The Word of the Cross

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Why would we come today, tonight to open up our head and our heart to the cross, to get our head around, to think to the glory of God about what happened on the cross and why it matters 2,023 years later?

Why do we date time because of what happened on the cross?

Why do we why do the people that never come to church are going to come to church Sunday because of what happened on the cross?

And so, Lord, we want to, we believe that uh uh redemption is for worship.

And so I want to say whatever I need to say, Holy Spirit, to increase everyone in this room's capacity to worship you in spirit and in truth.

So the next time they hear a song that just boasts in the sufficiency of the cross, they lose their mind, Jesus.

Not to be novel or say, look at me, but to say, Oh my gosh, for me, for me, God would sacrifice his son for me.

Redemption is for worship.

And so, Lord, use your word and your spirit to increase our capacity to worship you, to enjoy you, to boast in you.

That's what all this is about.

We're tired of boasting in ourselves, we're tired of putting pictures of what we ate for dinner on Instagram, just sucking up attention in space.

Really?

Is that all you got?

Lord, increase our capacity to boast in something that's worthy of boasting about.

This is my prayer, and it's the end to which I've come to labor tonight.

And I do so in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen, amen.

If you've got a Bible, you can open up to 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

Everything I'll say will come up on the screen.

I want to talk to you for a few minutes tonight about the word of the cross.

The word of the cross, in other words, what happened, what was God saying?

It wasn't just a word.

Uh actually, the Greek word for word there, because we're reading the passage, it says, you know, uh uh about that talks about the word of the cross.

It says, for the word of the cross is folly.

And that word for word is the Greek word logos, but I've been saying logos my whole life.

I have a master's degree in theology, and I've been saying translating it from the Greek as Lagos, but my little short friend Davis, who I saw in the lobby, said, No, that's not the way you say it.

It's logos, because I go to school there.

Well, snappy crappy, so it's now logos.

That's a southern version of the Greek.

I go to logos.

Anyway, uh, and so what was God saying on the cross?

Because look at me.

If all you hear, and this is a part of it, but I think of the church for years, all we've done is said on the cross, God was saying, I love you.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

And when you first hear it, you're like, Oh, that's awesome.

But the more you hear it, you're like, okay, is that all you got?

And there's so much more.

So much more.

I want to read before I read, I'll tell you who Paul's writing to.

He's writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he's the current the city of Corinth was jacked up.

It's like New Orleans, married Los Angeles, and and and and and their love child was Chicago.

Uh, just messed up.

Messed up.

And here's the worst part.

They thought they were so smart.

They love to sit around and sip espresso and talk about their views and everything.

And when Christians try to share the gospel with them, they said, Hey, your Messiah was hung on a tree.

Doesn't your own Bible say cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree?

Get out of here.

This is not wisdom.

They loved wisdom.

Greeks love wisdom.

Their mom and dad made them go to weekend mathnasium appointments so they could get a good SAT score, so they could get in the right college and meet the right person and get in the right sorority, the right fraternity, and meet the right person, and we could breed our super children together, and they can live in a super neighborhood in a super suburb.

And if they didn't make the right score on the SAT, their life was going to be ruined.

That started in Greece, not Fort Bend County.

It started in Corinth.

And so they would sit around and their kids took anti-anxiety meds too.

Because you haven't, you had you don't have a 529, you got your kids just grinding it out.

And so that started way back in the biblical days.

And Christians try to talk to them, they're like, please, please, we're all about wisdom.

This is foolishness.

You worship a man who got himself killed on a stick.

Hush.

And then they would say this that's not strength, that's weakness.

Because if he really is God, why did they let him kill him?

Why didn't he stop them?

And so this is the culture you think is hostile at your school.

This is the culture that Paul's writing to, and he writes these words.

First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18, for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.

Where is the one who is wise?

Where's the scribe?

Where's the Instagram influencer with six million followers?

Who's the latest trend on TikTok?

Where is the debater of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God, the world, excuse me, for since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom.

It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those we believe.

For Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

See, he flips their intellect back on them.

And in verse 26, he says, For consider your calling, brothers, not many of you were wise according to the worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

And because of him, God, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

Why?

