Three Questions about the Cross

Introduction: The Universal Symbol of the Cross and its Centrality

0:03 To the extent that any of those things are true, I can only respond with the words of the Apostle Paul, who said, I am what I am by the grace of God. And I never cease to be amazed that God would set his love upon me, draw me to himself, and lay his hand upon me to spend my life in the ministry of the word of God. And by God's grace, as long as he gives me mental health and physical strength, I tell people who ask me if I plan to retire, I'm two and a half years beyond the retirement age. And I say no thank you for two reasons. First of all, I see no concept of retirement in the word of God. My Bible says in Revelation 14, 13, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, and they rest. From their labors and their works do follow them.

1:08 So I will be retired when I get translated to a better place. And then I tell people I would far rather be shot out of my saddle with both guns blazing than fall off a rocking chair on the porch of a retirement home and break my neck. And in that little bit of humorous response, there is a wealth of profound, I believe, biblical sense and perspective. So may the Lord be pleased to uphold us all by his grace that we may run well to the end.

1:45 In the previous two ministries, I've begun by reading a paragraph of the scriptures in which has been embedded a specific text which I've sought to open up and apply in the presence of God and in your hearing. But this morning, I'm not going to begin by reading a text, though before we're done, we will have consulted. Many texts of scripture, but I want to begin by asking each of you a question. I'm waiting for the attention of a couple of boys.

2:15 I won't look at you first time, you're exempt, and next time I'll look right at you, point my finger at you and say, shape up or we'll embarrass you. So you see, I'm looking up. You young preachers, this is a little ploy. I give them a second chance, but they know who they are.

2:32 No more talking, no more nudging one another. This is serious business, all right? So I want to ask you a question. So I want to ask each of you, you young people, you children, teenagers, senior citizens, and anything in between, a very simple question.

2:48 It won't tax your mind, but I hope, I hope it will help you to think with me as we ease into the profound subject that we're going to study together this morning. If I were to ask you, what is the universal symbol of the Christian faith, how would you answer me? In other words, what is there as an external visible symbol which, if you go into any country, in any continent, in any culture, in any setting, cosmopolitan, rural, whatever it is, if you see this symbol, you know that at least there is some connection with or sympathy towards the Christian faith. It may not indicate that the person who wears the symbol, or displays it on a particular building, or in any other way is attached to that symbol. It is no indication that they have any real understanding of the Christian faith. It certainly is no indication that they have a powerful experience of the Christian faith, but it does indicate in any country, on any continent, and in any culture, there is at least some sympathy towards or identification with, the Christian faith.

4:10 Now kids, if you're thinking with me, what in your mind has registered, what is that symbol that, above all others, demonstrates this connection with the Christian faith? I won't ask you to raise your hands, but I hope most, if not all of you, are thinking one word or two words. The cross. The cross.

4:36 In the four or five forms in which it is displayed, on the top of buildings, around people's necks, on greeting cards, and in many other ways, without debating whether it is right to even make such a symbol, that's not my concern. But it is a fact that wherever you find that symbol, in whatever setting, in that particular place, there is some kind of an association with the cross of Christ. You know that, whoever displays it is not a tax to the Muslim faith, that he is not a practicing Orthodox Jew, that he's not a Hindu, that he's not a Buddhist, that he's not an animist, that in some way or other, there is some connection to some degree with the Christian faith. Now I ask a second question. Why do you think that is? Of all the symbols that could be set forth, perhaps the secondary symbol, is the famous fish symbol, that was concocted in periods of persecution, and became kind of a cryptic sign of one's identity with the Christian faith.

5:51 But why has the cross become the universally recognized symbol of some kind of connection with the Christian faith? Is that a historical accident? Or is it, to some degree, a witness to the fact that central to the entire Christian faith is the truth of Christ crucified? And I believe it is because of that fact that the cross has become the universally recognized symbol of some kind of attachment to the Christian faith.

6:36 Where in Scripture is it declared that, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely central, pervasively foundational, to the entire fabric of the Christian faith? Well, I quote in your hearing several very well-known texts. One of them I considered yesterday morning in another connection. Paul has been dealing with these people we call the Judaizers, those who were infecting the church, churches in the region of Galatia, telling them that Paul's gospel message had incorrect punctuation.

7:18 Paul was saying, in answer to the question, how does a sinner get right with God? Paul was saying, sinners get right with God by faith in Jesus Christ alone, full stop. And along came the Judaizers and said, no, let's stretch the period, the full stop, into a comma. And in answer to the question, how do sinners get right with God?

7:45 It is by Jesus Christ through faith, comma, and becoming a kosher Jew, submitting oneself to the entire fabric of the Mosaic legislation and to demonstrate one's commitment to that fabric, going to the local rabbi and having him fix you with circumcision. In that setting, the Apostle Paul at the close of his letter says these words, 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. You Judaizers may glory in your marvelous history of God's dealings with his special nation Israel in the past. You may glory in the fact that you have been saved by God, you may glory in the fact that you have the prophets and the law was given through Moses, but as for me, Paul says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the passage to which Pastor Gantz referred, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul reminds the Corinthians that this was the central loadstone

9:10 of his entire ministry when he came among them for 18 months preaching the gospel. He says in 1 Corinthians 2 verses 1 and 2, And I, brethren, when I came unto you, did not come with excellency of speech. He doesn't mean that he stood there and mumbled. What he means is he did not come submitting to their standards of rhetorical polish.

9:36 I did not come with what you would call excellent speech, rhetorically polished. Nor did I come to you as a philosopher in what you would call wisdom. But I came proclaiming in the capacity of a herald. I proclaimed to you the testimony of which God is author.

9:53 I didn't spin out the stuff of my own brains. I declared the stuff of God's mind, the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him. As crucified.

10:13 In Paul's understanding and the outworking of that understanding in ministry, he said the testimony that comes from God in which alone there is hope for sinners is a testimony which focuses upon Jesus Christ. Not Jesus Christ, teacher. Jesus Christ, great example. Jesus Christ, mighty miracle worker.

10:38 Jesus Christ and Him. As crucified. Earlier in this letter he was so bold as to say, and now I read from 1 Corinthians chapter 1 in verse 17, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void. You see what a synonym for preaching the gospel is?

11:09 It's proclaiming the cross of Christ. He said, when I came to you, I did not come with a commission that had baptism at the top of the list, but rather proclamation of the gospel, that gospel which sets forth the cross of Christ. For the word of the cross, the gospel is the word, the message of the cross. The gospel is a setting forth of the fact and the significance of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

11:45 And he goes on to say, this word, this message of the cross is to them who are perishing foolishness, but unto us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Well, wait a minute. I thought Paul said in Romans 1, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Yes.

