The Cross: Our Bridge to God

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, August 16th.

What's God's will for your life? Let's begin a series today that will help you understand and embrace the foundations of the Christian life. What I want to talk about in this message is a bridge. I want to talk about a bridge that is very ancient and very modern. One that crosses a chasm unlike anything else that exists.

It has nothing to do with how much weight that goes over it, and it was never built by human hands. I want you to turn, if you will, to John chapter 14. In John chapter 14, Jesus is in the upper room, and I believe personally, for me personally at least, some of the most precious things, if not the most precious things He said, He told His disciples the night before He was going to be crucified. Here's how He begins with a passage that so many of us have learned you with.

He says, Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house, or many dwelling places or mansions.

And if it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I'm going.

Thomas said to Him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. How do we know the way? And then Jesus made this statement. I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one. No one comes to the Father but by me. He said, I am the way, the only way, the truth, the only truth about God, the only truth of God. And He says, I am the life. I am the only life that is eternal.

What in the world did He mean? He made a profound statement in just those few words, but one that should be a warning to people who are looking for some other way to get to God. A statement that is a comfort and a wonderful assurance to all of us who know the way to our Heavenly Father.

So what I would like to talk about in this message is simply this. The title of this message is The Cross, Our Bridge to God. Now, when we ask ourselves the question, what do you mean by that, I'd simply begin by simply saying this. What is it that must be bridged in a person's life before they can get to God? What is it that must be bridged before we can get to God? Well, if you'll turn to Romans chapter five for a moment, here's what you'll discover. God doesn't leave us without information and truth about everything we need to know about.

Here's what He said. He says, for example, in the twelfth verse of the fifth chapter of Romans, Therefore, just as through one man, Adam, sin entered into the world, and as a result of that, death threw sin, and so death spread to all men because all of us have sinned. The problem is universal. The problem is sin.

S-I-N. We came into this world with a sinful nature. We all have had to deal with that one way or the other. Some people deal with it.

Many people choose not to deal with it, and many people do not even know that's the problem. What they're looking at is they say, well, this deed was wrong, and that deed is wrong, and this deed is wrong, and after all, those deeds may be wrong. Well, look at all the good things I've done, and therefore, my good deeds certainly outweigh my evil deeds, and because my good deeds outweigh my evil deeds, then certainly God is going to accept me. Well, now, that's human rationalization, but that's not what God says, and so what I want you to see is this. The issue here is that oftentimes a person does not understand what happens when sin begins to work in our life.

What we do is this. We yield to those evil desires. When a person is living in sin, they reject the moral law of God. When a person is living in sin, they reject the gracious invitation of God's forgiveness. When a person is living in sin, they reject God's all-wise plan for their life.

So I'd simply ask you this question. Have you ever said to God, God, I want your plan for my life? I want what you want. I want what you will for my life. Have you decided to live your life the way you want to live it, do what you want to do when you want to do it?

Has there ever come a time in your life when your life has been absolutely transformed as a result? That is, your life is not the sinful life. That is not the practice of your life. Now, sin in your life means that you're acting out of character. To all of us who placed our trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior, sin in our life means we're acting out of character. Because character for us is living obedient and holy before God. Sin is serious business.

God hates sin because He knows what it does to the sinner. So the question first was, what is this chasm that must be bridged and the chasm is sin because it has separated us and alienated us from God? But now that leads me to a second question I want us to think about and that's this. The question is simply this.

Why is the bridge necessary? Here's what it is. You're listening carefully. Say amen. The holiness of God. The holiness of God is the reason. God can't say, well, okay, God sent out a decree. The soul that senteth it shall die. The wages of sin is death. In order for God to say, well, we're going to forget it this time.

Well, nobody's perfect would mean that God had violated His own law and how could you and I ever believe Him again about anything if He ever violates one of His promises, if He ever fails to, listen, to live up to His own decrees and laws. It's against God's very character to lie or to change His principles and to change His laws that apply to human life when it affects a person's eternity. It is absolutely totally beyond his character.

He doesn't think that way. So therefore, what we have to ask is this. In light of this, what has happened as a result of man's sin, man because sin has alienated man from God because sin and holiness are absolutely totally separable and can never be compatible.

