Meeting at the Foot of the Cross R1700

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton about meeting at the foot of the cross. This is the encouraging word, and Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher, is a well-known author, seminary professor, pastor, and an encourager when it comes to opening God's Word and gaining fresh new insight. Today, we'll head to Psalm 130 for that insight, and while we do so, know that we'd love to pray with you and for you, not just now during the broadcast, but anytime at 866-899-WORD.

Jot the number down, store it in your cell, 866-899-9673. We'll connect with any of us, happy to talk or listen or pray, and connect with the wonderful resources right now about the ultimate sacrifice. You'll find the details on our website at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. We're stunned, Lord Jesus, that you would permit sinners to come and gather together at the foot of the cross. Lord Jesus, you should have hung there having been brutalized and beaten at the hands of angry men.

You should have got those people. Lord, you could have called 10,000 angels to destroy the world with every justification, every right, but you spoke love and forgiveness from the cross. You looked out and you saw every person who was created in the image of God, and you loved them. Lord Jesus, we gather together at the foot of the cross today, all of us, and we cry out to you, O Father, because of Jesus. As we pray this prayer in Jesus' name, amen. Just before Jesus went to the cross, I wonder how many subjects that he would have loved to have spoken to, to those he loved, to his disciples.

One can only imagine the syllabi, the contents of conversation, the important issues. Jesus was about to go to the cross, and he gathered spiritual people together, and he did two things. He showed them the meaning of the cross, and then he instructed them to gather at the foot of the cross, to actually do it. Jesus loved his disciples so much, he knew them, he understood their world, he saw the conflict. I think first and foremost, he knew that each one of those disciples were sinners, and he knew that they couldn't handle the world in which they lived without Jesus of the cross. Jesus knew that. I'm not trying to put words into Jesus' mouth as we prepare for this together, but I can only imagine that what Jesus was saying to Peter and James and John was, men, I want you to understand something, if you think it's tough being believers, if you think the church is in for a good ride, if you think that my words that the gates of hell are going to come against you, but will not prevail against you, I need to show you what you need to do, because you take me out, you try to solve your problems from a worldly perspective, you'll never do it. You try and solve your problems, your fears, your anxieties, your personal struggles, your family issues, your church issues, your social issues, your children issues, your growing up issues, your puberty issues, your maturational issues, your personality issues, you try and solve that and do it the world's way, you're not going to do it. You're going to end up in a bad place. You need to gather at the foot of the cross. This is how you do it.

Jesus was very clear to his church. But whether you're from Scotland or whether you're from Woodruff, South Carolina, you and I have got a big problem when we don't gather at the foot of the cross. We're living in a day and age today at which people are awfully discombobulated and public opinion polls are running rife and behavior is generally very bad. People lose their temper.

People grandstand. Politics is divided across the nation. Take Great Britain, the Prime Minister has stepped down.

Israel is divided, even Israel. And what about our own beloved nation? And into this comes you and I. I come into this picture. You come into this picture. Our church comes into this picture.

The church of the living God comes into this picture. Your family's in it right now. Somebody I'm talking to right now is living in fear.

You're anxious. There is somebody right now that your marriage is breaking up and you never thought it would happen. There is somebody right now who's got a broken heart because there's a broken heart on every pew. There's somebody right now, a very precious person, that's wondering if there's any hope for tomorrow.

There's somebody right now asking more questions than you could ever have answers to. There's somebody saying, is there a hope and a future for our nation? Where is America going?

What are we leaving behind for our sons and our daughters? And Jesus says, let's meet at the foot of the cross. There's so many passages of scripture I want to share with you today.

I want to tell you where I'm going with this. This is no ordinary worship service. God has spoken to my heart and he wants me to say this to us. And in just a moment, I'm going to ask you if you would come and totally abandon yourself at the foot of the cross. Paul said, that which I have received, I pass on to you. There's not one of us who are qualified. I am the least qualified. And Paul said, that's why when you meet at the foot of the cross, you have an opportunity to confess your sin before him.

Start doing it now. That is the only way Jesus will bless this church. He's blessed this church for decades. And unless we come together at the foot of the cross, he will not bless your family, your business, your children, name it. The nation of Israel had a special place in God's heart. We know that, don't we?

That's why I keep going back. We have sponsored people to go to Israel for years. I've had people give money to send pastors and ministers all around the country. There are pastors, retired pastors sitting in this congregation that was sponsored by some of you to go to Israel.