12:06 And what is that gospel? It is the word of the cross. It is the word of the cross that is made by the blessing of God, the instrument of His power to bring us into the orbit of God's saving life and mercy in Jesus Christ. And so, the cross has become the universally recognized symbol of some sympathy for or commitment to some aspects at least of the Christian faith, because God Himself has made the cross central to the whole scheme of redemptive grace.

12:48 And yet, and yet, there is perhaps no vital fact in Scripture concerning which there is greater ignorance than there is with reference to the cross of Christ. And if you were the devil, wouldn't you try to bring about a situation like that? If the biggest gun aimed at you, your kingdom, was that gun stamped with the words, the message of the cross. And there were a lot of lesser guns, wouldn't you go for the big gun?

Question 1: Who Died Upon That Cross? The God-Man, the Lord of Glory

13:22 If you were trying to destroy the instruments by which your enemy is seeking to dismantle your city and your kingdom? Surely the devil has as much sense as you and I do. And it's because he knows that the gospel is God's great, supreme, overarching instrument of dismantling the kingdom of darkness, that he likes to hold people in ignorance and in misconceptions concerning the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if I'm to leave this place tomorrow morning with a good conscience, that my hands are free from the blood of all of you children, young people, and adults, I'm constrained to bend all of my faculties to seek, in the remainder of our time, to look at three simple but crucial questions concerning the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I hope even you children, when you leave, and mom and dad ask you, what did the preacher preach about? You'll be able to give back the basic outline. We're going to ask and then answer from the scriptures three simple but crucial questions about the cross of Christ.

14:35 Question number one, who died there? It's going to be the question of, who? Secondly, why did he die there? Who died? Why he died?

14:48 And thirdly, what does God say to you and to me from that cross? There's our three points. Who? Why? And what?

14:59 Can you give them back to me? Three points. I lost my notes. Could you help me?

15:04 What was my first point? Tell me, boys. Who? You got it? Who?

15:10 Second point? Why? Third point? What does God say to you and to me from that cross?

15:19 Question number one, who died upon that cross? Well, you say, Pastor Martin, anyone knows that. John 19 says there was a superscription above the cross on which Jesus of Nazareth hung, written in three languages, Aramaic or Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. Jesus, King of the Jews.

15:40 So it was Jesus, King of the Jews. But all you've done is give me back some words. And I want to say, who was this Jesus, King of the Jews? Who was he in himself?

15:54 What was he as to the constitution of his person? And this is the most fundamental question concerning the cross of Christ for this simple reason. Jesus could do what he did, only because he was who he was. In other words, the effectiveness of the work of Christ upon the cross rests down upon the nature of the person who hung upon that cross.

16:31 And if your mind and heart are not illuminated by the word and the ministry of the Spirit, to grasp in faith who died never makes sense or experience saving virtue from the Christ who died upon that cross. And so I begin where we must begin, with the question, who died upon that cross? Now he was obviously a man, because the Scripture tells us he bled and he breathed his last. He died.

17:10 His lifeless form was taken down off that cross. Washed and wrapped and laid in a barrel. And some women were watching and saw his dead form laid in that tomb. This was obviously a true man with physical members to his body, with blood coursing through his veins, who would have the flush of life upon his cheek when alive, and would have the dark grave of death upon his face when he died.

17:44 But is that all he was? Was he merely a man? Or was he more than a man? Or was he the only man that could seem to be as much God as though he were not man, while being as much man as though he were not God?

18:08 And the answer of our Bibles is clear. When we stand before the cross and look upon that battered, bruised, immolated form of Jesus of Nazareth, his back utterly lacerated into one mass of torn shreds of flesh from the scourging, and we see the blood that's begun to clot streaming down from the thorns upon his brow, mingled with the spit that drops from his face and mingles with his blood, and we ask, who is the answer of Scripture? That's the Lord of Glory. That's the very one who from eternity in company with the Father and the Spirit was the object of the adoring wonder of angels and seraphim and cherubim, the one through whom God spoke the world and galaxies into being, who in the language of Hebrews 1 upholds all things by the word of his power. And Paul here in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 8 makes this simple, this brash affirmation. The rulers of this world did not know God's wisdom, verse 8,

19:34 which none of the rulers of this world had known. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. The Lord of Glory. The Lord who had glory as the second person of the Godhead, the eternal Son, and the eternal Word, the one crucified, was the Lord himself is full of glory.

20:09 The Lord who in himself, the Lord who according to Philippians chapter 2 was willing to lay aside all of the expressions of that glory unique to the immediate presence with the Father. And with the Spirit. And he empties himself taking. That's subtraction by addition.

20:35 He empties taking. By taking. Taking to himself the form of a servant and being found in fashion as a man. I'm quoting Philippians 2.

20:49 He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God is highly exalted him and given to him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus now follow closely every knee should bow. Quoting from Isaiah. Jehovah says unto me every knee shall bow.

21:13 The Spirit says it was Jehovah Jesus who died and before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ, that is the Jesus of Nazareth who was arrested and bound and shoved from Ananias over to Pilate and up to Herod and back to Pilate and whipped and scourged and taken out and impaled upon the cross. It is Jesus that at the name of Jesus every knee confess and every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Messiah is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And if the Jesus who died is not God then by God bringing every knee to bow before him God becomes the greatest promoter of idolatry ever known in the entire universe. You see that? The God who said in the first commandment I am the Lord your God that brought you out of the land of Egypt in the house of bondage you shall have no other gods before me.

22:26 This God says all creation will be and confess Jesus Lord. God promotes such worship of Jesus exalted and glorified and Jesus is not God. God becomes the greatest perpetrator of idolatry the universe has ever known. Or we can take the approach from John's Gospel.

22:58 In John 19 all we see is the man Jesus the details of his trial his brutal treatment at the hand of the Roman authorities the insults the sadistic meanness of the religious leaders the taunting that even goes on when he's hanging on the cross. And the sign over him says Jesus King of the Jews. But you see John doesn't begin his account of Jesus in chapter 19. He starts in chapter 1 and he brings it to a climax in chapter 20 the 21st chapter is an epilogue.

23:40 How does the Gospel of John begin? John says to his readers look long before you come to the details of the horrible treatment this Jesus will receive at the hands of cruel men. I want you to know who he is. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God.

24:00 And the Word was God. With God separate from him personal identity and yet so one with him that this Word who's with him is himself God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that hath been made. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined in darkness and the darkest overcame it not.

