"The Cross in itself proclaims a verdict on fallen man. The Cross says that God requires death for sin, while it proclaims to us the glory of substitution. It rescues the perishing. The perishing are the damned, the doomed, the ruined, the destroyed; they are the lost, under the judgement of God for endless violations of His holy law. And if you and I don't embrace the substitute, then we bear that death ourselves, and that is a death that lasts forever.
The message of the Cross is not about felt needs. It is not about Jesus loving you so much He wants to make you happy. It is about rescuing you from damnation, because that is the sentence that rests upon the head of every human being. And so the Gospel is an offense every way you look at it. There's nothing about the cross that fits in comfortably with how man views himself."  --John MacArthur, Hard to Believe