The Centrality

Introduction to the Atonement Series and Definition of Terms

0:06 If God would be pleased to take just the truths of that one portion read and sung in our hearing and give us to see our sins in the light of the writhing form of the Son of God and to see the grace that fastened him to the cross on our behalf, then surely these will be days of great brokenness and days of great joy in the presence of our Redeemer God. Now, I'm confident that most, if not all of you, are aware from consulting the printed schedule that I'm scheduled to speak to you four times on the vast and vital subject of the atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And at the very outset of our studies together, I want to state that I will be using the term the atonement . . .

1:08 . . . .

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1:08 . . as a broad synonym and a general melting pot for all of the biblical terms relating to the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross, a death that he underwent on behalf of sinners. In other words, when we turn to the scriptures and find such words as these, Christ died for us, Christ died for our sins, Christ was made sin for us, the blood of Christ, the cross of Christ, he gave himself for us, he laid down his life for us, he gave himself a ransom for us, all of that biblical terminology, I am assuming can be used synonymous with the term the atonement. Furthermore, when we encounter the great words which distill the provisions of Christ for sinners, such as reconciliation, redemption, propitiation, and sacrifice, again, I am using the word atonement as the word which sets forth,

The Centrality of the Atonement in Biblical Revelation: An Overview

2:31 the foundation upon which these great blessings are brought to sinners. Now, because the doctrine of the atonement lies at the very nerve center of true biblical Christianity, it would be a gross misrepresentation of its truth and an inexcusable trifling with your souls to approach the subject of the atonement simplistically, carelessly, or in a distorted manner. And therefore, what I propose to do in the four sessions that we will share together is to give you a broad overview of the doctrine of the atonement under four major headings. First of all, we shall consider the centrality of the atonement in biblical revelation. That will be our subject tonight. God willing, tomorrow morning, we will consider the setting of the atonement in biblical revelation.

3:38 On Wednesday morning, the substance of the atonement in biblical revelation, and then on Thursday evening, the practical implications of the atonement in biblical revelation. Now, fully conscious that many of you woke very early this morning, that you've traveled many miles, and some of you, with fussy kids, hollering and screaming, and perhaps occasionally getting sick in the car along the way, I will attempt tonight not to make too great a demand upon your minds, as rather than going into any in-depth demanding examination of any one passage of the word, we take this broad overview of the centrality of the atonement in biblical revelation. Now, first of all, let me give an explanation of what I mean by the term biblical revelation. God, in His mercy, has given to us two grand deposits of His own self-disclosure. Revelation is the disclosure of God to men.

Understanding Biblical Revelation: General vs. Special Revelation

4:54 And God has given us two books in which He has recorded this disclosure. This disclosure of Himself. Two books in which we can read about who God is, what God is like, how He stands in relationship to men, and how we as men and women, boys and girls, stand in relationship to Him. Now, this first book is called by the theologians, the book of general revelation.

5:27 And that is nothing other than the world of men, the world of men and things, as they come from the hands of God, literally smothered with God's fingerprints. Everything in general revelation speaks of God. This is precisely what the Psalmist was celebrating when he penned that well-known 19th Psalm, in which he declared, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge.

6:05 There is no speech nor language, their voice is not heard, their line is gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. Here the Psalmist declares that the heavens are continually telling us something. And what they tell us is not the intricacies and the marvels of evolution. They continually tell us one thing, that the God who made them is a glorious God.

6:36 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. This theme is picked up in Romans chapter 1 by the Apostle Paul. And he tells us in Romans 1, beginning in verse 20, For the invisible things, of God, since the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and divinity, so that they may be without excuse. Here the Apostle tells us that what God has made is smothered with God's fingerprints.

7:19 And something fundamental about God may be known in this self-disclosure He has made in this first book that we are calling the book of general revelation. Furthermore, in Acts chapter 14 and verse 27, the Apostle Paul speaking to ignorant pagans who had never seen the word of God, that is, the book of God's special revelation, yet Paul could say this, Yet God did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rain and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and with gladness. God's providential care over His creation is a constant revelation of His goodness. So it is in this book of general revelation, that book comprised of the pages of creation and providence and furthermore, of our inbred consciousness that we are creatures accountable to God. Romans 1.32 says that men know instinctively the judgment of God that those who sin are worthy of death.

