One of the most important symbols of the Christian is the symbol of the cross.  We sing the old hymns like, “The Old Rugged Cross,” or “At Calvary.”  One of my favorite new songs in “There is a Redeemer.”  And many of these reference the cross.  We see a cross at the front of our church, placed high on steeples around the country and held in high esteem among Christians.

           When we think of some of the other symbols of our faith and of our savior, we think about Jesus as the door, or the way, or the Good Shepherd.  But yet, the cross has become the major symbol of our faith. 

An 18th century author said these words about the cross. ”The Good Shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep.” So, by nothing easier, He sought us; so, by nothing less, He saved us.  By a love as real as the passions He came to rescue us from, and divinely stronger.  By an anguish as terrible as the miseries to which those passions dead, I began to understand why the Church has adopted the cross as her central symbol, more central than even that of the Good Shepherd.”

           So we cherish the Old Rugged Cross.  The next four weeks will be important for us as a church.  I want to examine the impact the cross has on the Christian life.  I will highlight four areas over the next four weeks.  For the cross teaches us of death, of love, of humility and of sacrifice.  We will examine these four topics, then look at the impact of the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

           The world around us does not view the cross with the same reverence as the Christian, nor does it impact the way they live.  But for the Christian, we do cherish the Old Rugged Cross and find in the cross seed ideas that impact our daily living.

           The first impact that the cross of Jesus Christ has on Christians is that it symbolizes death.

           The cross was a place of death in the first century.  It equates to lethal injection or the electric chair or even hanging of a criminal.  The cross was a place of death.

           Certainly we see the death of Jesus and in that our justification. 1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (1Co 15:1 -3).

           Christ died for our sins.  To the Christian, these words bring great joy.  Christ died for our sins.  There, hanging between heaven and earth, Jesus died for our sins as Paul says, “The Just for the Unjust so that he could bring us to God.” 

           Let me explain this if I can.  The teaching we speak of here is called justification by theologians.

           Let me explain this if I can.  Just as there are physical laws that govern our universe, so there are spiritual laws that universally apply to us.  We think of gravity as an example of a physical law.  It is there and though we don’t fully understand it, we know that “what goes up must come down.”

           So also there are spiritual laws that govern the universe.  I think everyone will agree that lying, cheating and stealing are breaking some universal law.  This universal law springs out of the character of God.  God does what is right and what God does is good.  So God never lies, never cheats, never steals.  When we do these things, we are guilty before God of breaking his moral law.

           God is also just.  He cannot let us get away with it, or he is no longer just.  God is the one who sets the penalty for our sin, our breaking of His law.  He has told us “the wages of sin is death.”

           This is where Christians are excited about the cross as a symbol of death.  On the cross, Christ died for our sins.  We should have died, but we didn’t.  God sent His Son to die in our place.  The debt was paid.  We are set free.

           Because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, God has said that anyone who puts their faith in Jesus will be covered by his death. 

           We do not enjoy Jesus dying.  The cross was a horrible experience.  But we are thankful that he died for our sins according to the scripture.

           Now when we stand before God and he says, “You have broken my moral law!” we say, “Yes we have.”  When God says, “The punishment is death,” we say, “Jesus died for our sins.”  Because of that we are justified, declared righteous and pardoned from the penalty of our sin.

           Some people think that they don’t need Jesus.  They think that a good life will be sufficient when they stand before God.  They think that they can say, “I did the best I can” and God will be pleased.

           But you can never be right with God by doing the best you can.  For the Bible tells us that our best falls far short.

           I don’t know how many of you watch “the Apprentice” with Donald Trump.  But each week certain bright, successful people compete to do a job.  They will tell you that they give it their best shot.  But when they walk into the boardroom, they hear the words, “You’re fired.”  So when we walk into heaven’s court, we will hear that our best is not good enough.  It still falls short.

           Those who believe that “Christ died for their sins according to the scripture” are the ones who will be justified and able to stand before God.

           This leads us to the second aspect.  The death of Christ on the cross secured our justification and forgiveness of sin.  But it goes deeper than that for the Christian.

           This second aspect is found in 2 Corinthians5: 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2Co 5:14 -15).

           Why did Jesus die for us?  The stock answer is, “So that he could forgive our sins.”  But the real answer is greater than that.  It goes well beyond giving us forgiveness and assuring heaven for us.  Verse 15 underscores this: 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

           For the Christian who understand the cross, there is not only justification but also sanctification.  Sanctification is a two-part process.  God set us apart, isolates us.  That is step one.  When we become a Christian, we become set apart just because we are a forgiven people.  We are set apart because we have been justified by faith.

           In the Old Testament, a vessel might be bought in the market.  Then it was brought to the temple.  When it was purchased for use in the temple, that vessel was set apart from all other vessels because it was designated for holy use.

           So we are sanctified, set apart by God at the moment we receive Christ.

           When that vessel was brought into the temple it was washed before it could be used.  This speaks of the second aspect of sanctification that I want to refer to today, the process whereby God works in our lives us make us more like Christ and to use us for His glory.

           The purpose of the cross was to bring people into the family who would not live for themselves, but for Jesus.

           Now catch this, for this is important for every Christian.  When you live for anyone other than yourself, you symbolically die to yourself.  When you don’t do what you want to do, but you do what someone else wants you to do, then you die to self.

           And the whole purpose of the cross for God to have a group of people who would die to self and live for Jesus.  In the military, basic training is given because the military wants people who will obey orders.  You cannot have people hesitate, ask why, or propose alternate solutions when split decisions need to be made.  The military wants people who don’t do what they want to do, but are willing to do as they are told.

           Christ died so that we would live for Him, not for ourselves. Let me quote you some verses on this.

           24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. (Mt 16:24 -25).

9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Ro 6:9 -14).

           20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Ga 2:20).

           So what do we conclude from this?  When we look at the cross we not only see Christ’s death on the cross, but we see our death to self, to the old way of life, to sin and to the world.

           22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph 4:22 -24).

           This new life means that we don’t live according to the world’s standards.  Because it is popular doesn’t mean we do it.  Because everyone else does it doesn’t make it right.  We live as followers of Jesus Christ, not as followers of self or of the world we live in.

           Paul put it this way, 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Ga 6:14).

           This is what he boasted about.  When Paul became a Christian, a follower of Christ, he did not live for himself, but for Jesus.  Many of his friends in the world crucified him.  They cut off contact.  They didn’t invite him over to their house.  They said nasty things about him.  Why?  Because he was living for Jesus.

           But Paul said, “The world has been crucified to me.”  He no longer took what others though of him and attached any importance to it.  He listened to others, don’t misunderstand me.  But when a conflict came between the world and Jesus he said, “Take the world, but give me Jesus!”

           So we cherish the Old Rugged Cross.  By faith in Jesus, because we believe he died for our sins, we know we can stand right before God because of what Jesus did for us.  But it goes further for us.  We died, sin died, the world around us died and we look only to Christ.  Step by step we follow Jesus.  Where He lead us we will follow.  It’s not our life, but following the life Jesus has laid out for us, that is our plan.

           So in the cross we rejoice in what Jesus’ death did for us.  We also recognize that now we belong to Jesus.  Self, sin and the world are crucified as part of our old life.  We now live a new life in Jesus.