So that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

Now Paul starts off this section of scripture in verse 18 saying, For the word of the cross is folly, and he goes on and he gets to the very end like a good writer, and he doesn't unpack what the word is until verse 30.

He says, And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us.

Here's the word of the cross: wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

And I want to just take a few minutes and just unpack those four things.

First of all, wisdom from God.

It is wisdom from God because it is the wisdom of God.

Now, the the issue at hand is not who is wise, not who made a great score of ACT or SAT.

The question is, where do you go for wisdom?

Where do you go to figure it out?

Because your life and my life will become a reflection of the sources we we look to wisdom for.

Let me say that again.

My life and your life will become a reflection of the places we go to get wisdom, which is why, students, your mom's concerned about some of your friends.

Yeah.

Because it's like, hey, now my life's gonna be a byproduct of the places I go to get wisdom.

And so the question that's stirring up in all of us, not just students, but all of us, is hey, who can tell me what I need to know?

How many Google searches away am I from feeling better about how I live my life?

Why do I look to total strangers for direction just because they're on TikTok?

Uh, the past few weeks, I would say probably five, six weeks now.

Uh, I just start thinking about wisdom, thinking about tonight and the wisdom of God that's manifest on the cross.

And and and I just was like, Lord, I just want to I just want to just immerse myself.

Someone said to me one time, they said, I bet you read a lot of the Bible.

I said, No.

I find little parts and I just plunge on it, read it over and over and over and over.

Like I'm in a D-grip with a couple of sinners, and we're reading through the book of James.

There's only five chapters, and I read it over and over and over.

But in my personal time, I read, I've been reading in Proverbs 3, one chapter in the Bible.

Read it over and over and over and over.

Here's a section of it.

Because the cross, the word of the cross, the first thing the cross says is that, hey, there's a wisdom in God you don't get anywhere else.

This is what I've been reading in Proverbs.

This uh this is Proverbs 3, starting verse 13.

Listen how the Bible talks about wisdom.

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than the gain from silver, and her profit better than gold.

She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Long life is in her right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honor.

Don't you want to meet her kids?

Long life is in her right hand, and her left hand are riches and honor.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.

Those who hold her fast are called blessed.

Now, here's one of the reasons why the cross is the display of God's wisdom, because the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the religious people of the day were always trying to have these little word games, these little intellectual games with Jesus.

And so one of the things that you see manifested on the cross is the wisdom of God.

You say, Well, what do you mean?

If I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna reference a story in the Bible, and if you're familiar with it, say yes.

Uh, the adulterous woman in John chapter 8, the woman caught it adultery.

John 8 · chapter mention

If you're familiar with it, say yes.

If you have no idea what I just said, say no.

Okay, I'm talking to you.

Thank you for chiming up, Piper.

Anyway, no, look at me.

There's a story in the Bible, true story.

There's a woman that really it wasn't her.

They used her to trap Jesus because, again, the Pharisees in their mind, they did not believe in a God that could be just and be loving.

You can't be a just God and be loving.

And so they set up a scenario.

They got this woman caught in the very act of adultery.

They drag around in front of Jesus, he's teaching on love and forgiveness and mercy.

And you know, we all, my God, it's a God of love.

And so he's out there teaching in the temple, and they throw the woman at his feet and say, Hey, we caught this woman in the very act of adultery.

The law says, now, by the way, they've also got rocks in their hand.

And they're like, Hey, the law says we stone such people, okay?

What do you say?

And then they look around like, we got him, we got him.

There's nothing he he can't get out of this.

Because if he says, you know what, I gotta uphold the law, go ahead.

Sorry, honey, stoned her.

Everybody listening to him just walks away and goes, Dude, you're just a religious hater.

I'm not listening to you ever again.

But if he says, No, break the law, then he's guilty of breaking the law.

And he can't get to the cross because he's no longer perfect.

So, what does he do?

He leans down and starts writing in the dirt, and then he stands up and says, I tell you what, whoever is without sin, you cast the first stone.

And they're like, Uh oh, what you talking about?

Uh actually, the Bible says this they drop their rocks.

Listen, if you're over 60, say amen.

Old people.

Uh I'm with you.

Uh, not quite.

Uh, listen what the Bible says.

The Bible says they dropped their rocks and left the older ones first.

