The Offense and the Glory of the Cross

I want you to begin

by turning in your Bible to

Philippians chapter 3, verse 3.

Philippians 3:3

Just turn in your Bible

and then look at me.

Showing up is not good enough.

Do you understand that?

Showing up is not good enough.

Now, I'm glad you're here,

but I want to make an appeal to you

that this morning you think carefully

about what we're really here to do.

And so when I say to you

that showing up is not good enough,

I want you to understand that

we are here to worship the Lord of glory,

and we're here to do that

with the enabling of the Spirit of God

to please Him,

to strengthen,

to encourage,

to grow in our love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I have to tell you,

if you are sitting here this morning

with kind of a blah spirit,

or you're one of those people

who spends most of your life

with a highly critical mindset,

or you're really distracted

because you're thinking about the race,

or whatever, right?

Hey, listen,

because I'm talking to you.

Being here is not enough.

For we're the circumcision

who worship by the Spirit of God.

Is that true of you?

How many of you know

that it's fairly easy to show up

and not worship by the Spirit of God?

We've done it countless times.

We're the circumcision

who worship by the Spirit of God

and glory in Christ Jesus

and put no confidence in the flesh.

And you can say in your heart,

Amen.

So that's my appeal

at the outset

that you here this morning

who know Christ

would recognize that

unless the Holy Spirit

enables you this morning

to worship

through the power of the Spirit of God,

the glory of Christ,

that you will walk out of here

relatively unchanged,

probably indifferent,

probably a little,

actually,

more sour

and less affected.

And so my plea would be

that with due humility

you go ahead and say

the words that are true,

Holy Spirit,

I need your help this morning

to worship,

to grow in my affection

for Christ.

Amen?

Now,

we're not turning

to 1 Corinthians 11.

Please make a note

in your church calendar

that this was a week

when pastor preached

from a different text

for communion.

I actually have done that

more than once in 28 years,

but here we go.

Galatians chapter 6,

Galatians 6:14

verse 14.

Several weeks ago

as I was praying

and thinking about

the blessing of this day,

I don't know why,

but the prompting of God

brought my heart

to think carefully

about the cross.

And as we take the bread

and we take the cup,

really what we are celebrating

and what we are reflecting,

what we're remembering

is what Jesus did for us.

And we are here

to be obedient to Him

in the matter

that He instructed us

regarding that.

And so,

we know that

later this morning,

we will actually engage

in doing more

than putting a morsel

of bread in our mouth

and taking a rather

small cup of grape juice.

We're really here

to remind ourselves

that the Lord Jesus

died in our place.

He died for our sins.

He died that we might not

have to die eternally.

And so,

I'm going to ask you

this morning

to think

in broader terms

about what we do here

than just to ponder

the physical death

of our Savior.

And to do so,

I want us to focus

on the cross

not merely as an instrument

of extreme suffering,

but really as a symbol

of God's great work

in salvation.

Let me read a portion.

It's lengthy.

I'll try to go slowly.

But it really

has significance

to what we're doing

this morning.

It is a portion

from Robert Raymond's book

on systematic theology.

The cross work

of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who is God's Alpha

and Omega,

stands at the beginning,

the center,

and the end

of God's eternal will

and all His ways

and works.

Christ's work

is sacred ground.

It is the church's

holy of holies.

John Murray

describes

our Lord's cross work

as the most

solemn spectacle

in all of human history.

It is a spectacle

of unparalleled,

unique,

unrepeated,

and unrepeatable

events.

And it is the site

of the most

mysterious utterance

that ever

ascended

from earth

to heaven.

My God,

my God,

why

hast thou

forsaken me?

Beholding it,

we are spectators

of a wonder

of praise

and glory

that eternity

itself will

not

exhaust.

It is the

Lord of glory,

the Son of God,

incarnate,

the God-man,

drinking the cup

given to Him

by the Eternal

Father,

the cup of woe

and indescribable

agony over sin.

we almost

hesitate to say

it,

but it must

be said,

it is God

in this

creation

forsaken

of God.

The cry

from the

accursed

tree

evinces

nothing less

than the

abandonment

that is the

wages of sin.

there is no

reproduction,

no parallel

in the

experience

of the

archangels

or of the

greatest saints.

The faintest

parallel

would crush

the holiest

of men

and the

mightiest

of the

angelic

host.