Watch this. You cannot walk in the will of God and walk in sin at the same time. We all have to make choices. I either choose to walk in the will of God or choose to walk in sin. I either choose to be obedient to God or choose to rebel against God.

I can't live in rebellion and obedience at the same time. And so what sin has done, it's alienated us from God. And this big chasm is a result not only of my sin but the fact that God is absolutely holy.

Now listen carefully. No one will ever understand the cross until first of all they understand the holiness of God. Why would a loving God send His only begotten Son into this world with the shame and the persecution and the hurt and all the rest and have Him nailed with spikes on a tree, that is on the cross, and have Him there almost totally naked in all the shame and all the accusations and the condemnation. Why would God do that to His only begotten Son if He is a God of love?

Because God is a holy God until a person understands the holiness of God, they will never understand what the cross is all about and why it had to be. So when you look at the Scriptures and you ask yourself the question, Jesus made a statement here. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.

Why did He say that? Because there's only one way. Do you mean to tell me that there's only one way?

Only one way. And so what we have to ask is this, if this chasm is my sin and if the reason for this bridge is the holiness of God, here's what that says, it leaves me in a very helpless condition. Because if God is holy and I am sinful, how do I get from my sinful condition to this holy God? How do I get His acceptance?

How do I get His forgiveness? How do I get my name written in the Lamb's Book of Life? How do I get to heaven when I die?

I mean, how do I? Well, that brings us to what I want to say next of all. And that is, the question is this, what is the bridge? What is the bridge that crosses this chasm created by my sin and that separates me from God because of His holiness? Here's what it is.

Listen carefully so you won't forget. The bridge is the cross of Jesus Christ. Now listen, it's not a piece of wood. The bridge is not a piece of wood. It is the cross of Jesus Christ, Christ being crucified upon it. The cross is the only bridge from my sinful condition to holy God. The only pathway, the only bridge. If there were any other way, Jesus would never have said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me. Now, why is that true?

Listen carefully. God said the soul that sinneth it shall die, the wages of sin is death. Every single human being who's ever walked on the face of this earth is a sinner. The only person who's ever walked on the face of this earth was the person of Jesus Christ without sin. He was absolutely without sin, tempted and tried without sin. He is the Lamb of God without blemish. Therefore, how did God?

You see, man can't bridge this gap. God had to do it. God the Father placed the sin debt of all of mankind upon His Son Jesus Christ. And when He died, He paid the penalty of sin.

Here's what He did. Listen, He satisfied God's requirement for the penalty of sin which was death. He died on the cross, bore all of my sin and yours.

Listen, once and for all. And He suffered the result of sin when He cried out to the Father, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Listen, He was separated from His Father and experienced in that moment of time, a brief period of time, what people will experience for all eternity when they die without Christ. So that God placed upon Him all the sin of all mankind. Listen carefully.

Jesus died in order that you and I may be forgiven of our sin. Listen to this now, clothed in righteousness and brought into oneness with Him. Listen, here's the chasm, here's the gap. Holy God, sinful man.

How do they get together? God bridged the gap. He's the one who built, He's the one who provided the bridge. Listen, it is not a toll bridge. I cannot pay my way across. I cannot work my way across. I can't give my way across. I can't produce good deeds to get across.

The only way I can get across is one way. And the only way sinful man and holy God can ever come together. Listen, this isn't some drawbridge where man does his part and God does his part. Listen, this is the bridge that God only could provide in the sinless perfect life of His Son who bore our sin on the cross, shed His blood. That's why we sing about the cross. The way of the cross leads home for there's no other way. And that is exactly why we emphasize the cross. That is exactly the message of the cross. It's God's divine eternal bridge from man's sinful condition to holy God to make it possible for us to live in a wonderful intimate relationship with Him. How do you get across that bridge?

There's only one way. Repentance and faith. Now watch this. Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin, so to speak.

Listen to this. Repentance means that I turn so that if I choose to turn to God as a result of the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, I've turned away from something, I've turned around. In order for me to turn, to desire to turn, I must believe that if I turn, I must believe that Jesus Christ will forgive me of my sins. You can't separate repentance and faith. Now watch this. Repentance does not mean that I'm going to stop doing all this sin and therefore if I stop all this, then God will accept it.

