said,

you know, there are so many stories in the Bible that just don't

ever get finished, and we really don't know what happened. And then one

of the older brothers looked at me and he said, well, the story

is finished. It breathes that he threw off his his his beggar coat which

identified him as a beggar. He threw it off and came to Jesus,

and then it says that he followed Jesus. This story is finished, he

said, because now you see he had thrown off his beggar identity and now

it was a Jesus freak. And everyone knew that barn Mass was a Jesus

freak. Do you not to wear a sign on a batter your T shirt

Jesus freak for Jesus that Jesus free. Well, everyone knew that blind barn

Mass was a Jesus freak because he followed Jesus. And the brother was right.

The story was told. It says that he rose up and followed Jesus

well, where was Jesus going, Jason, he was going to the cross,

and it says he followed him. He was headed to the passover in

Jerusalem. He was headed to the passover, the real Passover. Now can

you imagine with me, without violation of the scriptures, that this Jewish man

Bartima said he was all his life would have wanted to be as other Jewish

boys and men, to be part of the great Jewish Passover feast. And

now he has both his eyes and he's a static and we can hardly imagine

his joy. And he follows Jesus to the city, and lo and behold

as he stays in and around Jerusalem, and the great passer events that were

building up, the crowds, and the political wind shift from the north to

the south, and the cry for the man who gave him sight. There

was a cry to hang the man who gave him sight on a shameful cross.

And evil wins over righteousness, and the judge rules in favor of the

evil, though he knows full well the righteous. And the man who gives

this man sight is now headed for a shameful Roman cross death. Can you

grasp the dynamics of what happened. But Bartimas receives his sight, he gets

up and follows Jesus. Jesus heads to Jerusalem. The political winds change,

and the man who gives him sight is now headed to a cross. Now,

Bartimas, just like you and I, have to make a choice of

which would Bartimaus deny himself and take up his cross death and followed Jesus,

or would he not, would his newfound eyesight turn towards the great Jewish Passover

and the popular feast of which he always had wanted to go and long for

years, but had not been able to because he was trapped in his blindness.

Or would he follow the lonely man who gave him sight and was now

headed for a cross. Which if he followed Jesus to the cross, he

would get to see the real passover. If he stayed in Jerusalem rather than

go outside the camp, he would get the time of his life. Which

which Jerusalem? Which which would Bartimaus now choose? If he stayed in Jerusalem,

he would get what he always wanted. If he followed Jesus, he

would always he would get across, and he would go to the cross.

Now, let's not miss this challenge, because this is the same choice as

it concerns the words of Apostle Paul and Jesus there in Matthew. This is

the same choice that you and I have day after day after day. And

Paul says that every day he would choose the event outside the camp. He

would choose to suffer with the man outside, Paul said. Every day,

Paul says, I will choose the man outside the camp. He decided that

he would follow Jesus. He would be among the few, he would be

among the shamed. He would deny that glory for this glory, he would

deny himself and take the man Jesus. He would smite his chest to say,

behold the man. He would choose the glory of this cross and despise

that one. He would identify with this event and reject that one. He

would identify with the real event, and he would reject the wildly popular fund

over in town. Do you think that Barti mass In deciding to follow Jesus,

and the Bible says that he did so. I believe that he probably

there was at the cross, although the Bible is not say do you believe

that Barti mass In that choice asould Apostle Paul ever felt cheat did or disappointed

that he would identify with the real event and avoid the popular event. He

no doubt had looked forward to this event for years and years, but he

was trapped in his blindness and could not now. The man that he was

following gave him life and light, and he followed Jesus. The Bible says,

do you think that Bartimaeus ever felt cheated or disappointed in his decision?