8:42 Romans 2.14 and 15 tell us that even those who have never seen the pages of a Bible know what it is to have conscience accuse them when they sin, and conscience excuse them when they do what is right. And so it is these pages taken from the creation without, the providence of God in tender provision, and the consciousness of man within that comprise the book of general revelation. But that book has very, very profound limitations.

The Limitations of General Revelation and the Necessity of Special Revelation

9:22 A man can take the pages of the book of general revelation and study them with all of the earnestness of his mind, with all the diligence of his being. He could spend a hundred years in studying carefully every line upon every page in the book of general revelation, and yet he would never find a clue to the answer to this most elementary of all questions. How can I, of this sense of guilt and wrong that is upon my conscience, I read it in the page of my own consciousness? When I tell a lie, I am conscious of guilt, and my guilt tells me that I am answerable to an authority higher than my mom and my dad and my fellow citizens. I am answerable to a court that is above me and beyond me and outside of me. How can I ever get right with the God who sits as judge in that court? And the man can take the book of general revelation and by the most advanced telescope he can penetrate into the mysteries of the galaxies hundreds and thousands of light years away, and he will not find one word in all the pages of general revelation

10:48 through the telescope that will answer this burning, almost dementing question. Guilty conscience find rest and peace with God. A man can take another page from the book of general revelation and he can read all of the tokens of God's goodness, his ten, his works, and he can conclude from that that God does indeed have compassion and pity upon the creation he has made. But when he asks the question, how can I know in which that compassion and pity can be somehow lined up with the fact that I know that God is a just God who must and who will punish sin? He can behold all of the works of God's goodness and benevolence in all of his providence throughout all the earth for a lifetime of a hundred years. Yet he will never have an answer. To the questions that border on madness that they eat at his soul.

12:02 Can I be rid of the guilt I feel? How can I know the God whose power and whose might and whose glory is seen in the book of general revelation? You see, we're concerned to study together the centrality of the atonement in biblical revelation. For it is in this second grand deposit of God's self-disclosure, this book, the Bible, that is the deposit of special revelation.

12:40 It is here and it is here alone that the most fundamental and burning questions of life can truly be answered. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 14 that it is through the scripture that we are made wise unto salvation through faith that is in Jesus Christ. It is in this second book and in this second book alone that the great issues of the man's relationship to his God are addressed clearly, authoritatively, and thoroughly. I love the little hymn that's in the children's section of the Trinity hymn book that celebrates the blessedness of the Bible. And I perhaps would be very surprised if many of you young and old alike have not memorized the words holy Bible, book divine, precious treasure, thou art mine, mine to whence I came, mine to teach me what I am, mine to chide me when I rove, mine to show the Savior's way, mine to show the Savior's love, mine to guide and to guard, mine to punish or reward.

The Atonement as the Center of Gravity in Special Revelation

14:06 It is only in this holy Bible, book divine, that we learn of a Savior's love, that we learn who we are, where we've come from, and where we go when this world as we now know it has passed away. And so my concern in our study together tonight is to seek to demonstrate in this broad overview that the doctrine of the atonement is the central doctrine of special revelation. It is not only exclusively a doctrine of special revelation, but it is the central doctrine of that revelation. In other words, the doctrine of the atonement is not only present in the Bible, not only one dominant theme among many other equally important and dominant themes, but it is nothing less than the center of gravity of both the Old and the New Testaments. Everything in the Old Testament is drawn towards the doctrine of the atonement. Everything in the New Testament is drawn back to it, and the doctrine of the atonement is nothing less than the center of gravity

15:35 in biblical revelation. Let me first of all then demonstrate this from the Old Testament. I want to demonstrate the centrality of the atonement in biblical revelation, first of all in the Old Testament. Now as most of you are well aware, the Old Testament is a book full of history.

