Bob Holmes: I want to speak to you about the greatest person who made the greatest sacrifice.

The greatest person who made the greatest sacrifice. What a Savior. The greatest love story ever told.

The greatest one volunteered the greatest sacrifice. Think about that. The God of heaven that made me came down to earth.

Now God could have preached to me, repent or perish, but God became flesh and dwelt among us. How many of you are glad he visited this planet and that Jesus wasn't just a religious teacher, that was God Almighty walking here?

Philippians puts it this way. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. We're not going to turn anywhere because I want to look at your eyeballs this whole time.

You can take notes if you want to, but I really want you to give me your eye contact.

Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

Wow. No man could ever claim that. God became flesh.

The Word was made flesh. Jesus is the Word. So when it says the Word was made flesh, God in heaven came down here for us.

Made himself of no reputation, took upon in the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man. He had the greatest reputation. But made himself of no reputation.

I want to pause once in a while so it can really sink in. The creator entered this world for you and me.

He could have said, Holmes, repent or perish. No, I'm going to come down and I'm going to dwell among you and I'm going to die the worst death known to man because I really love you.

And when I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained. For the first time I went to Gatlinburg and saw about all these amazing trillions and trillions and trillions of stars.

And God who made that vast universe, if you want to really be moved, you do a study on stars and you'll understand how powerful my God is. And he says, when I look at the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him? Who am I that God would spend time thinking about me?

So much that he has thought about me more than the sand, according to Psalms 139. And how many of you take the Bible to be true? That means if you were to count every pebble of sand on the whole earth, you say that would take an eternity.

How could God think about me that much? Because God knew you before the foundation of the earth, which means there has never been a time he hasn't thought about you.

So he's had enough time, because there's no such thing as time, to know you were coming here, and he's thought about you personally that much. That the Son of Man visiteth him.

So when I look up at the stars and I see this creation and all the colorful birds, And I see all that God made. Who am I? That you would take time to think about me once, but he says, I've thought about you forever.

I've given you your own fingerprints. You're unique. You're one of a kind.

Let me tell you this. There's nobody that looks like you. Now, having been in front of six million, you'd think at least I'd see two people that look the same.

But two eyes, cheeks, the whole thing. But yet everyone looks different. And God has thought about you personally that much.

You can't understand how he could have attention towards you when there's 200 sextillion stars, whatever that means, you mathematicians. That's a lot. You take your own human body, and if you were to take your blood vessels and put them in one straight line, it would go 60,000 miles, enough to circle the earth a couple times.

You're one body. I'm telling you, we have a creator that made an amazing creation, and yet he pays attention to me.

Wow. Little Jackie boy was coming by to shake Calvin Coolidge's hand. And all these people, and he reached out and shook their hand, and the little boy came by, and he looked at him and said, Sonny, move along.

Move along. Can I ask you a question? How many of you are glad your God doesn't do that to you?

And God is way over any president. He is focused and he pays attention and he cares about you individually.

Psalms makes it so clear. How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God, if I would count the sum of them. They are more in number than the sand.

Wow. The Lord said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. I'm never going to give up loving you.

Yeah, but I fail him. I'll never give up loving you. I've put my love for you everlasting.

And how many believe God doesn't lie to us? And if he says, I love you everlastingly, you just say to yourself, wow, God cares for me. You never hear God say, hurry up.

I've got all these billions of people to take care of. Leave me a voicemail.

You never find God asleep. He never says, I'm in a meeting, get back with me later.

You can come anytime, come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. How many believe that's a caring, loving God? And you can come to him at any time.

He doesn't say anything but draw nigh to me, I'll draw nigh to you. Wow. I made a trip, had 90 phone calls to make, and got 89 voicemails.

Never got to talk to anyone. God says, you can come to me. I created a whole universe, and you can come to me at any moment.

What a God. What a God. I had moved to Tennessee for the first time in my life.

I came from New Hampshire, moved to Tennessee, and I had a double mortgage. My house didn't sell. But how many believe God knows every situation?

My house didn't sell. So my roof decided to leak in the home I bought.

It leaked. The septic came up through the basement. In New Hampshire, my well had a major problem.