Why? Oh, do you have time for me to get onto eschatology? I don't know where he's going to set up his headquarters. But I'm going to tell you for the purpose of this meeting at the foot of the cross is because that's the place where Jesus went to the cross. And I can tell you when I go to Israel, I'll be going again. When we go to Israel, it culminates in the garden tomb. Everyone who's been there, we gather at the foot of the cross. There's the empty tomb, there's Golgotha, the place of the skull.

We gather there and we bow our heads and we confess and we sing and we pray to him and you can sense the power and presence of Jesus. Do you want that? Are you serious, church? I think you are.

I know you well enough. And so here's the nation of Israel. This is what was said by the nation of Israel in Psalm 130.

This is Israel. Psalm 130. Out of the depths, out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Apply this to your own life. I'm going to start again because we're all sinners. Watch this. You know why I'm going to start again?

Because Satan does not want you to stand at the foot of the cross. He's doing everything he can. He's in your mind, your thoughts. He's disturbing you. He's pulling you.

He's distracting you. Let's start again. Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy.

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, if you would hold to account my sin and his sin and her sin, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. And in his word, I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchman for the morning, more than watchman for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is steadfast love. And with him is plentiful redemption.

And he will redeem his people from all their iniquities. What's weighing you down today? What sins in your life? What wrong has been done?

What injustice? What issue are you dealing with? What sadness, grief are you battling with? What anxiety do you have in your heart? Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message from Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment.

But as he closed with that question, what anxiety do you have in your heart? Could it be that you need someone to pray with you and for you? We stand ready to do that right now at 877-443-CARE.

That's 877-443-2273. Not only would we love to pray with you and pray for you, but we also have remarkable resources that depending on what you're going through right now, we can point you to on our website at www.tewonline.org. If you go to our website www.tewonline.org, you'll see some resources right now. A book about some of the great martyrs of our faith and the ultimate sacrifice, again, are all on the front of our website, www.tewonline.org. While you're there, be sure and sign up for the daily encouraging word from the pastor. It comes out every morning about 6 a.m. and will indeed enlighten you, give us application to God's word and inspire you on a daily basis.

Absolutely free, of course. Sign up on our website www.tewonline.org for the daily encouraging word devotional from Dr. Don. And while you're on the website, you'll discover more great resources, resources like this. What an incredible privilege to be the friend and pastor of Dr. Billy Graham for so many years. That's why I have just written Saturdays with Billy. This is not a biography. It is my experience with this most precious man who has changed my life and the lives of thousands of people around the world. You want to get a copy right now, Saturdays with Billy. That's just one of many great resources you'll find on our website www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. Now we're headed back to Psalm 130 and today's message, meeting at the foot of the cross with Dr. Don Wilson here on the encouraging word. What do we find at the foot of the cross?

May I mention just a few? I think we've got to start out what we find at the foot of the cross is the whole world. They were there.

I could have used that word every person, right? Please forgive me for trying to paint a picture that I cannot paint but how many times I've sat there looking at the skull, the place of the skull, which was outside of the city of Jerusalem, the marketplace. It was a busy place. It was a place of public execution. It was a place where the Romans wanted to maximize their advertising. That's why they took Jesus there. And the two criminals, they wanted all, everybody to see and to know and to understand and to fear them.

This was very public. And gathered there at the feet of Jesus at the foot of the cross was the whole world. I wonder who those people were. Am I looking at them?

I think so. The church, the living church, the church that met with Jesus in the upper room, what Jesus was saying to them was the church must be the place where everyone who knows better will invite anyone. Now let's start defining anyone. Who did Jesus tell was not permitted to come to the foot of the cross? So you are guilty of adultery. And by the way, there are people in this congregation that I know have committed adultery.

And there are many of you. I've had the privilege of praying with you. I've had the privilege of watching you and your precious family forgive one another at the foot of the cross. I've had the privilege of hearing and seeing Jesus forgiving you. Could we name a sin that has not been committed by God's people?

The church, everyone can invite anyone. You are welcome here because this is the foot of the cross. You know, there were two criminals that were crucified alongside Jesus.

One of those scoffed at him. The other one repented. And Jesus said to this man who deserved to die, today you will be with me in paradise. Wow! There they were at the foot of the cross.

How are you doing? At the foot of the cross we not only find the world, but I've got to mention them if you don't mind. But at the foot of the cross we find the disciples. Now by the way, the disciples, please at least put me in that category. Me and Dr. Mickey Sebesky. Brother Mickey, come stand up here with me a second. This is our chairman of Deacons and I love him to bits.