15:58 Full of types, full of shadows, full of prophecies, and full of wonderful promises of God's intended mercy to needy sinners through the seed of the woman. Well, when we turn to that mass of history, of types and of shadows and of prophecies and of promises, what is the grand focal point of all of that? When you and I read the Old Testament, what do we see? Do we see just what appears to us to be a rather random collection of interesting and sometimes boring and other times puzzling stories?

16:42 Do we simply see the record of rituals and rubrics imposed by God upon the nation of Israel and say, well that's again very interesting but most of it is rather puzzling? When we read the great prophecies, what do we see in all of them? Well, according to the inspired interpretation of the Old Testament, it is the doctrine of Christ crucified that is central in all of the history, in all of the types, in all of the shadows, and in all of the prophecies. Look at several texts in the New Testament which clearly teach this.

Centrality of the Atonement in the Old Testament

17:20 1 Peter chapter 1. The book of 1 Peter and chapter 1. Peter writing of the gracious salvation that has come to men in Jesus Christ says this, concerning this salvation, verse 10 of 1 Peter 1, concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what time or manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them to whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto you did they minister these things which now have been announced unto you through them that preach the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit, down from heaven, which things angels desire to look into. Peter says, concerning the salvation which has been preached to these New Testament believers,

18:44 he said it's the very salvation prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. And many times, he says, their actual prophecy extended far beyond their understanding. Under the impulse of the Spirit of God their minds were enlightened to see and perceive things about the salvation of God in Jesus Christ and they wrote them, but they couldn't even put together the various pieces of what they wrote. But this much is clear.

19:15 The focal point of what they wrote according to Peter was the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. The great central and dominant theme of the prophecies was the suffering of Christ and the glories that should follow. When we turn to the 24th chapter of Luke, we find our Lord Jesus Christ giving a similar interpretation of the Old Testament history, Old Testament types and shadows and promises and prophecies. Luke chapter 24.

19:57 You remember the setting. Two men are on the road to Emmaus. They are disciples of Christ. They've heard the news that he has died.

20:07 They have not yet been persuaded that he's been raised from the dead. And they are the picture of dejection and discouragement. And as they walk, the Lord Jesus draws near to them and begins to enter into conversation with them. And then the Lord Jesus becomes their teacher.

20:25 And notice what he said in Luke 24 and verse 25. He said unto them, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in the Scriptures the things concerned concerning himself.

21:03 He gave them a quick overview, as I'm attempting to do tonight, of Old Testament history, Old Testament prophecy, Old Testament type and shadow and promise. And he says the great magnet of all of that is that Christ should suffer. It is the work of atonement that is the organizing principle of the whole Old Testament. And he said, O foolish people, you've been picking and choosing what you would believe about your hopes for the Messiah.

21:35 You should believe all the prophets have said, for all that they have said point to the fact that Messiah must suffer and then enter into his glory. And then later on in this same chapter, in a post resurrection Bible study with his own disciples, notice the language of Luke 24 and verse 45. Then opened he their mind that they might understand the Scriptures and the only Scriptures they had then were the Old Testament Scriptures. And he said unto them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer.

22:19 The work of atonement is central in the Old Testament Scriptures. And rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. And then we turn back to Acts chapter 3 and we find another statement indicating that the theme of the atonement, the sufferings of Christ is a central, a dominant theme of the Old Testament Scriptures. Acts 3.17 Peter is preaching. He has charged these people with slaying the Son of God. And he says now in verse 17, Brethren, I know that in ignorance you did it, as did your rulers. But the things which God foreshadowed by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ should suffer he thus fulfilled.

23:25 He said all of the prophets have spoken of this truth and you have fulfilled them but God spoke of the sufferings of Christ as the great and central concern of the Old Testament prophetic revelation. Now we could demonstrate this by going back to the very early chapters in Genesis where we have a strong suggestion in the first approach that sinful men make to God. Cain and Abel. One makes an approach with a bloody sacrifice.

24:01 One makes an approach with an offering of the fruit of the field. One makes an approach in self-condemnation and in faith. One makes an approach in self-justification and in unbelief. And there in Genesis 4 there is at least a finger pointing to this great and central doctrine of the atonement of the Lord Jesus.