24:28 Verse 14 And the Word now listen carefully the Word in all the integrity of his inherent deity in the beginning was the Word the Word was with God the Word was God the Word in all the fullness of his Godness the Word became flesh. That is the Word never ceased to be what he had always been from eternity but he begins to be what he had never been. Until Mary's womb he takes to himself a true human soul and a true human body. I say it reverently eternal God becomes a zygote in Mary's womb. Think of it think of it think of life in Mary's womb and as the cells divide and in his prenatal development he develops his fingers and his heart and his spine. Think of it that's the eternal Word into himself in Mary's womb a true human soul and body passing through every stage of prenatal development. The scripture tells us that she was great with child.

25:55 God could have formed in the womb of Mary a son of Mary ready to be born but no he says I will be one with them I will take their humanity from the very point of conception. The angel said to Joseph that which is conceived in her not formed in her conceived is of the Holy Spirit and she shall bring forth the Son and thou shall call his name Jesus for what? He shall save and if the cross is central to his saving work we must be sure that we've embraced the reality that that which is conceived in her is the eternal Word taking to himself flesh true humanity. He develops he kicks in Mary's womb she can call Joseph and say honey it's like a boxing match go on feel that

26:57 and God sovereignly orders the mind and the desires of the whole Roman Empire to make sure that when her nine months are up she's not in Nazareth but she's in Bethlehem at the behest of the Roman government to start a census with a view to a taxation that will be launched sometime subsequent and Mary amidst ordinary birth pangs a young Palestinian virgin expels the Lord Jesus amidst her groan and birth blood and mucus and God incarnate needs to be washed and have his nostrils cleared and have perhaps a midwife roped in at the last minute whack his backside and God makes his appearance with that wail upholding all things by the word of his power while he's drawn to the breast of a little maiden to be nourished in his infancy and when you hear in the Christmas song the cattle are lowing the poor babe awakes but little Lord Jesus no crying he makes nonsense

28:24 if the cows mooed and the pigs snorted and woke up Jesus he cried as lustily as any baby and when he began to develop in that humble home back in Nazareth he had to learn his Hebrew alphabet aleph, beth, gimel, dalet hey, vav, thay zayin, chaypet yod, kaflam and ben dud he had to learn his alphabet and he'd come in one day and say mommy, mommy I think I can say all 22 letters perfectly now and she would rub his little head and say that's lovely Jesus your father's pleased when you use your mind and when Joseph would take him out to the carpenter's shop if Jesus got careless not willfully sinful but careless and the knife slipped and the sword jumped out of its track he'd bleed and have to go in and have mommy kiss it and put a band-aid on it like every other little kid in Nazareth the scripture says there is one God and one mediator between God and man himself man on air fully masculine man the man Christ Jesus who died upon the cross it is the God-man who died Hebrews 2.14 says for as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he likewise took part of the same

29:53 why that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death the reality of what death is he must be true man have true flesh and blood not the divine being somehow encased in a phantom body with phantom eyes and no, no a true human soul and a true human soul and a true human body so that he is as much God as though he never became man as much man as though he never were God and in that one unique person two distinct natures in the one person forever that's who died upon the cross and a Jesus who is less than truly man does not really die and one who is not truly man is one who is not truly God brings no more worth to his death than your death and mine but one who brings to his saving work the omnipotence and power of deity and all of the reality and the gutsy earthiness dirt under your fingernails humanity is just the kind of savior I need who partaking of flesh and blood can not only truly die but who can save but who can sympathize with the struggles

31:21 of the human soul disappointment in friends rejection by siblings and we read through the emotional trauma of our blessed Lord in the full range of human emotions yet never tainted by sin in all of the full range of human development Luke tells us he grew in wisdom his mind expanded as he studied he grew in wisdom and in favor with God and with man and he grew in stature am I irreverent to say perhaps Jesus came in one day and showed Mary and Joseph his first zit as he passed through puberty I don't know it says he was made in the likeness of not Adamic flesh but sinful flesh but sinful himself without sin but the humanity he took to himself was not Edenic pre-fall humanity he took no sin to himself but he took a body and a soul in the likeness of sinful flesh with its frailty and its weakness yet without sin there is a lovely hymn on this whole issue

32:50 of who died and it traces from the way I've tried to trace it with you this morning from what was there in the manger what was there weeping over Jerusalem what was there in the disappointments and sorrows of his earthly pilgrimage who is it in the garden shedding drops of sweat mingled with blood as the capillaries burst near the surface of his skin and who is it that hangs upon the cross listen to the beautiful way the hymn writer has captured the essence of what I've tried to preach from these many texts who is this so weak and helpless child of lowly Hebrew maid rudely in a stable sheltered coldly in a manger laid who is it it is the Lord of all creation who this wondrous path hath trod he is God from everlasting and to everlasting God who is this a man of sorrows walking sadly life's hard way homeless weary sighing weeping over sin and Satan's sway it is our God our gracious savior who above the starry sky now for us a place prepareth where no tear can dim the eye who is this

34:18 behold him shedding drops of blood upon the ground despised rejected mocked insulted beaten bound it is our God who gifts and graces on his church now poureth down who shall smite in holy vengeance all his foes beneath his throne who is this that hangs dying while the rude world scoffs and scorns numbered with the malefactors torn with nails and crowned who ever liveth mid the shining ones on high in the glorious golden city reigning everlastingly who died upon the cross it was the lord of glory the eternal word made flesh it was Emmanuel God with us that's why Paul can say in Colossians 2 9 it's all the pleroma of the Godhead and for you Greek students go look at that in the Greek text it's thrilling to see the crass right angled affirmation that in the person of Christ the fullness of deed dwells

Question 2: Why Did He Die There? God's Holiness, Justice, and Love

35:47 bodily but you say wait a minute pastor how can he be truly God and truly man and yet one person and how the three are not three gods but one the greatest mystery of being is the very essence of God who is father son and holy spirit and yet he is not three gods but one and yet he's not a simple monism and the second great mystery is the two distinct natures in the one person who is one and that one is a Christ and that one is Jesus and that one is the one who is God and that one is the crux of sin and that one is the defenseless victim of cruel and heartless men now did cruel and heartless men ultimately put

