 Okay, welcome back guys Let's pick up from where we stop The early church Also preached the cross of Christ All right, so right now when we look and we read the book of Acts we see everywhere The cross was preached now look let's look at a few instances Where the cross of Jesus Christ was preached and what is the effect of that preaching? So we look at a few instances first one the very first sermon of the church when when you know Peter the the whole the baptism of Holy Spirit came on Pentecost came upon those People praying in the upper room and then what happened? Peter got an opportunity What does he say here acts to 22 to 24 very very common? Portion of Scripture it says acts to 22 to 24 men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles wonders and signs Which God did through him in your midst as you yourself also know Him being delivered by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God You have taken by lawless hands have crucified and put to death When God raised him up Having loose the pains of that because it is not possible that he should be held by it so here Peter He gets this opportunity and people are saying hey why are these people drunk in the morning time and they're screaming and shouting and Peter stands up and he quotes Joel as well and he says men and women This is what has happened and he brings the whole message in a very very simple way you know That there was a man named Jesus of Nazareth You know that he was attested by God because the miracles and the great signs and wonders that he did and you have seen it and Now by lawless hands he has been put to death But the Lord but God has raised him up and now he's alive simple gospel three points Christ crucified Resurrected from the dead now. What was the you know effect or what was the outcome of that message? 10,000 people were added into the church Now was it something that you know why didn't Peter you know what what if Peter had gone up on that platform and said you know men and women When Jesus was 30 years old he chose us I was fishing My brother was also fishing and then when he chose us there was We all 12 of them one day we went here and we saw this wonderful miracle that we went into Samaria Then we saw that Jesus turned you know He brought life to this woman and then he did this he did that no Right and Peter doesn't do that. What does he do? He says This is what you all have done. There was a man named Jesus. You all have Crucified him, but now he's resurrected and he's alive. He put to death the sting of death has been Defeated Simple message 10,000 people added into the church second healing of the lame man Right there was a lame man and You know He was there many years Acts 4 8 says and Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers of the people and elders of Israel Begins to preach the gospel if we this day are judged for a good deed to done to help to this helpless man That is remember that helpless man says give me some arms and Peter says silver and gold Have I not what I have I'll give today in the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk Acts 4 10 let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel But that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead by him this man stands before you Verse 11 this is the stone which was rejected by you builders which has become the chief cornerstone and very brilliantly Peter bring ends that whole sermon and he says Nor is there salvation any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved Here Peter he Brings healing and then he's he shares the gospel to them He doesn't bring healing to this lame man and say okay, just go away No, he brings healing and he says you all may be wondering how this lame man is standing I'll tell you how And he brings the whole you know aspect of the cross Jesus Christ whom you crucified God raised from the dead and by his power by him This man stands before you When be assured that when we preach the cross of Jesus Christ We will see signs Medicals and wonders we will see it. We will see it in our lives. We will see it in our family We will see it as testimonies in our churches in our congregations in meetings. We will see it Because cross of Christ is the power of God right, so I'm not we are not trying to say that you know We have to only sit and study about only the cross. No Here's the beautiful part, right? It's a simple message Jesus Christ he came he died on the cross he rose from the dead and Now he's alive. He's willing to forgive our sins and take us as as his child or child and daughter Now it does not mean that we don't study other things from the Bible, right? There are other many many aspects of God we study about You know faith and Christology and all these other subject revelations all of that is important But when all that we study if it does not converge to the cross Converge to what Jesus did for us on the cross then it's going to be a failure It's just going to be head knowledge So if you're studying revelations and saying okay, this is all going to happen in the end times no persecution this and this and this But if our eyes and our hearts don't turn towards what Jesus did for us on the cross even when we are studying that Then that becomes head knowledge This becomes knowledge that we have every aspect From the Bible points us to the cross every prophecy in the Old Testament points us to the cross So when we read when we study the word of God Make sure that we're not just studying