24:28 We could trace out the emergence of sacrifice in the period of the patriarchs when Abraham meets God in the context of a bloody sacrifice and God holds communion with his great child and friend Abraham in the context of the blood of atonement. But surely nowhere in all of the Old Testament is the centrality of the atonement more evident than in the institution and the perpetuation of the Levitical priesthood and the system of sacrifices which surround it. And there are times when I wish we could reconstruct literally the entire fabric of that system for one day to impress upon our minds and hearts what God was impressing on the minds and hearts of his ancient people. All throughout the wilderness wanderings in the desert when the tabernacle, that tent of skins and made of boards was the central place of worship. Later on when the temple was created or constructed under Solomon and that glorious temple with its inner sanctuary was the place where God symbolically dwelt. If we could only see and experience and feel for one day

25:57 how God was thundering out to his people and through his people to all who beheld their life together that sacrifice and the blood of atonement is the only ground upon which sinful man can approach him, a holy God. Every morning an innocent lamb was brutally slain. Its blood was sprinkled upon an altar. Its body was consumed in fire.

26:29 Every night another lamb was slain. Its blood was spilled. Its carcass was consumed. Throughout the day multitudes of Israelites would come with their own sin offerings.

26:44 Hands would be laid upon the head of the innocent victims. The victims would be slain. The blood would be sprinkled. The carcass would be consumed.

26:55 And if you and I were to be there for one day and smell the acrid smell of burning flesh day after day you go home once a year when the roast is burned and you say, Mom, what in the world have you done? The roast is burning. The house stinks. The tabernacle and the temple continually stank with the smell the pungent acrid smell of burning flesh.

27:22 And the priest's garments were continually splattered in blood and the altar was soaked in blood. What was God saying? God was saying, All that belongs to me the holy living God of Israel must be the approach made in the consciousness that I am holy and you my creatures are sinful and there is but one point the basis upon which sinners can approach me without shedding of blood there is no remission. And oh how God made that known to his people not only in the daily ritual of the Levitical practices but in that highlight once a year on the day of atonement recorded in Leviticus 16 when the entire nation as it were held its breath to see if when the high priest entered into the holy of holies he would be slain or come out and raise his hands with priestly blessing as their sins were symbolically passed over for another year. We have so little appreciation of it but it's written here to tell us that the doctrine of atonement is central in the book of special revelation. Not only is it found

28:51 in all the institution and perpetuation of the Levitical system of sacrifice and priesthood but surely in the prophets that central truth of the servant of Jehovah of which Pastor Waldron read and the ensemble sang. The servant of Jehovah whose sufferings are described with a description usually limited only to an eye witness in Isaiah 53. So whatever hopes were raised in the breast of any true believing Israelite who studied the documents of the Old Testament he would know that the servant of Jehovah who would effect the salvation of Israel would have to suffer would have to pour out his soul unto death. And in the Old Testament I say the doctrine of the atonement is central and even with this very limited and selective setting forth of the data surely you must agree with me that we cannot read the Old Testament without coming away with the conviction the atonement is the doctrine that holds central place in the revelation of God. This is not only true of the Old Testament

Centrality of the Atonement in the New Testament: Gospels, Preaching, Teaching, and Revelation

30:19 it is true of the New Testament as well. You children when you pick up the New Testament what are the first books you encounter? You say the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Have you ever noticed as you've read the Gospels that in no way could we call the Gospels biographies of Jesus?

30:45 When you read a biography of a great missionary such as John Payton a missionary to the New Hebrides or Livingston of Africa Hudson Taylor minister of the Gospel to China usually a biography begins with an account of a man's background his birth his childhood his development to trace out all of the things that made him the man that he was his college years if he went to college his marriage his early experiences in other words his whole life is spread out and generally speaking relatively equal portions are given to the various epochs in a man's life but when we pick up the Gospel records we don't find anything of that sort only two of them give us any description of his birth and all of them with the exception of Luke completely pass over whole segments of his life in total silence. Luke takes the first twelve years and summarizes them in one verse Luke 1 and verse 42 and then when we consider the next period of his life from age 12 to age 30 nothing is said again except one summary statement