37:14 him on the cross yes if you want to read unedited crass venomous demonic cruelty ask god to help you to read the last two chapters of the gospel records the last two save one the last in each is the resurrection account as though you'd never read it before and when you read that they come to a place where man is praying and his betrayer knows where he will be because that's where he often went to pray and to instruct his disciples he was no insurrectionist he was no threat to the stability of society yet it says they come with stays and clubs and a multitude and they bind him and they drag him off to the high priest house and then they begin their puppet court and accusations rise and he begins to be abused and insulted and and in every way treated as though he's the scum of the world and his morning dawns the full sanhedrin gathers and he's is judged to be worthy of death and so knowing that they can't put him on the cross and that's what they want to do with him they've got to give him in the hands of the romans so they take him off to the local roman authority by the name of pilot

38:34 and pilot sees through the fact that it was envy that caused them to hate him this unprincipled ungodly pagan could see through the charade of their accusations and he wants to wash his hands of the whole mess and he said well uh let's let's herod's in town let's send him up to herod and herod hopes to see him and he wants to see a miracle done he's heard things about this jesus and herod finds no cause of of accusing him and of condemning him and he's not going to and so he sends him back to pilot and spine this wimp of a man he caves in to crowd psychology and to the roaring of the crowd we want barabbas take this scoundrel out and crucify him and hoping that maybe seeing some blood would assuage their thirst for his blood they tie our lord to a post and they've raised that lictor's lash with that broad handle and the leather thongs and the pieces of metal of bone and the end from which many people died watch his blood flow down surely this will satisfy you and they clothe him the soldiers do with the purple robe they have some fun and some port with him and then they bring him out before the jews and

39:54 pilot says behold your king they say we have no king but caesar think of the hypocrisy the crowd that resented caesar now they pledge allegiance if that's the they must pay for jesus blood and they take him out and they hang him on the cross he refuses the drugged wine he's determined to be fully conscious as he bears what he bears upon that cross and then after he's impaled and hung upon that cross they continue to taunt him and even the two thieves one one side one the other they taunt him no pity they walk by a scene that would make both of us turn away in horror of fun in sheer disruption of the world and they're all going to be gone our whole systems and he hangs there and suddenly after being on that cross for about three hours midday draws near and suddenly it becomes midnight at midday and the scripture says a darkness came over the whole land luke says the sun refusing to give its light and it's very interesting if you study all the gospels carefully there's no indication that there was any taunting in that three hours of darkness no taunting from the two thieves

41:18 no taunting from the soldiers no taunting from the jews that had gathered around him no mockery no further abuse apparently that darkness like the darkness that descended upon egypt in one of the judgments of god paralyzed people even from further mockery of the son of god all is silent and dark and then mark tells us about the ninth hour three o'clock in the afternoon after three hours of utter darkness and silence the silence is pierced not by the whimper and the croaking voice of a dying man but the scripture says he cried with a loud voice hello honey my god my god have you abandoned my friend you will never begin to begin to answer the question why did he die until you park before those words and perk the ears of your head in the ears of your heart

42:42 and say oh god take me into the mystery and the meaning of the cross in those words my god my god why did he die until you park before those words and perk the ears of your head in the ears of your heart have you abandoned me he was not there because he was a victim passive helpless before cruel men for he said no one takes my life from me i lay it down of myself and i take it again john chapter 10 and then when one of his ignorant but devoted disciples wants to protect him he says put your sword up do you not think that even now i can call upon my father and he'll send me 12 legions of angels how many angels were in the legion guys 12 000 he says if i wanted 144 000 angels right here right now i'd speak to my father and he'd send them no he is not there because he is the defenseless victim in the hands of cruel and sadistic people he is there if i can reduce it to its simplest irreducible minimum hear me now he's there for two fundamental reasons two fundamental reasons he's there because of who and what god is and he's there

44:06 because who and what he was in his official position two simple answers why was he there not because man overpowered him he's laying down his life but why because of who and what god is and And because of who and what he is in his official position. Bear with me as I take a few moments to open up those two very simple strands of the answer of scripture to the question. Why was he there? First of all he was there because of who and what God is.

44:50 God is creator, lawgiver and judge of all of his creatures. And the God and father of our Lord Jesus. The God upon whom Jesus called when he prayed. The God whom he addressed in the garden.

45:06 Father if it be possible who is this God and father of our Lord Jesus. The scripture tells us he is absolutely holy and without sin. Thus saith the high and the lofty one.

45:22 Who inhabits eternity. Whose name is. When Isaiah sees the Lord high and lifted up upon a throne. He hears the antiphonal voice of the seraphim saying holy.

45:38 Holy. Holy is the Lord God the almighty. And in his presence these fiery ones. These burning ones.

45:47 Who've never known sin. Think of it kids. They never said a mean word to a fellow seraphim.

45:53 Never once lied. Once were selfish. And yet in the presence. Of this God these sinless spotless creatures.

46:01 Veil their faces. Veil their feet. And with holy restlessness they fly about the throne. Even for such beings to take their wings off from their faces.

46:16 And their feet. And to pause in gaze they sense the burning holiness of God would consume them. That's who God is. Scripture says thou art of pure arise.

46:30 Than to look upon iniquity. He sees it with a view to marking it for judgment or pardon. But he does not look upon it with favor and with pleasure. He's of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity.

46:43 And that God who is not only holy and hates sin is just and he must punish sin. The soul that sins it shall die. Ezekiel 18.4 The wages of sin is death.

46:54 Romans 6.23 He will by no means clear the guilty. God. God is utterly pervasively purely just.

47:03 He must uphold his law and reward righteousness and punish sin. He can no more not punish sin than he can un-God himself. All that God is he is in his holiness. In his justice.

47:20 And yet the scripture says God is love. And it is of the very nature of love in God to go out toward an object. Not only his son and the spirit. But it is in God's very being to give the fullest manifestation of his love.

47:37 It can be no more fully manifested than when it conceives and executes a plan of mercy and restorative grace. That allows God to remain utterly spotlessly holy. Inflexibly just. And yet to find a conduit for the largest expression of his love.

47:57 And in his love he sovereignly sets his heart to save. A vast multitude of ungodly, unholy, hell-deserving sinners. And I don't want to be irreverent. But to help you to grasp this.

48:12 Think with me for a moment. God's holiness offends a human sin. God's justice incensed and chomping at the bit to do with all sinners. What he did with the devil and his angels.

48:27 Jude says when they did not keep their first estate. They were cast down. And held in chains of everlasting darkness unto the judgment of the great day. God's justice felt no frustration with Satan and his angels.

48:42 When his holiness was incensed at their rebellion. And his justice said judge them. God had no reservation. His holiness and justice were vented pure with perfect equity.

48:57 He didn't do that with Adam and Eve. He hasn't done it with you and me. But he said. God's love upon a whole host of sinners.

49:05 Out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue, and nation. And he says. I love them. Because I will to love them.

