Was it for crimes that I have done He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace Unknown! And Love beyond Degree.
Well might the sun in darkness hide, and shut his glories in,
When Christ the mighty maker died for man, the creatures sin.
Thus might I hide my blushing face While His dear cross appears;
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness, and melt mine eyes to tears.
But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe,
Here, Lord, I give myself away, Tis all that I can do.”

At the cross! We sing of its glory and the one who died on it. It is the central fact of Christianity, followed closely with the resurrection. In fact, you cannot separate the two. The cross and the resurrection is the basis of Christianity. At the cross God vindicated the message of His son, justified those who believe in Christ and brought man back into fellowship with Him. God’s eternal purpose found its fruition. We are Christians, saved, redeemed, and declared just because of the cross.

Do we grow tired of the message of the cross? Has it become “ho hum” “Big deal” to us? Have we heard the message so much that we fail to see what it is all about? Do we think God “owed” this to us for being Americans, or because we are better than most people?

At the cross Jesus bought and paid for what we could never pay – he paid the price for our sins. He took our sins upon him, and died so we wouldn’t have to pay the penalty. By faith in Jesus we obey what he has commanded, and appropriate the blood that he shed on the cross (John 19:34-35) to ourselves so we are saved from our sins (1 Peter 1:18-19). We have understood that he paid a debt he did not owe, and paid a debt we could not pay.

At the cross Jesus purchased the church. Acts 20:28 says that he purchased the church with his own blood. Hence, the importance of the church is irrevocably tied to Jesus’ death on the cross. While the church has her problems because Christians don’t always live up to what is expected of them, we can never minimize the church. Jesus died on the cross to pay for it with his blood, and when we obey the gospel, we are immediately added to the church by the same Lord who saves us (Acts 2:47). Hence, we should do all we can to glorify our Savior and Redeemer through the church (Ephesians 3:21).

At the cross Jesus did away with the Old Testament law under which the Jews were bound, but also under which no one could be saved. At the cross he died to make Jews and the Gentiles (nations) one in one body, the church. He took away the wall of separation that divided us, and brought peace to all. This fact is clearly taught in Ephesians 2:15-17; Colossians 2:14ff; 2 Corinthians 3, Hebrews, and in the book of Galatians.

It is because we are in Christ that all of the spiritual blessings God has to offer are given to us. We get into Christ at baptism (Galatians 3:27).

Let us always preach the cross of Christ – not ourselves. When we glory, let us glory in the cross.