32:12 in Luke 2 and verse 52 that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men now get the picture chapters 1 and 2 of Luke take us from the conception of Jesus to age 30 chapter 3 brings us to his introduction at age 30 into his public ministry and for the next chapters we are given brief summaries of various parts of his ministry and various accounts of his preaching and his teaching but in Luke and in all the other Gospels a strange thing occurs when we draw near to the last week in the life of our Lord almost one quarter of the chapters of all the Gospels are connected with the last week prior to the death of Jesus and the events that followed immediately after approximately one fourth of the Gospel records are taken up with the doings and the sayings of Jesus surrounding the last week and the subsequent days attached to his suffering and his death you see what God is doing God is telling us

33:38 that central to whoever Jesus of Nazareth is whatever he came to do central in all of this are the events surrounding his laying down his life upon the cross one writer has stated it in this very striking way the four Gospels are four narratives of the death of Jesus Christ with extended introductions that's how he described the Gospels four passion narratives with extended introductions God is saying something to you God is saying something to me when we pick up this book of special revelation God is saying whatever else you read whatever else strikes you whatever else grips your mind don't miss this don't bypass this lightly don't trip over this carelessly the death of my son is the most important event in the entire cosmos don't miss it the death of my son is central to everything I am saying in my book of special revelation and we find the same thing when we turn to the preaching of the apostles what was central in their preaching

35:07 listen to the apostle Paul when he came to Corinth he says and I brethren when I came to you 1 Corinthians 2 1 and 2 I did not come with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God for I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him now notice and him not as the great teacher and him not as the great example and him not as the great king but he said I came preaching Jesus Christ and him as the crucified one I came preaching Christ and what I preached about Christ central to all else was his work of atonement on behalf of sinners so central was the atonement in apostolic preaching that a synonym for that preaching is given to us in 1 Corinthians 1 18 for the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us who are being saved it is the power of God what is apostolic preaching it is the word the message of the cross everything contained in apostolic preaching can be reduced to this sinful common denominator

36:34 it is the word of the cross if there was the proclamation of God's rights as God and creator and law giver if there was the proclamation of his holy law as the standard of righteousness as we see Paul proclaiming the gospel in the book of Romans it was all to the end that men seeing that God is their creator and judge men seeing that they are sinful and vile and polluted and under the wrath of God might be prepared to run to the one refuge for guilty sinners and that's the cross of Jesus if they spoke of the wonderful fruits of faith and the wonderful fruits of union with Christ and the kind of lifestyle that a Christian ought to live it was always in terms of a heart suffused with gratitude for the work that Jesus did upon the cross by the mercies of God Paul says present your bodies a living sacrifice it was always in terms of the spiritual dynamics released in the cross and in the open tomb we are no longer to live as we once lived for we died with Christ we were buried with Christ we have been raised to newness of life in Christ in the apostolic preaching

38:03 the proclamation of the cross was central there's a striking expression of this in Galatians 3.1 you remember these Galatians they were beginning to believe that Christ was not enough that they needed Christ crucified plus something else to be accepted with God and Paul writes to them with burning passion in Galatians 3 and verse 1 and he says oh stupid Galatians who has bewitched you cast a spell over you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly placarded crucified among you he says my preaching was a holding up of the cross and I marched before you like demonstrators with their placards and with their banners wherever I went I held up Christ crucified Christ crucified Christ crucified God's only answer to human sin you stupid Galatians Christ was placarded in all the glory and plenitude of his saving mercy as the immolated incarnate God why are you running to the local rabbi for an all outmoded ritual

39:29 you stupid Galatians you see the force of his argument his preaching was not just occasionally making a reference Jesus died for sinners now let's get on to more important things Christ died now let's get on to more glorious things it was a placarding of Christ crucified that's not only true of the apostolic preaching it's true of the apostolic teaching though time will not permit I promise to be conscious that you've had a long and wearisome day let me just trace out a couple of hints when Paul would throw out the challenge to the Roman Christians who is he that condemns who can condemn one who is in Christ what is the immovable bedrock upon which he rests that confidence that there is no condemnation Romans 8 34 who is he that condemns it is God who justifies Christ has died there's the immovable granite of the Christian's foundation an intelligent believing apprehension of the atonement of Jesus Christ and no matter what aspect of Christian life and experience is addressed in the epistles we are taken ultimately back again and again and again