And after two years, I actually needed $80,000 to break even. A man called me up and he said, and he literally said, will you preach over here in Nashville for us? I said, yes.

I said, where am I going? He said, we're leaving this as just an address for you. Now, I don't know if you've ever gone anywhere where they've just given you an address, but I said, okay, I'll come by faith.

Because in the Bible, they walk by faith, not by what? So I went. I didn't know where I was going.

I got to Nashville three hours away from Knoxville. And I got to Nashville, and I'm at this gigantic place, about ten times the size of this place. Can you imagine it?

And it was full. I said, would somebody please tell me where this address is I'm supposed to speak? They said, it's right here.

No. It was the Grand Ole Opry. And I got a chance to preach the gospel there.

And then, see, five weeks later, after I'd preached there, they didn't hinder me from preaching in any way the Lord led me to preach. I'm going to describe to you what I gave them about the cross. How many of you are glad Jesus went to an old rugged cross?

And if ever we needed to stand for that, it's now. And a guy came up to me and he said, there's a man who wants to support someone who's trying to reach souls. And he might take you on.

Do you have any video? So I sent him a video. He got the video.

He watched it. And he made a decision that he was going to support three ministries. He agreed to support the one-man team going in schools, getting the attention of young people so I could preach the cross to them.

He said, we've agreed. I said, well, thank you. Five weeks went by.

Nothing happened. On the sixth week, my bank called me up and said, you have had an $83,000 deposit.

And I did a check on it because I saw some initials of the name of his company and he was at the Grand Ole Opry and heard the message. And God provided the need. I cut home one night at 1 o'clock in the morning and I fell asleep at the wheel.

How many of you drive? Raise your hands real high. I do not recommend this.

But I fell asleep at the wheel and I veered to the left. And I'm on a dirt road the width of my vehicle and there were trees on each side and honestly I woke up and I said thank you Lord for driving my car for me. My wife tells me all the time whenever you drive God has to drive anyhow.

Wives keep you humble. And so I'm driving and I thought wow God took the wheel. I didn't even hit a tree.

I thought, okay, I've gone 1,000 yards. I turned the car around to go back where I came from, the main drag there, and I had gone over a mile. And I said, thank you, God, that you visit me, not only when you left heaven and came down to this earth, but you guide me as a shepherd through my life now.

And it's just an amazing God. And then I began to think about this, and I was shocked by it. But God accepted me in the beloved.

How many of you are glad when you come to Christ, he accepts you because of him and not your own good works? For by grace are you saved through faith, it's not of yourself, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And I found out that he would pick me and adopt me.

Now, when I was a baby, I got adopted. And I can look back at it and say, why did my original parents reject me?

Or I could say, why did a mom and dad pick me out of a whole row of babies? But not only that, but the God in heaven adopted me into his family, And I've had two adoptions. And that cancels out the bad feeling of being rejected by the first parent.

May I tell you, when you come to Christ as Savior, you are adopted with the greatest father in the world. Amen? Amen.

I mean, you're wearing a name tag before you get saved. Liar. Cheater.

Thief. Sinner. The Lord comes around and says, I'm going to give you a new name tag.

Wear it. Forgiven. Wow.

I don't want to get used to this. The one who made the stars slept beneath the stars. Are you listening?

The one who created the oceans became the one who would thirst for water. The one who deserved all glory accepted humiliation.

The one who deserves worship accepted rejection. The one who could have invented or entered a palace entered a stable.

He deserved a throne, but he hung on a cross for me. The hands that created galaxies became the hands that were driven through with nails.

The one who created the mountains became the one who would climb Calvary's hill. The one who authored life submitted to death.

The one who upholds all things staggered beneath the cross. The one who reigns forever submitted to a sinner's sentence.

The one who fills all things emptied himself. The one who made the heavens had no place to lay his head. The one who spoke galaxies into existence was wrapped in swaddling clothes.

The prince of peace endured the violence of the crowd but he was the prince of peace. The one clothed in eternal splendor was stripped naked in shame. Stop and think about these things.

The one who gives rest to the weary grew weary. The one who angels worship was mocked. Wow for the humans he was dying for.