Ask yourself this question.

As you be as you get older, do you become more gracious or more mean?

Because the gospel should make you more gracious.

And so you say, Why are you telling us this?

Because this is the scenario.

Again, for the Pharisees, that God cannot be both loving and just.

If God is just, he keeps the law, this woman dies.

If he's loving and he says, No, don't kill her, let her go, then he's broken the law.

The same ethical issue is in play on the cross.

You say, What do you mean?

Stick with me.

On the cross, God is upholding the justness of his being, the just uh nature of who he is while declaring his love.

That's why the Bible says in Romans chapter 5, verse 8 that God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

What we've got to get in the recapture in the American church is that God does not violate his nature to express his love.

That's what we do.

When we typically express love, we are breaking one of God's laws to express our love.

But God holds fast to his nature while demonstrating his love for us.

This, beloved, is the wisdom of God.

It is displayed on the cross because by God sacrificing God, he's meeting the demands of justice that somebody has to pay for sin, somebody has to die.

There has to be a lamb sacrificed at Passover for the sins of the people.

So the justice of God is upheld and the love of God is expressed.

So if you're sitting in this room right now and you're thinking, dude, I just came because some friends invited me, we went and got dinner and had a few drinks, and I'm here.

Whoo, relax.

I say I back, I say back to you the same thing.

Relax, okay?

No one's gonna jam you up.

But I am gonna tell you this because of what Jesus does on the cross and it expresses the wisdom that comes from God.

There's nothing you've done that the cross can't cover.

Let me correct my own self.

When I say there's nothing you've done the cross can't cover, Jesus, this is what separates Jesus from all the other priests.

So the religious people have these religious duties, they would cover sin.

Look at me.

The Bible says when Jesus came, he took sin away.

He doesn't just cover it up, he takes it away so that it no longer has power over you.

And so the first word of the cross is hey, there's wisdom that comes from God.

The second word says right there in verse 30 is righteousness.

Righteousness.

Now, now, if you're a note-taker or just make a little mental note in your head, righteousness, put out to the side event, event, righteousness, event.

Like I hung out with some high school students uh uh uh last night, actually, and they had like tacos and nachos and stuff, and they were all just hogging down.

I was like, man, I forgot how high school guys eat.

Uh I had two daughters, I was like, whoo! And so I got a modest amount.

And I sit down, one of the guys goes, Hey man, you kind of eating big tonight, like, shut up.

This is like a fat joke or something.

Uh but we're sitting there, and these high school kids were so enjoyable.

They think on a deep level, they said, Here's the question we want you to talk about tonight, sir.

We want you to talk about the question, answer this question.

If God is so good, why do bad things happen to good people?

You got a month?

No, actually, I said I knew it in 30 minutes.

And so we broke it down.

If God is so good, settle the nature of God.

That was part of the talk.

Uh, why do bad things happen?

One simple word, sin.

Okay?

We got to that last part.

Good people.

I said, here's the problem.

You I said, y'all are free to disagree with me.

There's no such thing anywhere in the world as a good person.

And you could just feel the oxygen leave the room, like, and I said, Who disagrees with that?

Raise your hand.

And it was great because they're like, look at me.

We've got to recapture dialogue and the ability to disagree and still stay in conversation with people.

And they were like, Yeah, I said, You can disagree, so I'm not gonna yell at you.

And they're like, Okay, I disagree.

And I had a great conversation with a couple of mine interacted.

I said, So you think people, yeah, I think people are good by their intentions or what they do.

And I said, So if you if you can be good by your intentions, then you can intend to do good and never do good.

But here's the problem with God and humanity.

We have a different standard.

Our standard is good, God's standard is righteous, and the Bible says you don't even get past good to get to righteous.

So if you're sitting here thinking, I'm gonna be a good person, that ain't gonna get you there, my man.

Why?

The Bible says in Isaiah 64, 6 that all your righteous deeds, all the good things you do, are like filthy rags in the sight of a holy God.

It's not because God's a hater, God has a different standard.

We have a standard of goodness, God has a standard of righteousness.

But this is why the cross is so important.

Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21, the Bible says this about the cross, summarizes it in one sentence.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Hear that again.