49:13 And I'm my love. I want to restore them to fellowship with me. But how can I? My holiness is offended at their sin.

49:21 My justice deserves that their sin be punished. My love cannot negate my justice and holiness. But I will not allow my holiness and my justice. To swallow.

49:33 To swallow up my love. And out of the infinite mind of God. Came a marvelous scheme of redemption. In which God's holiness.

49:44 And his justice. And his love. Would not only be intertwined in that salvation. But they would find their fullest and most glorious expression.

49:57 That's the wonder of the cross. What is the cross? Oh hear me. And pray the spirit of God.

50:05 Teach you anew. Or some for the first time. The cross is God. Opening up all that he is.

50:13 Is God. And in perfect holiness. Justice and love. Procuring salvation.

50:25 For hell deserving sinners. And that brings us to the second part of the answer. Why is Christ on the cross? Because of who and what God is.

50:34 God himself cannot. Will not save sinners. At the expense of his holiness and justice. He loves his own integrity more.

50:44 Than your salvation.

50:47 He'd sooner send us all to hell. Than have any angel point the finger at him. And say God. You compromise your holiness.

50:55 You compromise your justice. When you save that hell deserving man or woman. God will not compromise his holiness and justice.

51:04 And that's why when we ask the question. Why was he on the cross? We must come with the second strand of our answer. Not only because of who and what God is.

51:11 But because of who and what God is. And not only because of who and what God is. But because of who and what God is. But because of who and what God is.

51:12 God is but because of the unique position that Christ is in when he dies on that cross does he go there as a whole integrated person the person of our Lord Jesus yes but he doesn't go there as a private person he does not go to the cross simply because those around him wanted to get rid of him and he was willing to be gotten rid of and so as a lamb before it shears his dumb he opens not his mouth he lets them condemn him and murder him no he's very conscious of his unique position he is there on that cross as the representative man he's there as the second the last Adam all of humanity is one of the old Puritans said hang on either the belt of Adam or the belt of Christ and Paul in Romans 5 opens up that reality through one man's sin entered the world death passed upon all men for that all sinned but in the one person Jesus and his righteousness there is a great many who shall come to favor with God and when Christ is there upon the cross he is there consciously taking the place of every

52:36 man of the world and he is there taking the place of every man of the world. No man's sin entered the world he is there consciously taking the place of every man of the world and he is there consciously taking the place of every man of the world. woman boy or girl who will ever come to entrust the issue of their soul salvation unto him he is the sacrificial lamb he is the representative man now let me quote the text that make this so clear galatians 3 13 christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law god's holiness and justice are offended and incensed at man's sin it brings upon us a curse cursed is everyone that continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them but now paul says christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law how by being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree in the old testament covenant law god had said for anyone to be hung on a tree was to make a visible demonstration that they were under the ban the the anathema the casting out of god and so god engineered it that the roman government would borrow from the assyrians this horrible cruel form of punishment that stripped a man from all personal dignity in preparation

53:57 for crucifixion as he was stripped and marched through the streets and made an object of public shame and suffering and suffering and scorn and then they hung him up sometimes for two three four days they hung on those crosses before they died and god says i've engineered all of this to display to the entire universe that my son of whom i spoke at his baptism saying this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased i spoke from heaven on the mount of transfiguration this is my son my beloved hear him now he hangs accursed of god and he's conscious that he's accursed of god the curse of god was banishment you were no longer regarded a part of the covenant nation you were an outcast and what is the cry that rings from his heart at the end of the three hours not my god my god why have my disciples forsaken me i gave myself to them i wept with them i prayed with them i bore with their stupidity and their dullness oh my father why have they forsaken me no it's my god not oh god he still is conscious of the upholding and the covenantal commitment of the father to the suffering servant but in his

55:19 soul he felt nothing less than the horrors of hell which as we saw yesterday are bound up in the universe words, Depart from me. Depart from me. In the court of heaven, where human eyes could not see, there was something being enacted that was mirrored in the visible world. From the time Jesus was apprehended in the garden until he hangs upon the cross and dies, everything about him says he's a guilty felon who deserves to be executed. Everything pointed in that direction. You know why? God is saying what's happening in the theater of the visible, physical, observable world is transpiring in the higher, invisible spiritual world. For while Christ hangs upon the cross, Hebrews tells us he is both priest and sacrifice, offering himself up without spot unto God, the eternal Spirit. He appears introductionally,

56:28 the courtroom of heaven laden with my sin with the sin of every believer and as he appears before god robed in his glorious robes of spotless purity inflexible justice the son appears laden with all of our sins and the father says my son i see you stand before me in my court laden with sins you voluntarily have taken upon yourself with respect to bearing their guilt what do you plead could he plead those in whose room i stand are innocent no the son of god had to hang his head and say guilty guilty as charged father i take the penalty and the father pours out his unleashed fury and holy wrath that your sins and mine deserved until the son of god feeling the reality of the horrors of the wrath

57:39 of god's no play acting my god if the father had answered he would have said my son i abandon you because you do not die in isolation from your people you die in union with them you stand in their place and my son you have voluntarily chosen to take the role of the suffering servant and isaiah says it pleased the lord to bruise him did you ever stop at those words it pleased the lord to bruise him pleased him is god a sadist he likes the pain of his son because his son was rendering that obedience unto death which alone would permit the godhead to be fully expressive of holiness and justice and love and rescue hell-deserving sinners why was jesus there

58:57 he was there because of the position he voluntarily assumed and was assigned to him by his father he is there bearing the curse for us in the language of second corinthians five twenty one he who knew no sin was made sin for us the first peter three eighteen u died for us the just for the unjust all we like sheep have gone astray we've turned each one of us to his own way but the lord is made to strike upon him the iniquity of us all began over the years as i've sought to find poetic expressions of these great biblical truths this is one of the most precious i've ever found here the words of this marvelous expression of why tony walsh died of posterity and for what the перед blood of the holy spirit was of the one who died in the second corinthians christ died oh christ what burdens bowed thy head our load be a victim led thy blood was shed now there's no load for me death and the curse were in our cup oh christ was full for thee but thou hast drained the last dark drop tis empty now for me that bitter cup love drank it up

60:18 now blessings draft for me jehovah lifted up his rod oh christ it fell on thee thou was sore stricken of thy god there's not one stroke for me thy tears thy blood beneath it flowed thy bruising healeth me the tempest awful voice that voice was heard oh christ it broke on thee thy open bosom was my ward it braved the storm for me my form was scarred thy visage marred now cloudless peace for me jehovah bade his sword you see from the load to the cup to the rock to the rock to the rock to the rock to the rock to the rock to the rock to the rock to the tempest now to the sword jehovah bade his sword awake oh christ it woke against thee thy blood the flaming blade must slake thy heart its sheath must be all for my sake my peace to make now sleeps that sword for me hallelujah what a savior the load death and the curse in the cup