But there he stood now needing to choose. See that, my friends,

is an elephant in the room of our life too. And Jesus said that

accept you choose this, and deny yourself and take up your cross. You

cannot be part of the kingdom of heaven. That is still the elephant in

the room day after day after day. Which which which which in which cross

will I choose to glory? Will it be this one or it will be

this one? One? Would give him a joy of life, and shame

could not be avoided, and acceptance with the world would be easy. Over

here over here it's opposite over here will allow him to see the real and

shame could not be avoided, and a cross would make him visible and make

visible marks in his body. That is, his neighbors and his friends would

know that he is the one who decided to be a Jesus free and everyone

would know that he chose this one instead of this one. That's the same

choice that you and I have. He benun by his friends and family as

the one who decided to go along to the crowd to Gogatha Calvary. But

you see, folks, if you will go along to this cross, you

can be drawn to it. Jesus said. Anyone that sees me lifted up

and perceives that I'm lifted up will be drawn unto me. And if we

choose to go here, we will say, oh, Lord, surely it

is the Son of God. Because standing around and watching and looking at the

cross and the things that happened on it is gripping. And I tell the

congregation at home is one of the reasons that you should not miss the communion,

because Jesus said, Paul said, every time that you take communion,

you should remember the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our brother told

us here tonight, we're pretty forgetful, right, So I tell it cameragating

at home, you should not miss communion, because communion is about looking at

this situation, and Jesus said, if you will look at it, you'll

be drawn through me. And we can be attracted by it in the same

way that men are in much the same way as others have chosen to be

attracted to that one, because standing and watching across is gripping, it's arresting.

Because when you look at this one and you go here, you are

forced to decide which and what you will do with it. It causes an

inescapable emotion. It causes people to decide will you or won't you? So

when you're looking at this one and attracted by this one, you are forced

to answer the question will you also bear the cross and the marks that it

brings? Will you be none as a Jesus freak? And the Cross of

Jesus, for those who will choose it, is totally distracting. Do you

have distracted driving rules out here in Oregon? I suppose you do. The

Cross of Jesus Christ is totally distracting to those who will choose it, and

you'll be trapped by it, and you will receive eternal life through it,

and it will cost to worship, and it will identify you as redeemed,

and you won't be like them, You'll be like us. You'd be like

the redeemed, and it will separate you from the world, and it's glitter.

For the two are opposites. See, the cross is a lens.

He's stinging on my face are a lens. If I were trying to read

the Word of God here to you without these lens, I would get it

quite confused. Well, when I'm looking through these lens, then I can

read it to you accurately. This eyewear and the eyewear that you're wearing are

a lens. So the cross is a lens. That is is the thing

that you are about to decide? If you look at it through the lens

of the cross, you will always make the right decision. But if you

don't look at it through the lens of the cross, you'll probably be like

trying to read the Bible to you without my lens. So is the decision

that you are about to make? Is it view through the lens of the

cross, Because if it's viewed through the lens of the cross, you will

make a right decision. Else you will not read it correctly and you'll go

over here instead of over there. So let us use the cross as a

lens in our decision, because if we view our decisions through the cross,

we will make the right ones. The cross is a balancing ride. I

don't know very much about extreme gymnastic acrobats, but these acrobats perform impressive feats

of strength and agile maneuvering, and while they maintain their equilibrium, they spare

themselves from injury and death in that bar that they hold that's essential to their

performance of either life or defeat. And the cross is something like that.

It's like a balancing beam to main positive positions in our truth. We live

in a world that is full of all kinds of doctrines, fanciful doctrines,

pitiful doctor trends, and the list goes on, and the cross balances a

Christian's view and faith and understanding of doctrines. There's many voices out here going

around, and I too, am attempted to be attracted. But be careful

in the world in which you live that the cross is a balancing beam in

the doctrines of which you are. Winds of doctrine that are blowing all around

you and are sometimes intriguing things that attract us. The point is what is

the truth, and truth viewed through the Cross can be a balancing beam as

you try to go through this evil world. Who is right and who's wrong?