it for you know head knowledge or to pass our exams and all of that It's to get a deeper revelation of the cross and what Jesus did for us Now the place where the we see in the early church what they did was they preached the gospel when they faced them and they were faced with persecution and threats Let's read Acts chapter 5 27 to 32 Yes, could anyone please read that Acts 5 27 to 32 Acts 5 27 to 32. Yes. Could anyone please And when they brought them they said them before the council and the high priest asked them saying Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name and look you have Filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us But Peter and the other Apostle uncertain say we ought to obey God We ought to obey God rather than men The God of our the God of our fathers Rest up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree Him God has exulted has exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior To give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins And we are his witness to these things and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those Amen. Thank you. So we see here that Peter and John were brought into questioning right and they said see we told you Don't preach about this man named Jesus, but what's happening? You're filling this whole place with this doctrine you're filling Jerusalem, Judea people are all talking about Jesus And now it's as if that we have murdered him and his blood is upon our hands And what does Peter say? You know, they are threatening Peter saying don't preach Anything can happen if you continue with this Peter says we ought to obey God rather than man You can say a lot of things or priest or high priest You can say a lot of things but we ought to obey God rather than man because the God Whom whom you have murdered the Lord Jesus whom you have murdered by hanging on the tree him God exalted above the nations and so we must obey him And so the Holy Spirit whom God has given to us we must obey him as well So even in the face of persecution even in the face of threats The same Peter who was fearful and and you know running away Saying here no no we need to obey God We need to obey what the Holy Spirit is teaching us and telling us And so we will do what God told us to do or tells us to do We will be a witness to these things so whether you put us in prison Whether you castrate us out of the out of this place or whether you you know you beat us and you take things away from us We will not change the message that we are going to preach that is the cross crucified Right then we also see the first sermon to the Gentiles where the cross was preached Then we see that in Paul's first missionary journey the cross was preached everywhere Paul when he preached the gospel Remember in the Galatians he goes to the Galatians he preaches the gospel many of them accept the gospel But then later on they turn away and they say go back to circumcision But he goes on and he corrects them he rebukes them he exhorts them Listen the cross of Christ will be made of no wheel if you go back to the the circumcision and the things of the past And we studied all of that in the Covenants So the main focus of the disciples the early church Apostle Paul was the cross And so we as we are leading the church leading ministries leading Bible studies whatever we are doing Let the main focus be the cross Now one of the wrong understandings is whenever we preach the cross we may feel sometimes you know why to talk about death Let's talk about the power of God or let's talk about God's faithfulness or let's talk about you know these wonderful miracles Let's not talk about death and you know all that beatings and all the things that happened to Jesus You know he was nailed to the cross the blood was tripping out of his body they pierced his side the crown of thorns Why do you talk about all these gruesome things and the way Jesus is resurrected now let's talk about these wonderful miracles that Jesus has done Five loaves of red two fish changing water into wine let's spend our time on that Remember what Apostle Paul said the message of the cross is the centrality of the cross of everything that we do If we focus on all the miracles and all of those things but we forget about why those miracles are happening Or through whom it is happening and how it's happening which is through the cross Then the whole value of this message changes Always remember there will be many times people will come tell you oh very good preaching very good teaching very good worship leading It's good you know you appreciate them you say ok praise God for that But one of the ways that I always always look and you know test what I'm doing Is to see that whether I was in line with what I'm singing or preaching or whether I was able to bring You know the Holy Spirit bringing the power of the cross and touching lives transforming lives That's the whole point it's not about a whole band and a whole show and you know have these wonderful songs There are times for all of that but it's more about transforming lives it's more about the cross The main message of the church was the cross if you're not preaching the cross we are not preaching the gospel at all Remember that if we're not preaching the cross we're not preaching the gospel We are just preaching other stuff or we're just good oratory people Our main message must be the cross of Jesus Christ Don't be ashamed of it don't feel that people may not accept it Don't feel that people may mock you ridicule you make fun of you if they do it's alright Remember the audience cannot change the message of the cross The cross remains the power remains the authority remains the victory remains whether people believe it or not So it's our responsibility right The simple gospel that we preach is able to touch and transform lives And it's able to bring a lot of changes into people's lives Right so we move on from here we looked at the cross I'm sure a lot of it is a repeat let's look at a few of the shadows of the cross Now you will also be you would have studied this in Christology as well The Old Testament points to Jesus and his work on the cross You see that immediately after the resurrection the Lord Jesus begins to speak to his disciples and he points them to the Old Testament Remember the Lord Jesus in Luke 24 he means the disciples are fearful and he says why are you fearful I'm fulfilling what the old covenant prophecies say I'm fulfilling what our forefathers spoke of Let's read Luke chapter 24 25 to 27 and 44 to 47 Luke 24 25 to 27 Yes anyone can please read Luke 25 Luke 14 5 to 27 Then he said to them all foolish ones and slow of her to believe in all that the prophets have spoken Not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory And beginning at and beginning at Moses and all the prophets he He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself Yes and then he also first 44 to 47 Okay, then he said to them these are the words which I have spoken to you while I was still with you That all things must be fulfilled which which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures Then he said to them thus it is written and thus it was necessary for the Christ for the Christ to suffer And to rise and to raise from the dead the third day And the repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem Amen. Thank you. So here the Lord Jesus is resurrected He's he's meeting his disciples and he's telling his disciples Everything that has happened till now Is what the scriptures have been told of Moses has spoken about it And everything concerning me that has been written has now been fulfilled The Lord Jesus it's very interesting to think about this the Lord Jesus didn't come and say Okay, see now you all killed me. No, I'm alive now He didn't just say that right You see the wisdom of God It's not like a one event thing Okay, you killed me now. I've overcome death. I'm here and I'm victorious. Yes, that is true But he's the Lord Jesus is trying to bring this whole thing of saying that it was a planned thing It's not that you know, they they caught me. I was you know, I would hear the the Romans caught me They took me forcefully they took me to this place and then they put me to prison They scourged me they forcefully carried me put me on the cross and they killed me But still I overcame death and now I'm alive. No the Lord Jesus doesn't say that He says it is something that is already been written about me Hundreds of years ago. It's been written Moses wrote it written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me Right and thus what was written about me has been fulfilled So he's trying to tell his disciples this don't don't be Sad or don't be worried or don't be you know asking all these questions. Why did Jesus die? Where is he and all of these things? But remember the scriptures are spoken and I have fulfilled it So it's not something new for you It is something that's already been written but now since it's fulfilled now you can believe it Now you can believe it Let's look at a few more places where the Lord Jesus begins to you know, we see the foreshadowing of the cross the seed of the woman Genesis 315 we know this and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel Whatever Jesus did on the cross was he crushed the work of the devil Roman 1620 and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet That's what the book of Genesis talks about You see the foreshadow God tells Adam and Eve you have sinned But my seed will crush your seed And Jesus did that on the cross fulfilling What was spoken of Genesis 321 also also for Adam and his wife the Lord made tunics of skin and clothed them Covering of sins can be provided only by the shedding of blood And this is what the works of man will not cover sin So this was the first place where God himself made an offering and he said These tunics of skin cover yourself with it again Fulfilling a prophecy later on A sacrifice that will be so greater that will not only cover sins but it will It will bring forgiveness of sins And we look at Abel's sacrifice as well Where Adam and let's read Genesis 4 1 and 5 1 to 5 Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bore Cain and said I have acquired a man from the Lord Then she bore again this time his brother Abel Now Abel was a keeper of the sheep but Cain was a tiller of the ground And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fat And the Lord respected Abel and his offering but he did not respect Cain and his offering Cain was very angry and his countenance fell Worship that will be accepted by God Comes based on the shedding of blood And Hebrews 114 says by faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain Through which he obtained witness that he was righteous And we also look at God's provisions for Abraham's sacrifice This we all know Abraham takes Isaac goes up that mountain he's going to get ready to kill Isaac God stops him and says no don't kill your son Take him off look there's a ram there stuck by its horns Take that and offer it Again portraying a foreshadowing of what Jesus said The Passover lamb we studied this also where the blood of the lamb was put on the post And sin and death could not come in The same way the blood of the lamb was able to break the curse of sin and death The rock from which the water flowed in Exodus 17 God told Moses smoked that rock he hid it and water came out of that rock And that water followed them wherever they went Book of Hebrews says that rock was Jesus Second time God told Moses you speak to the rock But he hid it again and he did not understand And hence it became a whole big issue later on where God says you're not going to enter the promised land Because the message that God wanted to convey was a type that this rock that will be struck Will be struck only once again to convey what Jesus did on the cross And then we look at levitical offerings and sacrifices the burnt offering sin offering Trespass offering peace offering all of these offerings point to the cross foreshadowing of the cross The day of atonement again we studied about that in Covenants Where how the high priest takes the blood goes into the most holy place And he offers that blood for the nation for himself and for the entire nation of Israel And he took care of the man side of asking God for forgiveness And so here we look at how Jesus fulfilled every aspect of the high priest And he did even more than that and we studied that as well And we look at the serpent in the wilderness I'm just going quickly I know that we all know this but just trying to bring out these points the shadows of the cross The serpent in the wilderness God is upset So as your people are sinning constantly living and sin So he sends serpents among the people which killed many of the Israelites But then Moses cries out to God God says okay put a brass pole put a serpent on it Those who get bit we look at that you will live It was again to depict what Jesus would do later on And finally we see he who hangs on a tree Deuteronomy Sorry Matthew 27 57 to 60 Let's read Matthew chapter 27 57 to 60 Let's just read that Matthew 27 57 to 60 Now when evening had come there came a rich man with Arimatia named Joseph Who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus This man went to pilot and asked for the body of Jesus Then pilot commanded the body to be cured When Joseph had taken the body he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth And laid it in his new tomb that he had hewn out of the rock And he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb and departed Amen thanks John So now this is very very important Usually in the Romans what they would do is they would do things One they would typically those who are crucified had lost all authority So when you when we study more about crucifixion and all that You know the worst criminals were given a crucifixion The worst of them all And the moment you're being crucified you're on the cross You have lost all authority as a human being People can throw garbage at you People can lepers can come and you know Usually you know we during these those times the lepers were cast away They were put away from the city So that's why when Jesus was walking towards Samaria when the leper came The other Jews the disciples were all like stay away Jesus goes and brings healing because the lepers have a designated place Even a leper could come and you know Spit on the cross or do anything They will not stop them Because it was the most humiliating death What they would also do is Romans would many times They would leave the body on the cross itself And vultures and the birds of the air would come and feed on it And eventually the bones the skeletons would just fall off Later on they would take that cross and you know just dispose it Or second thing they would do is Since many times people were being crucified On main roads on the pathways of the roads of Rome and And so what they would do is They would take the bodies off the cross And they would just throw away the body dump it somewhere away in Jerusalem Far away And so again the birds of the air and animals would come and just eat of it And they were not even given a proper funeral because they lost all rights They are not considered a human being Now Jesus was willing That's why you know when we study all of this Scriptures become so much more meaningful Remember the book of Hebrews what does it say? He made himself lower than angels And he made himself obedient to death even death on a cross Did you ever wonder why was that verse there? He made himself obedient to death even death on a cross That means not only death to the worst form of death Jesus made himself obedient to it But here the Lord Jesus remember he said I will die I will raise again on the third day I will be I will die I will be buried and I will raise again on the third day He used the word buried Joseph of Arimat here comes asked for the body Now the Romans had all the authority to take Jesus's body and just throw it away Or the Romans pilot could have said no let the body be there I'm not going to give the body But that is not something that you know happened Why? Because prophecy must be fulfilled The psalmist also writes not even one bone in his body was broken Can you picture that Jesus was beaten and bruised in his own body was scourged Only flesh was taken out of him but not one bone in his body was broken Now history says that the Romans once they were on a person is on the cross And it's time up you know sometimes they don't die they take a long time to die So they would take you know long wooden logs of wood And they would start breaking the you know the ribs And the knees, the ankles, the bones they start breaking them So that you know death is faster but not one bone of his was broken To point every prophecy was fulfilled He was taken Joseph of Arimat here a rich man who was a disciple God spoke to him the body of Jesus was placed there a decent burial And on the third day Jesus rose again from the dead And so it is wonderful to know and understand that the Lord Jesus He tells his disciples that it is not just something that I've come up with all of a sudden This is not just a plan or thought that just has come up But I'm fulfilling prophecies that have been written about me hundreds and hundreds of years ago And even now the Lord Jesus alive And there are many more prophecies of his second coming to be fulfilled We can take this assurance and know that every prophecy about his second coming will be fulfilled in the right way in the right time All we need to do is trust in him We don't have to go searching for events that are happening and then you say okay this is this is this Sometimes you may not even understand why there are things happening this way But remember that everything that's happening God is in control And I can just picture this whole scenario in Jerusalem The entire city of Jerusalem people thousands of people who followed Jesus They said Hosanna to the king of kings they sang they put palm leaves and when Jesus wrote on the donkey And now nobody is there everyone have gone back to their home saying okay forget it He's been caught he's going to be crucified The whole scenario is gloomy the city of Jerusalem just a few days before they were all rejoicing Miracles and wonders and This man Jesus doing these wonderful things few days later everything was quiet So it teaches us something very important Through the seasons that God takes us through God is still God Even on the cross Jesus was in authority The Bible teaches us that he gave up himself He gave up his life When we look at that when he was on the cross he looked up to heaven then he gave up his life If he wanted he could say his life could have been there But he looked up to the father and he said I'm ready I fulfilled every prophecy in the Old Testament and I made available a new You know a new I made all things new now for those who believe in me And so it's so wonderful to think of the cross We'll stop here we'll pick up from Chapter 15 the cross in prophecy from Chapter 15 the cross in prophecy from next week But here's what I want to encourage each one of us You know even as we study all of this Remember how the cross has affected your life Remember how the cross has you know how the Lord Jesus has Changed our lives brought so much victory brought power brought Strength into our lives And so even through the seasons that we go through I would encourage us to continue to stay strong Just as how the Lord Jesus we study that he went through every temptation he went through every Everything that the enemy tried against him He overcame And so the moment we think about all of these things And he purposed to go to the cross That really gets me he purposed he was he was waiting for the cross He purposed it in his heart So we are to purpose him in our lives and say God I want you more Lord come and make me make me a new person make me grow more in you Right the more we do that the more we will see the power of the cross Being released in our lives right So we'll stop here We'll pick up from the cross and prophecy We'll go a little quick I know that a lot of this is Things that we already know but there are a few aspects that can refresh us and remind us Of what our Lord Jesus did for us Before I close just want to remind us that I've put the midterm assessment It's available on the class stream and on the classwork tab So just want to encourage you to begin to work on it And send in the assignments before the due date And any assignments sent after the due date will not be marked Because I cannot change the due dates So please send in those midterm assessment Before the due date you can just post it in the classwork tab itself Please don't email it to me personally because I may not know And I'll have to mark it only on the classroom So please post it on the classwork tab and do it before the due date Right shall we close in prayer Is could any one of us Rosalind if you're there can you please close in prayer Jeffina yeah Sid you have a question No process was my mistake Okay no problem John would you mind closing in prayer Yeah let's do it Father we want to thank you for this time Thank you for enabling us to learn more about the cross Lord Jesus today We submit us once again to your presence So we ask our God that we would walk in this revelation Help us to have this understanding So clearly in our minds that we would be able to Apply the benefits that you made possible through the cross of God And we also submit all of us as a class into your hands And ask for your presence to lead us Thank you for possible for elaborating your scripture to us Lord Jesus Thank you for what you have done for us Lord To give you praise in Jesus name we pray Amen Thanks John thank you everyone for joining have a great week ahead See you next Wednesday God bless