SECRET CHURCH // CROSS OF CHRIST

TRUTH TO BANK YOUR LIFE ON

By David Platt

Muslims see the crucifixion as a preposterous idea. One Sunni Muslim scholar even wrote, “We honor Jesus more than you Christians do. We refuse to believe that God would permit Him to suffer death on the cross.” Muslims would say that what we were talking about tonight is a low view of Jesus. So, at this point, when we realize, especially in our pluralistic day when there are all kinds of religions and religion is looked at as a matter of preference and people all across our culture and all across the church today say things like all religions are fundamentally the same, just superficially different. They’re all fundamentally the same, just superficially different. This is where we need to realize this is a core truth at which Islam and Christianity are really Christianity and Judaism for that matter, divide. It’s not a matter of preference, it’s a matter of truth, not even asking you to determine which one is true necessarily, but the reality is either Jesus died on a cross or he did not. If he did not, then we are wasting our time tonight, and we’re fools to be following Christianity. The Bible says that.

1 Corinthians 15, “If he didn’t die on the cross” – if he did, this has huge ramifications for all of our lives for all of eternity, and so, we need to know whether or not he died on the cross. It’s not superficial difference. This is radical difference. Some deny the fact of the cross. Despite what Mohammed said, it was much closer to the historical situation. Christians and non-Christians alike reported that it was, indeed, Jesus who died on the cross. Some deny the fact of the cross, but even for those who might accept the fact of the cross, most missed the meaning of the cross.

I got a quote here from Gandhi, “I cold accept Jesus as a martyr, an embodiment of sacrifice and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born. His death on the cross was a great example to the world that if there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it, my heart could not accept. The reality is, whether it’s Gandhi or other religious teachers or the countless millions of religious Americans who watched The Passion of Christ, there’s a great lack of understanding about what’s happening on the cross, because it’s so much easier.

An example, most missed the meaning of the cross, which leads us to the reality we’re diving into tonight. We all need the truth of the cross. E Stanley Jones said, “The cross is the key. If I lose this key, I fumble. The universe will not open to me, but with the key in my hand, I know I hold its secret.”

The cross is not just an event to be discussed. The cross is not just an event to be discussed, and the cross is not just an image to be viewed. The cross is not just an event to be discussed or an image to be viewed. The cross represents truth to be believed. Truth to be believed, trusted in, to bank your life on.

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_WHY IS INDIA THE COUNTRY OF FOCUS FOR THIS SPRINGS SECRET CHURCH?

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