In the many voices. Listen, my friends. If the doctrine that

you are encountering is void of either of the glory and the power of the

Gospel, and does not call you to a life of self denial, then

or excludes the bearing the marks of the Cross, then it is a false

doctrine. Because the Cross will always call you to bear the body in your

body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Cross can balance our

faith and keep us true to Jesus. It's an anchor. I'm a land

blubber. I don't know very much about shipping, but in the middle of

the storms at sea, when a man and a captain cannot see sun nor

nor star, and the storms of our life are many, if we hang

to the anchor of the cross, when the storm subsides, we will be

at the same spot. And that's why ship captains throw anchor when they're storms,

because it secures them till the storm is over, and then they can

go from there. The Cross is an anchor. We need it, folks.

And it's a god. You know. The wise man who wanted to

find Jesus, they followed the star. The star was the God, and

the cross is a God. I guess you all use GPS out here,

you're in the backwoods. If you don't, we know the address of the

destination, but we are unfamiliar sometimes with the roads that lead to it,

and so we trust these things called GPS or Google Maps or whatever it is.

And of course we know that they are not always true. There'll be

some things to say about that. But the Cross is always a true god.

It'll always get you there, and it will always lead to two things.

Glory in the cross and deny ourself and following Jesus. It will always

lead you there. And secondly, it will lead you to a personal cross

bearing. If we do not have cross bearing in our lives, we are

none of his. And the decisions that aligne with the Jesus, who was

the real passover of God and the cross bearing, folks, will separate us

from those who choose to go to Jerusalem for the show that's going on over

there. It separates us because they are opposites and there will be no confusion.

Those who follow the Cross and the God of the Cross, there will

be no confusion about who they are. All your neighbors and all your friends,

and all your business associates will know exactly who you are and that you

are a Jesus worshiper. It cannot be an other way. You can't hide.

I can't hide. You can't. And there'll be no confusion to those

who are watching, because they will know which place we have gone. And

if we stand there gazing on the man at the man on the middle cross,

we will do just like the Centurion. We will smite our brist and

say, certainly, behold the man, and we will never be disappointed.

The cross is a measuring stick. Now I'm free this week because I know

nothing about you, so I can say anything and you'll have to blame it

on God, you know. Back East, at least we have joined the

church of Facebook and the social media brotherhood like never before in Ana Baptist Church.

We have joined in our churches at least the word world of podcasting,

and we are in danger of knowing those who labor among us. Does that

matter? I'll give you example the friends that I'm friends with are listening to

podcasts of every imaginable thing that the world could ever offer. I'll give you

a little illustration. One Sunday morning, I was preaching about something about the

Jews and willing Wall. The young man come running up after church and he

said, you made a mistake. What you said wasn't quite accurate. I

said, well, you know, you might just be right. How do

you know, Well, I was listening to this podcast this week and he

said this, and that was different than what you said. I said,

well, who was the guy? Well he really doesn't now. So the

point was to podcast and I was wrong. That's not the point of it.

I was wrong, but he was. He was trusting the podcast speaker

more than he was trusting the man who labored among them. That's a problem.

See, is the man that you're listening to, does he preach the

glory of the cross? This one over here? There are many who are

missing it and preaching the glory of the cross. They love that part,

But what about the part that we don't like so well? And that is

of taking up our cross and following Jesus and bearing about the marks of the

Lord Jesus. What about that one? Is this man who's teaching you knowing

and accept and accepting and teaching the suffering of a personal cross? Is he?

Do they teach you, Milardy, of submission to a brotherhood and identification

with the cross of Jesus? Did they teach that? So you can think

about that? And the cross is our coat of arms. I worked for

a company that gave me a beautiful black north faced jacket. Says it over

here on the sleeve right of here. It's a beautiful jacket. I have

a here on this side it says Mallard coach and every on this side it

says Edwin. But I only wear it when I work for that company.

That company has coach busses and I drive them. I have two personal busses.

But I would never wear that jacket when I'm in my own boss life.

It will be confusing. But not only confusing, it would be heretical.