40:56 to the cross to the atonement to the work of Christ upon Calvary as the key to an understanding both of Christian privilege Christian duty Christian motivation and the entire perspective on life so that Paul can say God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ but then I want to show you something that perhaps has struck you before but it never struck me until my preparation not only is the cross central in the New Testament in the disproportionate emphasis given to it in the gospels not only central in apostolic preaching and apostolic teaching but when we turn to the book of the revelation and God as it were pulls back the veil and gives us a sight into the realities of heaven now and of heaven to come do you know the great distinguishing term by which the glorified Christ is described in the book of the revelation it's not Jesus it's not Jesus Christ it's not even Lord or Lord Jesus the grand distinguishing title which he has twenty eight times in the book of the revelation is this the Lamb the Lamb

42:25 the Lamb the opening vision he sees the Lamb in the midst of the throne and he sees the four and twenty elders falling down before the throne of God and of the Lamb and they sing worthy it's the Lamb and he sees the vision in chapter five of the one upon the throne and no one worthy to open the seals but there he sees one who is the Lamb and twenty eight times right on in to the last chapter where he sees the throne of God and of the Lamb and the river of the water of life flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb what is God saying God is saying my dear fellow believers that even in the unending eons of the glorified state of the new heavens and the new earth crucified will be the focal point of all of our worship all of our adoration all of our praise all of our service he will forever be the Lamb in the midst of the throne and the cross is central in the New Testament in the two simple rituals God has given to us only two ordinances or sacraments

Centrality of the Atonement in Christian Ordinances

43:52 baptism and the Lord's Supper one the initial once for all ordinance the other the oft repeated ordinance and what is the central dominant emphasis of baptism and the Lord's Supper in baptism we declare our union with Father Son and Holy Ghost but particularly our union with Christ in his death all the virtue of that sin pardoning death and all the power of its ability to break the chains of sin that's what we witness in our baptism and then as oft as we eat the bread and drink the cup we do preach we do show forth the Lord's death until he come do you see the centrality of the atonement in special biblical revelation I trust this brief survey has convinced you that it is indeed the central truth and as I conclude our study I want to make three very simple and pointed applications and the first one is this this study that we've engaged in in these past moments should lead us to an inevitable and an inescapable conclusion and the conclusion is this

Application 1: The Atonement as the Hinge of All Truth

45:22 I read from Gardner Springs' masterful book and I hope you'll purchase it The Attraction of the Cross every truth in the Bible brings us at last to the cross and the cross carries us back to every truth in the Bible so that the sum and substance of all truth is most impressively proved illustrated and enforced by Christ and him crucified a right understanding of what is included in the cross ensures a right conception of every important doctrine contained in the Bible this is the hinge on which the whole system turns and the great truth by which alone any and all truths can be understood my friend the central truth of the Bible is not the sovereignty of God it's not election it's not irresistible grace the central truth is Christ and him crucified and to understand how every truth leads to that and how every truth flows out of it is to understand the Bible

46:47 in its native setting but then this also leads to several urgent concerns and I have upon my own heart as I've prepared the concern of what I would call omission of this great doctrine if this grand and glorious doctrine of the atonement is omitted from our thinking so that it is not central in all of our conceptions of God and our relationship to God then I want to state it as simply and plainly as I know how and I plead with you to listen to me gird up the loins of your mind if your life today has had no reference to Christ and him crucified you know nothing of saving religion the heart and soul of saving religion is to be found in Christ and him crucified oh yes Christ may be omitted from people's religious experience and practice but when it is what is left is nothing other than a stinking rotting lifeless religious corpse the stench of that corpse may be covered