The creator of every tree hung on a tree. The one who owned all riches became poor that you through his poverty might be rich. The one who created the sun became the one who hung in darkness at Calvary.

Now I love this. Oh please hear this. The one who created heaven came down from heaven so we could have a way to heaven.

I don't want to get used to this that God became flesh, that who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

This is God humbling himself for dirty old me. For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon him. His arm, are you listening, is not shortened that it cannot save.

And what that means is his arm can reach down into the horrible pit no matter where a person is and pick him up and change him.

How many are glad that God's gospel can reach anybody, including a girl that said we had an all-night party, and your message of grace changed us, and we're really sorry for what we did, but we had an all-night party, and we were laughing how another girl killed herself during the party.

Do you mean to tell me that God would forgive that? His arm is not shortened that it cannot save. I'm so glad God's arm leaving heaven and coming down to earth can reach the hardness of people.

One principal, when I walked in her school, she said, I'll let you preach the gospel. I said, that's wonderful. Praise the Lord.

I preached like I'm going to do now in a few minutes on the cross. And do you know that she got up in front of that school when I got done? And she said, I want all of you to forgive me because God just forgave my sins.

And she said, I received Christ as Savior and I was going to kill myself this week. And so I'm so glad he preached on forgiveness.

His arm is not shortened that it cannot save. Why have I gone to 6,000 gyms playing volleyball? Because I'm stupid, that's why.

To play that many games? Yeah, it's crazy. But I didn't do it for volleyball.

I did it because God left heaven and I just wanted to take my suit and tie off and go in some gyms. That's why I did it. Because his arm can reach a fornicator.

In the Bible you will find fornicators found mercy. Adulterers found mercy murderers found mercy murderers of Christians found mercy demon possessed people found mercy blasphemers found mercy liars found mercy how many of you are glad anybody can find mercy? Why?

His arm is not shortened that it cannot save. It's long enough to go all the way down all the way down to a boy that had such bitterness. He came up behind another kid that had a disease and he walked stiff and he called him a robot.

And they put him in a circle took turns punching him wouldn't let him out of the circle. Got the boy wearing on a wristband be brave at school. Do you mean to tell me that God could save somebody that cruel to somebody with a disease.

How come. Because God is ready to forgive. He's ready.

Now hang on. Don't miss what I'm going to say. Now being found in fashion as a man.

As a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Hang on even the death of the cross. I read that and I thought of those words even the death of the cross.

So I wrote a few thoughts down about this. Oh listen. The cross was not just a simple way to die.

It was even the death of the cross. It was an agonizing humiliating execution. Even the death of the cross why?

He looked at a world and he realized that his arm was strong enough to reach down and pick someone up.

It involved physical suffering. It involved public shame. It involved rejection.

And Jesus willingly took it as a criminal. Wow. As a criminal?

The one who fed and loved people and made a heartbeat and made them with their own fingerprints? A criminal! He said, I love you so much I'm going to go even to the cross.

He could have died peacefully. He could have died privately. But chose to publicly be humiliated.

Now hang on. Nobody forced him to leave heaven. He came willingly.

Will you go willingly to your world. Like we heard preached last time. Your world You have a world your pastor doesn't have.

Will you be willing to allow yourself To go to your world with the gospel. Not just the men sitting in a chair In front of the church Are supposed to go. Where all if we're saved by grace should go.

Right How many agree with that say amen. Nobody forced him To the cross. He volunteered it.

I had a chance to preach at Knoxville Civic Arena the other night. And I said our team is called the volunteers. But I want you to know that Jesus volunteered to leave heaven and come down to earth which is far more wonderful than any dumb football being thrown around a field.

God left heaven and that touchdown that guy got that we all screamed and sheared for is nothing compared to God volunteering for me. We've walked on the moon was one small step for man. But God stepping into human flesh was eternal for our salvation.

The cross put God's love for you on display. Will you put him on display now for your world. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him.

I hope I can keep my composure because when I studied this I just couldn't even hardly think about it without even getting through the notes. So I'm praying God will help me get through this. But listen, please listen and please listen with your heart what's scourging?

It wasn't just a simple little whip scourging meant they took nine straps and they connected glass, metal broken bones of their victims because they were so sadistic. And when they beat him, they didn't just lightly come into him. They'd run into him and pull it, and in some cases, doesn't reveal.