I want us

to think

this morning

about,

first of all,

the offense

of the cross

and I want

you to

consider that

unless we

take the

time to

really ponder

the significance

of what we

do here,

we really go

about this

in a far

more casual

way than

Christ intends

for us

to be

involved in.

And listen

to me,

it's very easy

for us in

doing something

that is

repetitious

to go through

the motions

and really

not invest

the energy,

the thought,

the emotion

to ponder

seriously

what has

happened

and what we

are celebrating

and its

significance

to us.

And that's

not fitting.

Let me have

you think

of the extreme

offense of the

cross by

recognizing

that in

sum,

what the

cross really

speaks to,

first of all,

is the

extreme attitude

that God

has towards

sin.

I think it

was several

weeks ago,

it came out

in the internet

and came out

in the papers,

etc.,

that Kim Jong-un,

how many of you

know who Kim,

I love the name,

don't call your

kids that,

but you know,

Kim Jong-un,

you know,

he is the

dictator supreme

of North Korea

and a couple

weeks ago,

he executed

his defense

minister with

anti-aircraft

cannon fire.

Can you imagine

that?

He had a hundred

of his senior

officers troop

out to the,

that's a little

disgusting,

isn't it?

Cannon fire,

anti-aircraft

at that,

and he had a

hundred of his

officers lined

up watching one

guy way down

the range there

who had nodded

off at one of

his just scintillating

and encouraging

speeches.

The guy probably

stayed up late

watching some

dumb show,

and as a result,

he was executed

by cannon fire.

You got that?

Now, do you know

why he did that?

He wanted

everybody to know

that nodding off

in one of his

messages was far

more dangerous

than nodding off

in one of mine.

Over history,

there have been

different ways

in which government

and those in

authority have

expressed their

deep abiding

objection to

certain kinds

of behavior.

During the

Sepoy Rebellion

in British India,

eventually when

the rebellion

was suppressed,

they took the

principal rebels

of that rebellion

and they tied

them to the

front of cannons

and lit the

match and blew

them into

oblivion.

Another

favorite

execution,

here, I grew

up in India,

so bear with me.

We'll just deal

with the things

I know.

But another

favorite of

Mughal,

this is in

my way.

Sorry.

Okay.

Should have

done this

ahead of time.

But in the

Red Fort,

there's a

small chamber

through a rock

wall that is

about three or

four feet thick

and in the

small chamber

there in the

center of it

there's a

little aperture

that's about

that big.

A little aperture

about that big.

Those who

received the

extreme dislike

of the

Mughal king

had a rope

tied around

their center,

passed through

the aperture,

and tied off

to an elephant

or two out

in the front.

And then

when the

Mahut would

say,

agay,

agay,

you know

what would

happen?

The man

would be

pulled through

the aperture.

Aperture

means hole

in the wall.

Now,

how many

of you

would like

to be

pulled

through a

hole

as an

adult

about

that

big?

Here's how

it actually,

you don't need

the details,

right?

You understand

the point?

Actually,

being executed

by anti-aircraft

cannon fire

or being blown

apart by a

cannon is

probably a

little more

bearable

because it's

instantaneous,

even though

it's pretty

spectacular,

than being

dragged through

a knot

hole by an

elephant.

None of

those methods

of execution

come anywhere

close to

what crucifixion

was.

Crucifixion

was something

that was

reserved for

those that

had supremely

offended the

government,

and they were

designed to be

a public

spectacle to

say,

whatever you

do,

do not

do this.

The every

other instance

of execution

that I've

spoken of

actually,

in every

case,

is relatively

brief in

its suffering.

That was not

the case with

execution.

Execution

was something

that was

preceded by

brutal beating,

and the

whip that

was used by

the Roman

lictors was

something that

was so harsh

upon a person

that actually

the skin

would be

flayed off.

And then the

person was

placed upon a

cross,

nails driven

through both

hands and

feet,

and hung

there to

die.

From

exhaustion,

dehydration,

and the

extreme

suffering of

that physical

affliction,

it in many

cases took

individuals days

to die.

And it was

such a

brutal method

of execution

that Roman

law prohibited

a Roman

citizen from

suffering from

crucifixion,

except in

extreme cases

such as

causing

problems for

the emperor

or whatever.

it was not

normal.

Seneca,

who was a

Roman

statesman

philosopher,

he said this,

that no

Roman citizen

should ever

use the

word cross,

should have

to think

about the

cross,

should ever

think that

someone else

should suffer

on the cross.

Do you

understand what

he's saying?

It was

something that

was so

brutal and

so ugly

that he

thought Roman

citizens should

not even have

to think about

it ever.

And so here

we are this

morning listening

to what Paul

says in

Galatians chapter

six, and I

want you to look

at that and put

your finger on it.

He says,

far be it

from me to

boast except

in the cross

of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

The extreme

offense of the

cross really

rests in the

reality that

the cross of

Christ gives

us a graphic

picture of

how supremely

offensive our

sin is to

God.

We're pretty

comfortable with

our sin,

aren't we?

Truthfully.

We tend not

to take our

sins seriously,

or we really

don't tend to

take them as

being things that

are all that

troublesome to

God, but

understand this,

that the cross

tells us that

God hates sin.

He hates it.

He hates it.

He hates it.

He hates it more

than Caesar ever

hated it, or the

Roman government

ever hated it.

We're great at

offering excuses

for our sin,

are we not?

It goes back

actually to the

garden, and

remember after

Adam and Eve

had sinned and

God came and

addressed Adam,

He immediately

blamed it on

somebody else.

We are specialists

in our contemporary

culture at

attaching labels

to sin that

kind of diminish

its significance

or its offense.

sin.

What the cross

announces is that

sin deserves the

most extreme

punishment.

There's something

else that I want

you to think about

with me.

The cross tells us

also just how far

sin separates us

from God.

God.

given our sinful

hearts and the

flawed grasp we

have at intimate

communion, we

really don't

appreciate just

how close Christ

was to His

Father, how God

the Father and

God the Son were

so intimately

communing with one

another.

and we tend

not to understand

just how close

their relationship

was.

It's very

interesting when

you stop and

think about it

that Jesus

through all the

physical suffering

that He endured,

if you go to

Isaiah chapter 53

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

and I don't

encourage you to

do it now,

but it says that

He opened not

His mouth.

As Jesus endured

all the physical

hardship that He

went through, it

wasn't that He

was crying out

incessantly in

pain.

He endured the

physical hardship

without complaint,

but there is one

thing that elicited

or that brought

out from Him a

ragged cry.

We find it in all

three of the

synoptic gospels.

As Jesus hung

on the cross, as

God the Father

turned His face

away from His

Son, He cried

out this,

My God, my

God, why have

You forsaken

me?

We cannot read

those words without

getting a small

sampling of just

how deep that

separation was and

how much it

affected Christ.

That incredible

sweetness of

communion that

Jesus had enjoyed

with His Father

had never known a

single moment of

separation.

But when Jesus

bore our sins

upon the cross,

our Father

turned away,

and that

separation was

greater than the

physical suffering

that Jesus went

through.

Now, I want you to

understand that while

we cannot fully

appreciate that

separation, we can

be sure, and I want

you to ponder this

with me just for a

moment, that while

the suffering of

hell will have

physical components

to it.

I'm fully

persuaded of that.

Another piece of

that suffering,

however, is going to

be the complete,

unrelenting anguish

of complete separation

and abandonment by

God.

And so this

morning, as you

think about the

offense of the

cross, I want you

to understand that

what the cross says

is, listen,

my sin

deserved the

extreme penalty

of the wrath of God

against sin for all

my sins.

I remember last

week as we had

Rich and Christy

Brown here

visiting, and I

asked him to pray

for our fellowship,

and one of the

things that Rich

prayed was just,

he expressed

thanksgiving just

for the unbelievable

privilege of

salvation.

And let me tell

you something, if

you sit here this

morning and you

are not overwhelmed

with the reality of

the gift and the

blessing that you

have in salvation,

the problem's not on

God's side of the

equation, it is the

hardness and the

indifference of your

heart to what Jesus

has done for you.

And there would be

nothing wrong with

stopping and saying,

Lord, here I sit in

absolute putts,

just kind of stone

cold to who you

are, and I would

appeal that you

prompt your spirit

to work in me to

rekindle all

and affection for

what you've done.

Let's look at

another piece this

morning, and that is

the magnificence of

the cross.

Here in the text

that I've referenced

in Galatians chapter

Galatians 6:14

6, verse 14,

Paul says this,

but far be it from

me to boast except

in the cross.

Now, think of all

the things that have

happened.

of all the things

that you could stop

and think about

in human history,

the greatest of all

wars,

the miracle of

creation,

all the things,

the giving of the

law, the separating

of the Red Sea,

the falling down of

the walls of Jericho,

do you follow me?

One thing after

another, none of

them hold a candle

to the cross.

It stands as

supreme.

Now, by the way,

remind yourself that

during creation,

kind of imagine all

the angels up in

heaven and kind of

watching God.

And by the way,

how did He create

things?

I saw an interesting

little Facebook.

It had a beautiful

sandcastle built up

on the beach.

And it said,

this is a perfect

illustration of

evolution.

Countless millions

of waves washing up

upon this beach

have to be the thing

that built this

beautiful sandcastle.

I mean, it was

unbelievably ornate.

And it's like,

duh, you made my

point.

And so, here we

are.

Creation,

we know,

was an event that

was observed by

angels.

And guess what

they were doing

as they watched

God create the

world out of

nothing?

What were they

doing?

You know?

Is that what,

hurrah!

God had thrown

another thing.

Whoa!

How did He do

that?

They were amazed.

And they couldn't

contain themselves,

you know?

I don't know about

personalities, but I'm

just imagining that

angels in heaven are

not like this.

How many of you know

what I'm talking about?

There's some of you

that are kind of,

I'm reserving my

appreciation for

something really

spectacular.

Okay.

So, angels during

creation, what were

they doing?

Hello?

They were whooping

it up.

Now, and during the

incarnation, when Christ

came down, what did

the angels do?

What happened?

They were singing,

right?

And in 2 Peter,

it tells us that

angels kind of, as

they think about this

cross business,

they're just, they're

not sure.

They're pondering it.

They want to kind of

understand it, but they

can't get their hands

around it completely.

It just kind of, oh,

whoa.

How much I understand

this morning that the

glory of the cross is

profound beyond our

comprehension in some

sense, but worthy of

our attention at the

same time.

And so, let me put

three things together

before we come to the

elements.

The cross is where

Jesus was my

substitute.

That makes me feel

good.

Jesus was my

substitute.

What that means is

that He took my

place and died my

death.

One of the things

that has been a

blessing in being a

shepherd and a

pastor here is

that as over the

years I've grown to

know God's people,

as sad as the

moment is, when I

bury friends that

know the Lord Jesus,

I can say without

reservation that

Jesus died their

death.

Unless Jesus comes

back, we're going to

die.

Do you follow that?

But we will not die

the kind of death we

would have died apart

from Christ.

Absent in the body,

present with the

Lord.

That's the reason that

one of the things I

love saying, and you

don't know me, I'm a

little perverse on the

margins here, but I

love saying things like

this.

It's like, last trip is

up.

I was in the hospital

last week visiting

somebody and getting on

the elevator and there

was a little bit of

conversation and, you

know, are we going up

or are we going down?

And I said, hey, listen,

for me, the last trip is

up.

They look at me like,

how does that work?

You know, it's like,

it's kind of drive-by

shooting thing.

You know, and the other

one that I really like,

this is the one I really

like, it's saying, oh,

for me, you know, how are

you doing today?

Any better than I'd be

dead?

And it always makes

people go, okay.

Well, here's the truth.

Jesus died my death.

And my death will only be a

doorway into the joys of

heaven.

And I don't have any

problem with anticipating

that day.

Jesus was my substitute.

Number two, Jesus satisfied

my debt.

Not only did he take my

place, but he completely

satisfied the debt of my

sin.

Turn in your Bible.

You're there in Galatians.

You don't have to go very

far.

Go over to Colossians

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2.

Colossians chapter 2,

Colossians 2:13

verse 13 and 14.

Here's what it says.

It says, and you who were

dead in your trespasses and

the uncircumcision of your

flesh, God made alive

together with him, having

forgiven all our

trespasses.

By canceling the record of

debt that stood against us

with its legal demands, this

he set aside, nailing it to

the cross.

Very interesting imagery that

Paul is taking from the

ancient world and helping us

understand the significance of

what Christ did on the cross

for us.

In the old days, when you

owed a debt, I mean, hey,

today debt is just kind of no

big deal.

Everybody's got it.

You know, it's like I owe, I owe,

and that's the reason I go to

work, you know?

Off to work I go.

And so debt, debt, debt, debt,

debt, it's all out there.

But in the old days, debt was

something that really put the

hurt on you.

Oh, he's a debtor.

If he doesn't pay by such and

such a day, he's going to

prison, and he'll stay in there,

and the one who owns his paper

is going to sell his wife and his

children off to try.

It was bad business.

It was bad business at being in

debt.

And when you had your debt

canceled, one of the things that

they did with it was they took it

up and nailed it in a public place.

Boom!

So people knew you paid off.

And here's the imagery.

Jesus took the debt of my sin,

and he nailed it to the cross.

There is now, therefore, no

condemnation to them who are in

Christ Jesus.

Do you understand that?

I love my brothers in Christ who

are uncertain about their

salvation.

But I want you to understand that

as I read the Scriptures, I do

not see the Scriptures giving to

us the idea that salvation is

I don't know.

I'm hoping so.

No.

Salvation is a settled matter

because it is the work of God

in saving broken sinners and

granting to them everlasting life.

And why?

Because he paid my debt.

Third, and this is a tricky word,

Jesus is the propitiation for our

sins.

Now, that is a 50-cent word, and

I am working to make my

vocabulary simpler, but

propitiation is it.

And here is the reason.

I am going to explain that one

word, propitiation, and

bear with me.

The word means to cover a debt by

taking your place and paying your

debt.

Now, choice.

Remember the long statement or

stick with propitiation.

Do you got it?

Propitiation means to cover my debt by

taking my place and paying the cost.

And Jesus is the propitiation for

our sins.

So let me close with a couple thoughts

that have struck me this week.

For one, I really am affected by the

truth of the cross in my Christian life.

Yesterday, I was in conversation with a

situation, and I made the point that

because of Jesus and what He's done for

me, I mean, the truth of the matter is,

is that my entire life belongs to Him,

and I ought to live every piece of it in

the shadow of the cross.

In other words, is what I'm doing

reflecting favorably on Jesus?

Jesus.

Amen?

I hear people going on about their

Christian liberties, and I hear people

talking about their personal agendas and

schedules and preferences and comforts, and

I'm thinking to myself, what happened?

Jesus said this.

He said, take up your cross and what?

Follow me.

We got a problem.

When the substance of our thinking is

focused on our retirement home, or how

comfortable we're going to be, or whether

we're going to take a third vacation or

whatever, what happened to being poured

out as a drink offering for the sake of

other people because Jesus died in your

place and hung upon the tree for your

sins and lived and died.

To deliver you from the curse.

So a question would be this.

Am I really affected much by the cross

if it doesn't occupy my conversation?

If it doesn't govern my attitudes, hey, everybody

up here, I'm an attitude junkie.

How many of you understand what I just said?

I don't have to stretch in the morning to

have stinky attitudes.

It's almost like before you brush your teeth.

Yeah.

Yes.

Not good.

Okay.

I understand.

But here's the deal.

Because Jesus, come on.

Some of you are out there going, okay, I'm

talking to you.

Am I really caught up by the cross if I'm

kind of comfortable with my rotten attitude?

Am I really caught up by the cross when I find myself

growing distant from the cost of serving and being a blessing

to other people?

Am I caught up by the cross if I am not growing in my

affection for Christ?

How many of you know what affection looks like?

Everybody?

Okay.

Pay attention.

No matter who you are and how your personality plays out

publicly, I can tell when you're fired up about something.

Do you follow that?

So when was the last time that thinking about Jesus actually

put a smile on your face?

When was the last time when you were talking to somebody

else, your conversations about Jesus made them stop and

say, well, you really believe this, don't you?

Right?

Right?

I mean, we talk about Little League.

We talk about sports.

We talk about, you know, whatever it is that we talk about.

And people know that we're into that, but where's the cross?

Where's the cross?

And so this morning, as the men come, and I'm going to ask them

to do that now.

As the men come, I want you to stop and ask yourself the

question.

Do you need the Holy Spirit's help to worship the Lord Jesus?

Because He endured the offense of the cross to bring you the

glory of the cross.

And so this morning, as the men come, and I'm going to ask you to