Can you get the point? I do not represent that company on my

own. It will be both confusing, wrong and have radical to wear that

jacket when I'm doing this over here? See, the cross is a coat

of arms. It identifies you as a Jesus freak. Don't wear it when

you go to town. It would be confusing and wrong. Do you get

it? And the Cross is a judge. Either the Cross is the greatest

hoax in history or the greatest history the greatest hero of history. It cannot

be both. Either it's the biggest lie and the biggest fake news, or

else it's the greatest hero of all history and time. Therefore, when it

is presented, either you must spit on it and despise it and contempt it,

or it must be held in high esteem. It cannot be both.

Either it deserves to be trampled and reviled and ignored so that I can live

my married life of fun and pleasure, or else it will become the greatest

hope of human history. It cannot be both. It's a judge, and

each of us this evening are a judge of the Cross. Is that hoax

or hope? You and I need to make that decision. We can say

we believe it, but if we do not take it up and bear in

our body, we are really denying it. We are really by doing that,

we would be saying that hell is a myth. Because to ignore the

Cross is to make it a hoax, and to ignore it is to believe

that hell is a myth. Here's why. If there is no hell and

no eternal torment for those who are not glory in it, then the cross

is absurd. The cross only has meaning if we accept that there is something

to be saved from, and God sent Jesus to stand in that gap and

save us from hell. And if there's no Hell this evening, then I

suppose we should go to town and on our merry way, because the cross

is foolishness. But if there is a Hell, then I know that a

God has intervened in my behalf in yours. And the Cross of Jesus stands

in that gap, and by faith I cling to it and to Jesus,

the one who is on it, the crucified, impaled, suffering. I

under the world and the world unto me. Now I'm gonna go out here

on the limb or out on the ice. I used to believe, y'all

said, I used to believe that there was nothing in the Bible to tease

separation for the sake of separation. But I have to conclude that there that

is not completely true. And I'm not teaching separation for salvation, but I

am teaching that unless we are identifying with the Lord Jesus Christ, there will

be separations because the two cannot they are they're the th They're just conflicting one

with another, you see. And so I ask us a question, am

I burying in my body the cross that I take the witch cross? This

one or this one? The one is denying self and taking up across and

following Jesus, and this one is something else. Cross brearing is a choice

that defines the decisions and identity of my life. I have told my congregation.

The young guys know it. I'll use it as an illustration. I

have always wished to own a Harley. I think it would be neat Back

in Pennsylvania. They crack it. That's what you own one for. You

crack it and then you let up. You crack it and let up.

It's just I'm not preaching against Harley's. I might be, that's not my

point. If you say I'm preaching against Harley's, you're missing the point.

I'm preaching about self denial. There's nothing right or wrong about two wheels and

a motor. But there's something wrong about identifying over there, because that's not

the crow us over there. So Now I don't know what you have to

give up. I only use that as an illustration. Am I bearing in

my body the cross that I take? That's the question I'm leaving with you

tonight. Am I bearing in my body the cross that I take? Does

it matter? Does it? I'm not going to address the future kingdom this

week because I think I'm in the circle of people that appreciate the kingdom.

Now I do too, s I'll just leave that. But the point I'm

making I believe that you that are in Christ would agree that if we want

to be in the Kingdom, there's a cross we have to take. Cool

and so Jesus leaves that with us tonight, and it says you cannot be

in my kingdom unless you, as Barthamas, follow me to Calvary and go

Gotha. May God bless you as you come tomorrow evening. I wanna speak

to the children. How many of you have, But I wanna tell you

the story. I know you wanna know what about this leave life that can't

get into the temple except through Christ because lead life's like this couldn't get in.

So I'll tell you the story. If you come tomorrow, sit up

here, a trumps. Tomorrow night, we'll find a place here and I'll

tell you the story and i'll give you a lesson for it. I'm normal,

but it's not quite so i'll tell you that story tomorrow night. If

you come, all the little ones, and we'll find a little place here.

And then on Friday night, I'll have another little lesson for you.

Say tomorrow night and Friday night, and before we start to preach, to

have a little lesson. May God bless you as you go to your bed

tonight and pray and decide again and again and again, which which which cross

will you take? I'll stand together for prayer. Brother Jason Weed lead us

in a closing prayer.