61:41 the rod of god's righteous anger the tempest and fury of his wrath his sword that should slay the sinner all found their fullest purest expression in the vicarious substitutionary curse bearing of the son of god who died the lord of glory why did he die not because men overpowered him but because god is holy just and loving and christ willingly took the position of the sinner's substitute fully to satisfy all the demands of god's law with respect to the sins of those that he carried with him and upon him and when he cried at the end of those three hours why have you forsaken me shortly thereafter he said i thirst and then the scripture says with another voice of triumph he said to tell us it stands accomplished and then it says he yielded up his spirit you and i aren't going to yield it up it's going to go with the death rattle in our throat while we fight for breath and for every last inch of life

63:04 but the son of god says it's all taken care of now and his last prayer is not oh god i commend my spirit but you remember what the scripture says it's all taken care of now and his last prayer is not oh god i commend my spirit but if you remember what the scripture says he's everyone is i'm sure you know the other things that you're hoping for we can think about scripture says, Father, all of the wrath passed over. Visibly and physically, obviously, the heavens parted. The hours of darkness now give way. I like to think of the dark cloud parting and a ray of sun striking that central figure just as he says, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. But wait a minute. He's dead. They have to come and take his lifeless form off the cross. And yet he said, it is finished. I've accomplished redemption.

63:56 I've paid the price. How do I know it's true? His lifeless form is washed and wrapped and laid in a tomb. Easter morning's coming, folks. The third day, they come to pay their respects to their departed master and Lord and stone is rolled away, not to let Jesus out, but to let them in to see that he's no longer there. He's no longer there. He's no longer there. He's no longer there. He's no longer there. He's no longer there.

64:23 here he's risen and you know what i like to think of the resurrection god's delayed amen to the cry it is finished jesus says it's accomplished i paid it all no voice comes out of heaven saying yes you have my son god says i got a better amen i'm going to raise my son from the dead and as paul says in romans 4 25 he was delivered up for our offenses he was raised on account of our justification the ah with the accusative you greek students raised on account of our justification god says my amen is going to wait because i don't want anybody to think that by reviving him upon that cross he never really died i'll let everyone know he's dead dead sure dead stone dead and when any reasonable person cannot deny he's dead i'll utter my amen i'll raise my son from the dead i'll sit him at my own right hand and his first act of messianic kingship will be to send the holy spirit down upon his church to begin conquest in the sign of the cross now i come finally having looked at who died the god man christ jesus why did he die not because men overpowered him but

Question 3: What Does God Say to You and Me from That Cross? (Part 1: Perfect Salvation and Reasonable Terms)

65:51 because of who god is and who he was in his position now what's all of this say to you and to me who why what what's it say to you kids listen to me this conference is going to be over tomorrow morning but if the lord delays his coming in a few more years somebody's going to tell you hear that that man who preached at the conference pastor martin he's dead he's gone oh sorry to hear it i have never hearing him big deal you know kids it's a serious sobering thing to me i probably will not see many of you again until the day of judgment when you and i are all going to stand before this risen christ you better listen to what god is saying to you from that cross because if you don't you'll wish you'd never been born when you come to the day of judgment do you want to wish you never had been born then you just ignore what god is saying to you from the cross of his son you and i want you've listened so attentively and drawn out the ministry of the word and ministered to me in so doing but bear with me as i take you down four simple words that god utters to each of

67:11 us from the cross of his son the first thing that god says to us is this he tells us that a perfect salvation for sinners has been provided in jesus christ his son that's what god says to us from the cross he says in my son i have provided a perfect salvation for sinners all kinds of sinners all ages of sinners all stripes and colors of sinners just plain old sinners and in my son who cried it is finished i have provided a perfect salvation for sinners i've raised him from the dead and i've raised him from the dead and i've raised him from the dead to assure you that i am fully satisfied with his payment for sin so that you need never pay any legal penalty for your sin you become a christian as you believe in christ and god will love you as a principled father and he'll whap you on your backside when you need it and he'll take you by the ear into your bedroom and lecture you and discipline you for whom the lord loves he chastens but you will never know one stroke of god's hand you will never know one stroke of god's hand

68:31 of god's rod or judicial punishment for your sin for the bible says there is therefore now,here and now,no condemnation to those who are in christ jesus the day of judgement as far as punishment for my sins has come and gone in the cross and the open tomb of the lord jesus i tell you kids i used to go to sleep every night scared to go to sleep when i was your age? you will know why? I was afraid I'd die and wake up in hell. And I can remember lying on my bed saying, God, forever and ever and ever.

69:10 No, no, Lord, there must be no such thing as forever and ever and ever. Ten thousand years, a million years. And then I can remember my tired boy brain finally just giving in and saying, Oh, God, take away my sins and don't let me die tonight. And when I'd wake up and see the morning, it was almost as though I'm still alive.

69:32 What a wonderful thing now to pillow my head and say, Lord, if this old ticker gives in, says no more work for you, old boy, I'll wake up and look on the face of Jesus.

69:46 No condemnation. Oh, my friend, this is the gospel. That in Christ there is a perfect salvation. And if you can only get into him, it's all yours in him.

69:58 You see, God doesn't say, I put forgiveness, justification, sanctification, adoption, glorification. I put all these good things. But he's in the pot. And the pot is Jesus.

70:07 And you want one of them? Oh, good. I'll ladle it in. I'll give you a little forgiveness and a little bit of sonship.

70:12 No, no, no, no. God says, it's all in my son. You get into him and it's all yours. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

70:20 If you get into Christ, all the salvation he purchased and all the salvation he continues to apply and will consummately apply when he returns again, it's all yours in him. If you will but have him.

70:36 That's the stumbling block of the gospel. That's too simple. I've got to do something more. No, you don't.

70:42 He's done all that is needed to adjust the records in heaven and to impart to you by his grace all that is necessary to give you a righteous title to heaven and to make you morally fit for heaven. And no one goes to heaven without both. God gets you righteously fit and he gets you morally and ethically fit. He blots out your sin.

71:08 He declares you righteous. He gives you a new heart, writes his law in your heart. He weds you to Christ, gives you a love to Christ that is supreme above all other loves. He gets your mind off earth and into heaven.