For our sake, he made him, Jesus, to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Now, when I say an event, when that happens to you, when a person comes to faith, that is an event.

Let me just put it in a phrase.

In a phrase, Jesus became something he has never been, sin.

So you and I could become something we could never be, righteous.

Let me say it again.

You're smart people.

Jesus become Jesus is sinless.

He takes on the sin of the world on the cross.

He becomes something he's never been, sin.

So you and I can become something we could never be on our own, righteous.

And so we as a culture, everybody talks about, well, I'm a good person, I'll try to be a good person.

Good.

You can be a good person and still go to hell.

Because if being good gets you to heaven, then why does Jesus necessary?

Here's why Jesus is necessary.

And I again I'm just telling you, you gotta think about it.

If you're like, hey, I'm a good person, I'm gonna do good, and I'm gonna, oh okay, great.

Uh, but how do you go from being good to being righteous?

If the Bible says, and it does, that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that that's the purpose clause in the Greek, so that we could become something we could never be on our own, righteous.

You see, what God has already accomplished for you, you don't have to waste your life trying to accomplish for yourself.

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

So, so that's the free offer of God tonight.

This is this is I was talking with another some friends of mine this morning.

My wife and I went over to the house, hung out, and drank coffee.

Uh, and by the way, sugar-free creamer is not really creamer.

Stop buying it.

I'm just a little bitter, okay?

I was like, this is the lady said, Oh, it's so sweet, you don't have to put sugar in there.

I said, and then she said, It's sugar-free.

How does it get sweet if it doesn't have sugar in it?

Chemicals.

So I'm gonna die next Wednesday, but anyway, righteousness.

What is the word of the cross?

The word of the cross is there's wisdom from God.

Secondly, righteousness.

The story of the Christian is not I was bad, and now I felt guilty and I tried to do good.

No, the story of the Christian was I was dead, and God who's rich in mercy made me alive.

And so I was born wrong and God made me right.

So I'm not just different, excuse me, I'm not just better, I'm different.

Something changed deep inside.

So if you've tried to change, if you've tried to stop this and start this, and you're like, oh, I just can't, I just can't, I just can't.

The problem isn't discipline, the problem is righteousness.

I'm trying to make a change on the inside that only God can make.

Third third word from the cross.

So you got the wisdom from God, you got righteousness, thirdly, you got sanctification.

Another big word.

Righteousness, event, sanctification, process.

Process.

What do you mean?

Remember in 2 Corinthians 5 21, we can put it back up there, guys.

It says, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become.

Look at those two words, might become.

We might become the righteousness of God.

Now, don't hear that the wrong way.

When he says we might become, what he's saying is, once there was not a way, now there is a way, this is the only way.

He's not saying, We'll see.

He's not saying, Oh, Brandon, he's a good old boy.

He means well, he might make it.

There's no assurance in that.

No assurance whatsoever.

I'm talking to a lady that used to cut my hair when I had hair.

Uh, and she said to me, she she worships in another tradition, and she said to me, So you mean to tell me as you sit in this chair, you when you die, you're gonna go to heaven.

Oh, like my hair's on fire.

Oh, yeah.

Immediately.

And she said, In my religion, I have no assurance.

And I said, She goes, Where do you get that?

I said, The Bible says in first John chapter 5, these things have written unto you, so you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 5 · chapter mention

And she's like, Again, you have certainty.

I have, I'm more certain of that than I am anything else in the world.

I have absolute, abject certainty over that, and it's not about me, it's because I, who by nature am sinful, God took out my sin, put in his righteousness, and that's never gonna go away.

And she's like, I envy that about you, Christians.

And I said, You can have it too.

And she said, Not today.

I said, Okay, absolutely.

What is sanctification?

Basically, in the original language, it's one word, it's Genomai, Genomai.

But in any case, it's two words, might become.

Here's what sanctification is about.

Because you've been made righteous, if that's ever happened to you, if not, you should consider the claims of Christianity.

But if you've ever been made righteous, that's an event, then the process of sanctification is the process by which you and I become more and more and more Christ-like.

We read a book that describes our life more and more and say, What do you mean?

It's that God didn't come to announce a new possibility.

Hey, you might become, if you do good, if you give money to the church, you might become.

No, no, no, no.

It's not a possibility.

It's, hey, here's a certainty.

This didn't exist before.

And now, because this exists, you can have hope.

It's not a possibility, it's a whole new reality.

But with this reality comes a responsibility.

Hear that again.

It's not just a possibility.

See, God doesn't start something and then say, You better be grateful.

You and I both know what a screw-up you are.

Now square yourself up and get out there and do better.

That's your seventh grade PE teacher.

That's not the God of the Bible.

The God of the Bible takes out sin, your sin nature imputes righteousness, and then you you get engaged in this process called sanctification.

What is it?

It's this process whereby which it's one of the reasons uh when I say uh righteousness is the vent, this is a process, because we We have to participate in our sanctification with our obedience.

That's why it takes some time.

That's why sometimes you do good, and then after about three weeks of doing good, you're like, eh, I fell off the wagon.

It's up to you.

We have to engage in the process of sanctification.

It's one of the reasons that we go to church.

You shouldn't go to church just because culture or your grandma says, you should not just go to a church, but you should go to the kind of church where you are provoked and you're made to think and you're like, man, this makes sense.

This is who I really am.

You should not go to church and sit there with a pen and a tablet and go, the preacher thinks I'm taking notes, but I'm making a grocery list.

No, no.

I would just say, as the pastor, stay home.

Don't do that.

Don't do that.

You don't get anything out of that.

Because sanctification, you say, what do you mean sanctification?

It's like this.

If you've ever heard the story of in John chapter 9, they bring a blind guy to Jesus, and check me on this.

John 9 · chapter mention

Jesus spits it on the ground, makes a little mud pie, and rubs it in the dude's eyes.

You ever heard that?

Say yes.

Yes.

Sanctification.

You should go to a church and make friends with some people who love you so much that they spit on the ground and they rub mud in your eye, and you're like, you know what?

That was kind of awkward at community group, but I can see.

And your wife is like, hey, you're less of a jerk than you used to be.

Yeah, I'm hanging out with some guys at church and they say crazy things that makes me think sometimes my anger gets the better of me, and that ain't good.

Well, yeah.

My little friend Justin stopped by this week.

He's filming his baptism video.

He had little cue cards.

And basically he said, God cleaned my heart, and I don't have to be angry all the time anymore.

We're in the middle of a pastor's meeting.

I almost took up a collection and said, Here you go, here's our love offering.

That's the gospel.

God changed my heart.

Look at me.

You should go to a church where you form friendships with people, not just because our kids play a little league, and you know, we pay about as much attention at church as we do a little league gang.

We wait for a kid to get up and go to bat and the rest of the time.

Oh, anyway, what do you do next Tuesday?

No, go to a church where look at me, you're sanctificated.

The process of you changing gets activated every time you walk in the door because you're around people and they say you come and they're like, Come on over here, Sally.

I got something for you.

Yeah.

And you're like, oh man, what was that for?

But then you're like, oh, I can see clearly now, the rain is gone.

Yes.

Look at me.

That's not just something Jesus does to people.

That's what Christians do to each other.

We participate in each other's sanctification.

Does that make sense?

Say yes.

Here's the last word I'm going to give you.

You still with me?

We're just about done.

They said backstage, you got 30 minutes.

I said, I don't need that long.

And they said, We don't believe you.

So I'm about to win right here, okay?

Here's the last word.

Look in the Bible.

He says, and because of him, you're in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification and redemption.

I'm on a one-man campaign to take the word redemption back because it's it's just been terrible.

It's on bookmarks, it's on sweaters.

We sing in songs all the time.

And here's the problem with that.

This term has its origin in warfare.

It's not like, ooh, redemption.

No, redemption, here's what redemption, where we got the word.

After a battle, the victor, whatever army won, would go out on the battlefield and they would scour the battlefield and they would see people still alive from the other army and they would take them and they would round them all up, take them back, they would nurse them back to health, and then they would conscript them as slaves.

They would just say, You're our slaves.

Well, here's what they realized: the white-collar guys who never worked with their hands, they couldn't hit a lick of a snake.

They all went to Harvard.

They never send the business end of a shovel in their life.

And so they figured these were the officers.

And so what they would do was they would say, they would weed these guys out.