But when Romans did scourging, sometimes there were two guards that wanted to have full energy, so when one did it, then the other one did it.

But it wasn't just a little simple whipping. It was brutal pre-execution.

And not only did they have sharp metal on it broken bones but they had balls on it just look it up they had balls on it lead balls and you know what it's like when you hit your hand with a hammer accidentally hit your hand can you imagine not only having all your skin ripped open having hammers come on through all the nine straps 39 times, 39 times.

Tearing and beating like a hammer. And it said that ribs were laid bare. And then it says the soldiers Plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head.

Plaited means they put it on there and did that with it. And then I read this.

The soldiers took a reed and repeatedly struck him on the head. And they smote him on the head with a reed. Mark 15, 19.

Why? Because we got to get those thorns deep embedded that we've just Plaited. The sticks and beat it into his head.

For me! This is the God who loved me so much to think about me more than the sand and they're beating him like this.

Then they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews!

And they smote him with their hands. Now, when I saw this, I said, oh my, we've not exalted our Savior like we should.

Hail, King of the Jews, your royalty. How does your crown feel? I don't know if they said it that way, but I'm just saying they probably did something like that.

But they did say, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him with the hand so bad his visage, or his face, was more marred than any other man. What's that mean?

His face was beaten so bad that you couldn't tell he had physical features on his face. There was no comeliness, the Bible says in Isaiah 53. So they beat him so bad that his face was more marred than any other man.

And I believe what that means is all the people who have ever been beaten and scourged, He was beaten worse than anybody. And his face was so marred that probably his eyes were all swelled up and his nose crooked and his teeth and his lips and who knows what else.

And then the Bible says they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him with their hands. And then I saw that.

And then later the Bible teaches us they ripped the robe off of him. Now, if you can imagine all your skin hanging in ribbons, and they came up to my Savior, took the robe, and ripped it off his back. You say, well, I've taken Band-Aids off a little cut, and I scream.

Can you imagine that entire robe being ripped off your ribbons of a back? Front, back. Front of the legs, back of the legs.

All stripped, all ripped open. I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.

I believe they took his beard and pulled it out. And raw nerve endings were exposed when they would pull a man's beard out. The raw nerve endings exposed with blood all over the face.

I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Let me pause again. And I hope the rest of your life you'll take time to Selah and Selah again and survey the wondrous cross instead of just glancing on by it.

But delve into it. God, I couldn't possibly give you enough. God, I went to that conference and we're in a spiritual battle, but I couldn't possibly serve you enough because of what you did for me.

And then he hasn't even been crucified yet. Imagine it. And across the raw shoulders where he got beaten and torn apart they now dropped him on the cross.

They had to carry the cross up the hill. They had to have help carrying the cross. They put him down on the tree and they spiked his hands and his feet.

That's why it's called the old rugged cross in the song. And they picked up that cross. They must have dropped it awful hard on the ground because every bone in his body pulled out a joint.

The nails in his hands and feet caused a fiery pain. The nerves in his hands and feet tore against the nail through the whole six hours.

Now I'm going to say something that I believe with all my heart based on the word of God, not on emotionalism.

If this makes you emotional, don't you dare go out of here saying he just worked on our emotions. This is factual, what God did for you. And don't demean it by saying, well, he was just being emotional.

How many of you believe the Bible's true and Jesus really did this? So listen close. Every square inch.

Every square inch of his body was crying out in torture. The head, the cheeks, the back and front legs, the back, the front, the ripping of the robe.

And it caused on the cross a loss of blood, which means a loss of fluid, which means dehydration.

Not only was his flesh on every square inch crying out, but he experienced something that was nothing from what I experienced one time when I had 19 volleyball games that day. And I said, I better not drink because I might get crampy. Well, I ended up with Charlie horse attack.

What's that? It's when every square inch of my body turned into a Charlie horse. I was like this.

And they had to give me 12 bananas to get out of the Charlie horses. And what I felt with my whole body being all twisted up was nothing compared to his loss of fluid.