71:21 You begin to live by the rules of heaven and the laws of heaven in the company of the people of heaven with a hunger for the God of heaven. And then God says, well, they got so much of them here, I might as well get the rest of them here. And he stops your ticker and takes you home. And we depart.

71:36 With Christ.

71:40 At least I hope you're saying hallelujah in your heart. I wouldn't be offended if you say it out loud on this. Now, some of you might feel your ancestors will roll over in their grave. None in our family ever said a hallelujah in the meeting.

71:51 But folks, that's what we have in Christ.

71:56 Now, if that's not you, give up any notion you're going to heaven because 20 years ago you prayed a little prayer and said, I trust Jesus. No, no. God not only gives a title to heaven to the believing sinner. He begins a crisis.

72:10 He begins a crisis followed by a process ending in another crisis of making them fit for heaven. The first crisis is called regeneration. Then there's the process of sanctification. Then there's the crisis of glorification.

72:23 Some of us will get it in two parts. We join the spirits of just men made perfect in our death. We get our resurrection body at his coming. Those alive at his coming, they get both installments at once.

72:34 But God never applies one part of the salvation but not the whole shebang. And the only people going to heaven. Those whose hearts and ways and people are a heavenly people without holiness. No man shall see the Lord.

72:48 Stop this stupid talk that you're going to heaven when you die, when your heart and your affections and your interests are stuck on the earth. God doesn't take earthlings to heaven. He takes heavenly people to heaven. Go to Christ and it's all your second thing he says from that cross is that this salvation is offered to you.

73:11 On the most reasonable terms, it's offered on the most reasonable terms. And what are those terms? Jesus himself told his apostles in Luke 24. He opened their mind to understand the scriptures, showed them that the Christ must suffer and die and be raised on the third day.

73:27 And that repentance unto remission of sins should be preached in his name among all the nations beginning at Jerusalem. Jesus said, I've procured a perfect salvation. Now go out and preach in my name. What's that mean?

73:42 Preach in the light that I've done. That is the revelation of who I am and my redemptive work. Tell them the great indicative of my saving work. Christ died for our sins.

73:55 He buried, excuse me, raised again from the dead on the third day. Tell them what God has done in me to settle the books in heaven, to provide a righteous pardon and a just forgiveness. And then tell them if they want. And if they want all of that in me, they got to repent, got to turn from being little self-determining, independent little gods and get out of the God business.

74:22 That's what repentance is at the end of the day. It's you saying, oh, God, I've had it all backwards. I've been trying to sit on the throne, determining what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's bad, what I want, where I want to go, what I'm going to do with my life. God didn't make you to be a little independent puppet God sitting on the throne of your heart.

74:42 That's what made the devil the devil. He wasn't content to be the dependent creature taking his orders from God. And that's why you're a little devil, because you're just like your father and the lust of your father you will do. Now, do you want all that God holds out in Christ?

74:59 Then you stack arms, get out of the God business and say, God, I'm done in the God business. And I'm prepared for you to be God to me. And the rule of your word and of your son. And the superintendence of your spirit to be the governing dynamics of my life.

75:19 And I turn from any silly notion that I can earn brownie pints by going to church and praying and fast and all the rest. And I'm prepared to throw my soul in all of its hell deservingness upon Jesus and Jesus alone. That's faith. And that's exactly what Paul preached.

75:37 He said, I preached first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God. He said, I preached repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation is offered to you on the most reasonable terms. And hear me, my preacher friends.

75:59 It's not offered to sinners as elect or non-elect. It's just offered to plain old sinners. And we can say to every sinner, this salvation is offered to you. To you is the word of this salvation sent.

76:12 That's what Paul said at Antioch in Pisidia. To you is this word of salvation sent. The word is nigh you. In your mouth and in your heart.

Question 3: What Does God Say to You and Me from That Cross? (Part 2: Wrath and Obligations)

76:22 It's near you. Christ has come near you again in the preaching. And it is a well-meant sincere offer of this perfect salvation on very reasonable terms. And then thirdly, God tells us from that cross that apart from this salvation we stand exposed to the wrath of God.

76:41 John 3.36, he that believes not. He says the wrath of God present tense abides upon him. Think with me for a minute.

76:51 Look up at this roof, if you would. Now you've all been looking at me while I've preached and I appreciate your attention. You've not been conscious that this roof has been over us the whole while we're here. It has been.

77:04 But you've not been conscious of it. But now follow me. Your consciousness of it doesn't determine whether it is or isn't over us. That's a fact of physical reality.

77:14 And if you doubted it, you know how I could prove it to you? Have somebody come with a chainsaw and cut all the main supports. And that roof wouldn't come out of the clouds. It wouldn't get moved here from Toronto.

77:26 The roof that was above you of which you were not conscious would crash down upon you. And you'd know it was there. The wrath of God is hanging over you right now. If you're not in Christ.

77:39 But I don't feel the wrath of God. That's because you've been blinded by the God of this world to reality. But it does abide on you right now in this place. God's wrath is pressing down.

77:49 I say it reverently. God's justice and holiness are straining at the bit to crush rebels like he did the devil and his angels. But in his long suffering, he bears with you. He withholds his hand.

78:08 And do you not know that the goodness of God leads to repentance? Because the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. But his long suffering to you were not wishing that any perish. But that all should come to repentance.

78:22 But if you're tempted to think all this sin business. I'm sick and tired of hearing it. I just want to be let alone my friend. Listen to me.

78:30 Look at the cross of Christ. When Christ is bearing sin. The only sinless one who ever existed after Adam fell. What did God do with sin when it was on his son?

78:42 Romans 8.32 said he spared not his son. His well beloved, his spotless son. When God and sin met in a naked encounter.

78:52 God crushed sin in the person of his son. What do you think he's going to do with you? You better stop this fooling around kids. You take too lightly your gospel privileges.

79:04 My Bible doesn't say only people over 14 go to hell if they die in unbelief. My Bible says the wrath of God abides on him that believes not. Covenant child or not covenant child. Eight years old or 80 years old.

79:20 It's time some of you stop fooling with these precious things of God. The cross is saying if you treat Christ lightly. God will deal with you the way he dealt with his son. And then God tells us from that cross.

79:37 We who are the people of God and who have fled into Christ. He tells us that if we have received salvation from a crucified Jesus. The crucified savior. We're under awesome and serious obligations.

79:51 Let me just give you two verses that underscore those obligations. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 6 dealing with the problem of sexual uncleanness. What do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. You have been bought with a price.

80:11 And you are not your own glorify God. For in your body which is his. If I say I have forgiveness and righteousness and adoption and a title to life. All because of what Christ has done.

80:30 I am now not only created property of God but purchased property of Jesus Christ. I don't belong to myself. My mind my eyes my tongue my ears my feet my capacities. My intellect my will my emotions.

80:45 Everything that makes me me has been bought at the price of his blood. And I don't belong to me. And because I don't belong to me but to another my passion is to be to glorify the God who in Christ purchased me. And notice I love the Bible won't let us become self-deceived unless we're really determined to be.

81:08 He doesn't say glorify God in your soul. But he says in your body. You see you'll never glorify God in your body. Without the full cooperation of your soul.

81:18 If your body is going to be chased in your mind and heart. Your soul has to be committed to chastity. You flee fornication. You avoid the sources of provocation of mental lust.

81:31 You see you can't treat your body as purpose purchase property. Without your soul being the source and the driving engine to a sanctified body. We would kid ourselves. God said glorify God in your soul.

81:47 We say oh yes my soul is in love with Jesus. My soul is in heaven. And then your body is lazy. And your body becomes a machine by which you drive yourself to an early grave.

81:59 By inordinate gluttony. And the piling up of flesh that you know medically is a strain upon your heart. Keeps you from the level of energy you ought to have to serve God. Some of you if you take seriously the implications of the cross.

82:15 You're going to go to your doctor. Have a thorough physical checkup. And you're going to say doc I need to lose 30, 40, 50, 60 pounds. How can I do it responsibly?

82:24 What do you want to do that for John? What do you want to do that for Mary? Because I belong to Jesus. And the way I look right now would not give anyone the idea that my body is to glorify God.

82:36 Now that's blunt talk. But I challenge you to show me from the Bible that it's not legitimate Bible talk. You young people when your hormones get raging. And everything in you wants to know what the soft flesh of a woman feels like.

82:52 And what the strong embrace and tender kiss of a man feels like. Tell yourself I'm marked with the cross. I tell our young people we're not going to go around having tattooed bodies. I believe the body piercing and the body markings are a reversion to paganism.

83:09 I think it can be shown from the scripture. But I said imagine if we could. You know what we'd love to do as your elders? We'd love to put a red tattoo on the forehead of every one of the young people.

83:19 Then when some guy gets soft down and says hey you know I. You look at him and say I've been bought by another. This body doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the one who died for me.

83:30 That'll keep the scoundrel at bay. Yeah. You young men. What is God giving you your emerging youthful strength for?

83:40 To spend it in sports along? People ask me why are you preachers? I said it's the way I played football. When I was on the football field I didn't muck around.

83:48 Yeah you made a ball. It was 100%. Jesus deserved less. Glorify God in your body.

83:57 That's what God says from the cross. He owns you by right of purchase. Glorify him. And the second and final text under that heading is 2 Corinthians 5, 14 and 15.

84:10 The love of Christ constrains me Paul said. Christ's love manifested in the cross holds me in its grip. It doesn't restrain me hold me back. It constrains me and drives me forward.

84:21 And he says it's because I have this sober judgment. The love of Christ constrains us because you can look at it in your own Bible. I'm quoting it accurately. We thus judge.

84:31 It constrains us because we think of it as we ought. We thus judge. If one died for all then all died. If Christ died in the place of sinners.

84:42 Then the sinners died in Christ, right? All right, so they're dead. Now if they get life from his death, what's that life for? It was their self-centered, self-willed life that demanded his death.

84:55 Surely in dying with Christ and God gives them life. Paul says here's what we judge. That if one died for all, therefore all died. Therefore that they that live should no longer live unto themselves but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again.

85:12 That's the inescapable logic of the cross. To say I'm saved by Christ's cross is to say I no longer live to myself but unto him who loved me and gave himself for me. And you see at the end of the day life becomes pretty simple. Can you imagine someone coming up to the Apostle Paul?

85:29 I don't have a clue how long I've been preaching. I don't even know where my watch went. All right, let me close with this. You've heard things about the Apostle Paul.

85:43 This brilliant young Pharisee who was outstripping all of his peers. And you've heard that he's been converted and becomes a passionate preacher and missionary. And you've been allowed to read some of his letters and you get into Ephesians and into Colossians and these mind-stretching, mind-boggling concepts of who Christ is and cosmic redemption. And you say man, oh man, I mean this guy must have had an IQ of about 164, 200.

86:13 And one day you get a chance to meet him and you're all nervous. Boy, everything I'll say will sound stupid. I mean this guy, you know, it's like he's got ten earned PhDs in ten different fields and I feel so stupid and awkward. And finally I get up enough courage, I say, Paul, I'm sorry, I'm sort of fumbling with my words.

86:33 But Paul, I wonder, I've got about a half an hour and I'd like you to condense for me, if you could, into half an hour your philosophy of life. You know what Paul would do? He'd look at you and me and he'd smile and say, look, don't be nervous. I'm not going to confuse you with a very long, complex explanation.

86:53 I'll give you my philosophy of life in one brief sentence. In fact, he said, I wrote it to a letter of a Roman colony in the city called Philippi. Well, what is it, Paul? He said, here it is.

87:07 For to me, can you understand that? Oh yeah, that means for you, Paul. Ah, good, you got my first words. For to me, to live. You understand that?

87:17 Oh yeah, that means to exist and carry out, all right. For to me, to live, is Christ. And then he stops. And you say, okay, Paul.

87:27 He said, there is no more. Oh yes, by the way, and when me is no longer living, me is going to be with Jesus and to die is gain. Period. End of discussion.

87:40 Get on with your business. There's my whole philosophy of life. You see, life becomes very simple. You live it by the cross.

87:48 Oh yes, there are complexities. I'm not Pollyannish. We've lived with the C word in our house for four years. My cancer, my wife's cancer.

87:59 I go where my people are with their broken hearts, with wavered children and apostate children. I've had to cast the vote for the discipline of my own flesh and blood.

88:13 But I tell you at the end of the day, when I'm where I ought to be before Christ's crucified life, is relatively simple. For me to live is Christ. And to die is gain. Oh, may God come upon us with a baptism of that blessed simplicity.

88:31 So that in every situation and relationship, all that matters is what will please Christ. And once I know that, then I'll trust Christ for the grace to do what Christ wants me to do. And when I am enabled to do it, I'll give all the praise. Praise to Christ.

88:49 And when God says, I've had enough of that down here. You've only had the down payment and the foretaste. But it's obvious you'll love it. I'm going to give you the full course.

88:59 Come on home. Come on home. Come on home. Even so come, Lord Jesus.

89:07 Let's pray.