Application 2: Warning Against Omission of the Atonement

48:14 or neutralized with the perfume of humanism and legalism and ritual and formalism but a corpse is a corpse no matter how much perfume is poured upon it if you have come to this conference a religious person a church going person maybe even a bible reading and a praying person if Jesus Christ crucified is not the focal point of your religious experience you are a stranger to saving religion you know nothing of your heart and its horrible sin which can only be cleansed in the blood of the cross you know nothing of your frightening bondage which can only be broken in the virtue of the cross I speak a word especially to you my precious young people if Jesus Christ has never become more attractive than the most recent rock groups and the most recent fads and you know more about where Michael Jackson's glove is than why Jesus Christ was immolated upon a cross my dear young person hear me if you go to almighty God's presence in that condition God will magnify his justice

49:41 by sending you into hell for despising his dear son counting Michael Jackson more important than the son of God who loved sinners and died counting the embrace of your boyfriend more important than the outstretched arms of the immolated Lord oh my dear young person hear me if the world glitters and captures your eye pray God that a sight of Christ crucified will smash all the pencil and glitter and bring you to see that Jesus Christ alone is worthy of the love and the homage of your heart he alone is worthy of the devotion of your life he alone is worthy of that obsessive interest which is now set upon a hundred idols but ought to be set upon him if your religious experience has left you devoid of a loving trustful attachment to Jesus Christ crucified that omission is eloquent testimony to your lost and damned condition then I have a concern not only about the omission of this central doctrine but a concern about the distortion or the imbalances with reference

Application 3: Warning Against Distortion or Imbalance of the Atonement

51:06 to this doctrine there are I fear many Christians to whom the cross is indeed the focal point of their hopes of salvation but when it comes to their view of the Christian life something else is central when it comes to their real concerns about what they're going to do with their time and their prayers and their energies it's not Christ and him crucified that is central there is a distortion and an imbalance a deflection from the centrality of Christ crucified in the totality of life there may be enough of Christ crucified to bring them into a state of pardon and justification but their lives are stunted and there is a caricature and a grotesque representation of a balanced Christian life they've gotten all taken up with the right to life movement I hate abortion I cried out in this pulpit last night last year against that horrible sea of blood produced by our sterile abortion clinics but my friend listen the hope of the world is not the right to life movement the right to lifers who'll go to hell

52:33 the abortionists crucified make joining the forces of right wing political conservatism the dominant occupying force in their lives I say to you my preacher friend there is one true cure for this world's ills you can preach against Ted Kennedy and his ilk until your face is blue you can preach against Marxism until your face is bluer yet but until the cross touches the ugly open sores of this world's state there'll be no true healing oh may God this week as we study together the doctrine of the atonement so burn into our hearts the centrality of Christ and him crucified that is never before he will be the dominant theme of our preaching then I close because there are not only some who omit this doctrine some who distort it but some who are utterly indifferent to it Paul said in 1 Peter

Application 4: Warning Against Indifference to the Atonement

53:58 1 Corinthians 1 15 1 18 the preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness there's two kinds of foolishness some kinds of foolishness are the things you laugh at that's ha ha foolishness other kinds of foolishness are the things you go ho hum that's foolishness who cares Paul says the word of the cross is to those who perish ho hum ho hum Christ died yeah so George Washington died so President Truman died so what's the big deal ho hum perhaps you're even looking up here tonight and saying what in the name of all common sense is that preacher getting excited about and worked up about is this some kind of act no my friend listen Christ crucified is the arbiter of your eternal destiny heaven in hell for you is the issue of the cross oh may you not be indifferent God declares in the cross that he's not indifferent to human sin if you're indifferent to the one provision he has made it will be righteous of God to damn you may the Lord be pleased in these days together

55:26 by the spirit and the word to sweep away anything that looks like willful omission willful or ignorant distortion and all willful and horrible indifference until Christ cruises you and that crucified becomes to us what he was to the Apostle Paul and that we with him will be enabled to say God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world let us pray our Father we plead in the name of your beloved Son the Holy Spirit will take of the things of Christ and reveal them to our hearts with power and oh that we through the mirror of the word will have such a sight of the glory of Christ crucified that we will never never be the same again pour out of your spirit to magnify your beloved Son and to your name and to your name alone be praise and honor and glory

56:48 through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen