Early last year a Los Angeles Metrolink train wrecked, killing 11 people and injuring several others. Hours after the rescue began, hope for finding other survivors was diminishing. Then one passenger indicated that another man was trapped under the debris. Using the Jaws of Life, rescuers were able to rescue a man named John from the wreckage.

That's when Firefighter Captain Rosario saw something that left an indelible impression on him. While John was pinned under a train seat and other debris from the crash, he wrote a message to his wife and children using his own blood. He was having trouble breathing and feared that he would die. So with whatever energy he could muster, he scrawled a farewell message in blood on the seat. It said, "I love (heart) my kids. I love (heart) Leslie." The blood ink seemed to be running out as he got to the second sentence.

What an emotionally overwhelming way to communicate love to your family—writing the message with your own blood. Did not God do the same when He communicated His love for the world with the blood of His own Son?

The cross represents the hinge of human history. The apostle Paul called the cross event the core of the gospel. If the crucifixion of Jesus was just an ordinary execution like the thousands of others, then what are we doing today still talking about it? But if Jesus indeed is who He claimed to be, then we need to understand just how important His shed blood is. We need to see the cross event as the pivotal point of history.

What happened on the cross? What is it about this event that makes it the hinge point of history? What's the big deal about the cross? We get a glimpse of its significance in Colossians 2:13-15. Digging in deeply to these verses can generate hours of rich study. But this morning, don't get so caught up into the complex theology of the verses that you miss the beautiful simplicity of the message of the cross. These verses let us know why the blood Jesus shed is such a big deal. [READ]

First, it is on the cross that Jesus forgave your sins. Look at the end of verse 13 and all of verse 14. "He forgave us all our sins." Many people are shocked when they learn that God's standard for our lives is perfection. In other words, let's say you went through your whole life and sinned only one time. One day you told a lie to get you out of a pickle. That's the only thing you did bad in your whole life. According to God, that almost perfect life is not good enough to get you into heaven when you die. Why? Because God demands total perfection.

Verse 14 describes vividly what happened on the cross. You see, God has established very clearly the kind of life He expects us to live. Yet we keep falling short. Everyday it seems there is one more thing we did that did not measure up. That one impure thought. Those words harshly spoken. That occasion when you could have taken a moral stand but you didn't. They all add up. So the book that contains all of our mess-ups keeps getting thicker and thicker with entries.

When Jesus died on the cross, God took that diary of all of our sins, wrote a big X mark on it, signifying that He was cancelling out all of the wrongs we have done. Then He took that book and nailed it to the cross. When the Roman soldiers drove the nails into His hands and feet, that was God saying, "Your sins are being nailed to the cross. I forgive you."

Close your eyes for a moment. I want you to go back in time and remember some of most awful sins you've ever committed. Now create a visual image of those sins being nailed to the cross where Jesus is hanging. Now go back just a few days and recall some of the things that you said, thought, or did that you know did not please God. Now create that same image—those sins being nailed to the cross where Jesus is bleeding.

Look at verse 13 again. "He forgave us all our sins." Forgave is in the past tense. Yes, we continue to experience His forgiveness. But it's because of a single event in the past, the cross, that we have forgiveness. Then notice in the same sentence the word all. Don't miss this profound truth. When you accept Jesus into your heart, at that moment all your sins are forgiven. Not just all the ones up to that time. Even the ones you commit tomorrow and next year—already forgiven. He forgave all. All suggests past, present and future. That's why the cross is such a big deal.

Second, it is on the cross that Jesus defeated Satan. Verse 15 describes this victory. Satan's power still runs rampant today. But he is a defeated foe. He knows his time and influence are limited. So he's going to do everything he possibly can to discourage and defeat you. He will do all he can to divide churches. He will do everything possible to keep you complacent or even apathetic.

Christians, don't ever forget that you can be completely victorious over the tactics of the devil. (On August 20, I will begin a series of messages called "Survivor" that will help you live victoriously every day.) He has no right to gain a foothold in your life. When Jesus died on the cross, the victory was won. Satan and all his cohorts were disarmed. What the world saw as a public display of a helpless, would-be king actually was a public display of the power of God defeating the evil powers of this world.

I love the Message Bible's take on the end of verse 15. It says that Jesus "stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets." Satan was exposed and defeated. That's why the cross is such a big deal.

Third, it is on the cross that Jesus gave you new life. Look at verse 13 again and read. Notice the opposites—dead and alive. Think about the day you gave your heart to Jesus. Every day before that point in time, from God's point of view you were spiritually dead. In the Old Testament God told His people to use circumcision as a symbolic act to demonstrate they belonged to His family. So Paul describes life before Christ as the "uncircumcision of your sinful nature."

The opposite of dead is alive. At the moment you gave your heart to Jesus, He changed you. You were no longer dead; you were alive, old life gone and new life come. And if that is the case, then start living like you are alive and forgiven. Stop living under the load of all the world's stresses. You're a new person. Jesus forgave you. He defeated Satan. So live like the cross is the most important event in all of history.

If you have never given your heart to Jesus, God says, "You're dead." Could it be that's why life doesn't make sense to you? Could that be the reason your joy level never crosses the half-court line? Could that be the reason why you're living each day under a load of guilt and shame? Aren't you tired of living that way? Aren't you ready to move from death to life? You can—right now, you can. You must recognize that you can't save yourself. You must allow Jesus, God's Son who died on the cross, to come into your heart.

He is the one who changes death into life. And it doesn't matter what kind of mess you've made of your life up to this point. Jesus' death on the cross covered all your sins. God's already done His part. Now He's waiting on you to do your part. What is your part? Say yes to Him. Open your heart's door and let Him come into your life. A new life of hope, forgiveness, and joy awaits you.

As we observe the Lord's Supper this morning, I want you to focus on the cross. We're the family of God. We're forgiven. We have new life. To set the stage for the Lord's Supper, watch this video with me.