You say, how thirsty was he? Well, my strength is dried up like a potsherd. And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

It's so bad. He was so dehydrated that his tongue was sticking to the roof. He had no moisture to bring the tongue back down.

And also it caused a suffocation feeling the whole time. My strength is dried up, he said.

I ask the Lord to help me speak from my heart. But thinking about this, I mean, I'm not trying to get you to an emotional state. I'm trying to get you to a place where you say it's worth serving Jesus because of what he did for us.

If you love me, keep my commandments. You that love the Lord hate evil. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.

He it is that takes time to Selah, Selah, Selah. Think of this. Think of what I suffered.

Think of how I had every square inch of my body and suffering for you.

He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity. Bruised, that's the hammer, the balls, along with the tears.

The greatest one volunteered the greatest sacrifice. And by the way, I've titled the message something I haven't told you yet. How many want a real movement?

Do you know a movement is impossible unless you're moved by what he did on the cross?

Go ahead and try to figure all the plans out of how we're going to be in a movement and all that. I'm going to tell you, a movement for him cannot happen unless where the love of Christ is constraining us. Where I've got to do this!

And I've got to have it burn in me trillions of times more than whether we win the contest for what we're here about to win.

But then I read this, and I thought, how true it is. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him. How many believe he came out of the grave after he died?

And he said, I am the resurrection and life. He that believe in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. So why have I seen 135,000 come to Christ since 9-11?

Because the old rugged cross has never lost its power. There's no name like Jesus' name. God has highly exalted him, given him a name which is above every name.

Hey, Hitler, there's somebody far greater than you. Elvis Presley, there's somebody trillions of times greater. And every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord.

How many believe that day is going to be glorious for our Savior? Well, it's going to also be a heartbreak as they're cast into hell, many of them, that rejected him. But he has a name above every name.

A name above any powerful name you could read. Any wealthy name. Any political name.

Any military name. Any athletic name. Oh, LeBron James.

One guy said, if I could spend five seconds with LeBron James, it will fulfill all my dreams of my life. Well, I got news for you, sir. The God of heaven thought about you a whole lot more than LeBron James had.

He has a name above every military name. He has a name that ought to be known all around the world like we heard preached by that wonderful brother before, right?

Jesus. Every knee. Has a name I don't want to forget.

Every knee, not some knees, not some generations, not some powerful people will miss it, no. Not some poor person, the famous person, the forgotten person, the unbeliever, every knee will bow.

So if you're not saved today, if this doesn't move your heart to come to Christ, I don't know what would.

Because this is what God did for you. This is why I've gone around the country. The question is not whether you will bow, it's when you will bow.

So I'm going to finish. I hate to finish, but if I don't finish, I may lose it.

He wore a crown of thorns for us, so we ought to crown him Lord in our life.

He carried a cross for us so we ought to carry our cross for him. They nailed his hands and his feet for us so we ought to use our hands and feet to serve him and march towards sinners and say there's an answer for your soul. They pierced his feet for us so use your feet to go where he sends you.

He was stripped of his clothing for us so we ought to strip away everything that keeps us from following him. He was mocked and rejected for us, right?

So let's start a movement that will not be ashamed of him. He said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do at the moment of his height of torture. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

And we ought to start a movement of Christians that have so much love, they forgive each other 70 times 7.

He loved his enemies so we ought to have a movement of loving those who oppose us he prayed for those who crucified so we ought to have a movement to pray for those who hurt us he left heaven for me so we ought to have a movement that leaves my comfort zone he came looking for us so we ought to have a movement of looking for others 40 kids lined up in one school.

All of them had razor blade cuts. The last boy had 400 cuts on his one body.

And I said, God, the reason I ought to want to see people saved is not just because they're in horrendous situations, but because of what you did on the cross and my love for what you did and why you came here. And how many believed the Bible was true when it quoted all that to us?

Now, what will you do because you're not saved by works, we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works?

Why? Because I, Selah, oh, oh God, you're bringing it back to me again. God, I've been saved this long, but I'm glad you keep bringing it back to me and I keep surveying the cross and it keeps moving me again and again.

It keeps me in the movement. It keeps me going forward because you went forward all the way up the hill. How many are glad he didn't stop halfway up the hill?