It has nothing to do with it. Not by works of righteousness, not by good intention. He says, listen, for by grace are you saved. God's loving favor toward us provided at the cross. So if I'm going to take this bridge to God, what I must do is look to the cross, this crucified Savior, and acknowledge the fact that He died for my sin, accept it, and listen, accept it not only as a literal fact, but accept it and with application to my heart, God, I do believe that He died for my sin. Here is my sinfulness. I'm asking you to forgive me for my sin.

I'm trusting that His death at the cross paid my sin debt in full and the moment I say, Lord Jesus, I receive you as my personal Savior, in that moment you are eternally saved. Now watch this carefully. Watch this now. Are you listening? Say amen. Amen. Because there are many of you out here who would think, you say, well now, but suppose you're telling me that once I cross the bridge, once I give my life to Jesus Christ, then that takes care of it. Now suppose I sin again. Are we separated from God? No, because when He paid our sin debt, He paid it all once and for all. What does sin do? Sin makes me feel estranged from God. Sin grieves my heart. Sin grieves the heart of God. Does God ignore that?

No. What does He do? He sends the Holy Spirit to convict us. What does He do? He sends whatever is necessary in our life in order to convict us to get us back on track and in His will.

The longer we live outside the will of God, once we're saved, listen, you know what He does? He just turns up the heat. Why? Because He loves us.

That's the reason. Does it separate us from God? No. It damages our fellowship. We feel estranged from Him. Are we lost?

No, because He paid our sin debt in full once and for all. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life. They shall never perish. No one shall pluck them out of my hand, but Father gave them to me.

Period. He doesn't say if, and, and, but. Listen, not all that. Listen, He clothes us in the righteousness of Christ. That's the reason you and I can have fellowship with God because He sees us. Listen, He sees us under His blood. This is why Paul doesn't say to the sinners and current, to the sinners in evidence.

What does he say? Saints. You know what a saint is? One who's crossed the bridge received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, cleansed of their sin, set apart by God for God, sanctified by God as His children. When we are walking in obedience to God, listen, we are walking in character. Sin alienates us. The holiness of God, the sinfulness of man is separated from God. Jesus Christ crossed at Calvary.

Listen, what did He do? He bridged the gap. He made it possible not only, listen, for us to be forgiven of our sin, but to have fellowship with and love Him and be loved in return, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That's why even after you and I sin, and He forgives us, wipes it away. Listen, it was all purchased at Calvary in one event.

So that, you know what? Watch this carefully, you'll misunderstand. He says if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When you and I come to Him, we confess our sins.

Watch this. My confession does not make me forgiven. His death makes me forgiven.

I'm just acknowledging my mistake. I'm acknowledging my sinfulness at that moment. It is the blood of Jesus.

I'm telling you sin is serious business in the eyes of God because man's sinfulness and the holiness of God has created this awesome gap between man. You want to go to heaven? Get on the bridge.

What's the bridge? Trusting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior for your sins and accepting Him as the Lord Master of your life. And once you do that, you're saved forever. Is that license for sin? No, it is motivation by holy living.

That's what it's all about. Clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That's why when you get on your knees and you believe it, you sense the presence of God. You sense His presence, the warmth of His presence, the intimacy of His presence.

That's why we get Him saying it. Praise the Lord. We sense God's presence and power. Why? Because He looks upon us as clothed in His righteousness as His children who are growing and stumbling and falling and growing and confessing and repenting and growing and growing and growing in our faith.

That's the reason. Friends, we're not all we ought to be. We're not all we're going to be. But thank God we're not what we used to be by the grace of Almighty God.

So you have two choices. You can remain in your sin and die and be lost forever. Or listen, you can turn to the cross and say, God, I never understood it quite this way, but I want to ask you to forgive me of my sin. And I do believe that when Jesus died, He paid it in full. I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, which means I'm trusting my whole eternal future, God, on what You said.

And, my friend, I can tell you this. You will never be disappointed in Jesus. And, Father, we thank You and praise You and bless You and worship You and adore You for sending Your only begotten Son. Let the cross be exalted, and upon that cross Your Savior even exalted more, that all of our lives, holiness and righteousness, will be what we desire to walk in. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to The Cross, Our Bridge to God. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.