Now, if you look at these two fine gentlemen. Okay. We would be in that group. We have to be, right?

Shake on that. See, we would have to be, right? However, now I'm going to make him go and sit down because I might include him in something I might regret. Could we just, I wish I could go through all the disciples. How about Peter? He was there, disciple, very loved. What had he just done?

Excuse me. What had Peter just done? What about Matthew? Well, you know, Matthew, we can get all in the background of Matthew. He was a tax collector.

He was probably one of the number one hated people on his team. I'm sure, you know, if he hadn't followed Jesus, Jesus just changed his whole life. You know, what about James and John? Love talking about James and John. But one thing that always stands up about me was that they were firsthand witnesses to the transfiguration. Jesus took them, remember, up the mountain and he was transfigured into his heavenly body. These were the men that saw Elijah and Moses. Many years after they died, he saw them, spoke to them.

Listen, you wouldn't have had any question talking to them about life after death and the meaning of eternal life. Well, they were there at the foot of the cross. I've just got to say this, the third group and I'm putting is a hurting church. Folks, when Jesus gathered the disciples in the upper room, he was sending the church out.

Into what? It was a hurting church. They were gathered there saying, what? All these believers were standing there at the foot of the cross saying, we're bewildered, we're hurt, what's going on? How are we going to survive?

There's no future. Everybody, I mean, they had every question in mind. Jesus gathered them at the foot of the cross. So, that brings me to the fourth one, ourselves. You know, we sing a song, were you there when they crucified, my Lord? I was there.

Ourselves. My father always used to tell me, be very careful about pointing when you preach. You might all say, that's true. You know, I may do this every now and again or this every now and again or some other kind of gesture. But I really try and discipline myself.

But I do. I mean, you can find a lot of footage of me pointing and I wish I didn't. And you all know the reason, don't you?

Because many of you are school teachers. So, every time you point, hello. There but by the grace of God, go we, ourselves. I'm praying for believers, for myself, for our church, for you, for your family. For what our children are growing up into. What they're facing. This fast moving world. All these things going, it's just like, what's going on? It's like a big perfect storm. If I had another three years, I'd love to get back into eschatology and show you how this fits in God's economy.

Ourselves. And so it is, my beloved friends, meeting at the foot of the cross. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, God's word says this as we begin to prepare ourselves for the invitation and for the participation in the Lord's Supper together. This is what he said in verse 27. Therefore, whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus.

Wow. Let a person therefore examine himself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup for anyone who drinks and eats without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. Be careful what you say and how you talk and how you behave as a believer.

That is why many of you are weak and ill and this one I've never been able to figure out. And this is why some of you have died. God's word says directly related to the foot of the cross that believers who violate the Jesus syndrome could possibly die. Jesus said that.

God will take them out. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. There's the unity of the church. Everything Jesus said is about being one in Christ. It is the imperative of the body of Christ.

It is the unattainable goal because we cannot do it in and of ourselves. But at the foot of the cross, Jesus can. I cannot fix this world, but Jesus can. I cannot fix my marriage, but Jesus can. I cannot get rid of this pain and anxiety and fear, but Jesus can. What a powerful day of biblical teaching from Dr. Don Wilton and what a powerful truth that he just closed with. The reality is neither he nor your favorite pastor nor anyone else can get rid of this anxiety, pain, and fear, but Jesus can.

And he is ready to do that in your life right now. We would love to pray alongside you, to be part of your prayer support, to advance this army on our knees together. And our prayer team is ready to meet you right now at 866-899-WORD. That number will connect you with one of us 24 hours a day, happy to pray, happy to connect you with resources. Jot the number down, store it in your cell. It is 866-899-WORD.

That's connect with us on our website at www.tewonline.org. Again, it's been a great day of teaching and insight from Dr. Wilton as he's been preaching from the pulpit. But now as he steps into the control room with us, would you open your heart to what he wants to share next? Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just prayed along with Dr. Wilton moments ago to give your life to Christ or rededicate your life to Jesus, oh how the angels are celebrating in heaven, and we would love to join that celebration as well. As a matter of fact, Dr. Don would like to celebrate with you and pray for you. If you'll call us at 866-899-9673 and tell us about your decision, Dr. Don also wants us to send some free resources to you that will help you grow in your faith. Just call 866-899-WORD and we'll connect to those resources right away. That's 866-899-9673, or meet us online at www.tewonline.org.