These other guys that knew how to work, they'd say, Hey, you're slaves, get to it.

These other guys that were way up in the ranks, they put them over here and said, You're officers.

And this is what they would do: they would notify the army they just defeated.

We've got 17 of your uppity ups.

Now, it was called conscription.

I mean, not conscription, it was called consideration.

They would say, if you will reach for this much money, we'll let them go back.

And so what they would do on the field of battle, take a helmet off and pass the plate.

That's where the Baptist got the idea.

But I digress.

And so they would go to each man and you would just throw stuff in the helmet, and they would look at there and go, God, gosh, we're way short.

There is no way these men are coming home unless and they would sometimes it would take days, sometimes it would take weeks, sometimes it would take months.

And their brothers in arms are over there going, Have they forgotten about us?

Why are they not raising consideration so we can get out of here?

They'd pass the helmet and pass the helmet and pass the helmet.

This was known because when they met the number, they would send the money to the opposing army and say, Now send us our guys.

This was called redemption.

And we've let it erode into a Christian bookstore word on your bookmark.

Redemption.

Now, y'all just heard what I said, but you didn't see it.

You heard it, and I appreciate you hearing it, but you didn't see it.

So I want you to do me a favor.

I want everyone in this room to close your eyes.

Get your hand off your purse, lady, we don't steal.

Just close your eyes.

I want you to hear this and see it.

There were people whose rightful place was back in the homeland alongside their brothers and sisters, but by a cruel act of war, they had fallen into the power of a strong enemy they could not break free.

You see in that?

Left to themselves, they would remain in captivity for the rest of their lives with no hope.

If they were to be set free, a ransom had to be paid.

For them to be restored to the place where they belonged, they must be bought out of their captivity.

Now, envision that.

Get it in your mind's eye.

Now, look at me.

That person is you.

That is the gospel.

You were held captive.

You're not a bad person.

You're not, oh well, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, no, you were held captive by the enemy.

And on the cross, God doesn't pass a plate, he didn't take a helmet and go, hey, help me out, I don't know what I'm gonna do.

He hoists his son upon the cross and said, I'll take them all.

This is why the Bible says in Mark chapter 10, verse 45, for the Son of Man, Jesus was so meek and mild and humble, people were like, You couldn't be the Messiah, dude.

Mark 10:45

You don't even have, you don't even work out, you don't have leg day.

I bet you can't bench press 250.

Come on, bro.

You rode a donkey into town.

Give me a break.

Who's scared of you?

But here's why.

Mark chapter 10, verse 45, for the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.

Mark 10:45

Here's the last part.

And to give his life is a ransom for many.

This is why this passage of scripture ends with this after he talks about wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, there's the purpose, gloved.

So that, verse 31, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

So that, let the one who boasts, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

The purpose of redemption is worship.

So I'm gonna voice a prayer, and and Clyde and the bed are gonna come back.

And I want us just to spend a few moments before we get out of here, just boasting in the Lord.

And I want you to think before you do anything, before I pray, the cross.

What is the word of the cross?

What is the logos?

What is the word that God is communicating?

He's saying, Hey, there's wisdom here.

There's wisdom.

You're not by yourself, you don't have to try to figure everything out.

God says, Hey, I have manifest and manifold wisdom.

If you'll just ask me for it, I'll give it to you generously, James says.

That all there is?

No, no, are you kidding me?

No, there's wisdom, there's also righteousness.

Has there ever been an event, a moment in your life, where you took on God's righteousness because he took on your sin?

This is why you should have faith in God and not yourself.

There's also sanctification.

There's this energy to be and become who the Bible says you already are.

And this is all possible because of redemption.

That God, at great cost to himself, paid the price and said, Everybody goes free.

Ollie, allly and free.

Come out, come out wherever you are.

This is the gospel, and this is the God of Christianity.

Let me pray.

God, thanks for the gospel.

Thanks for who it is and how it is.

That it's jagged, it's not smooth.

And it's available to everybody.

There's nobody in here that's done so much that God's like, hey, dude, I really who are you kidding right now?

So, Lord, we want to just spend a few moments just kind of boasting in the Lord, just saying, Oh gosh, thank you.

Thank you.

I'm so tired of trying to be good when I've been made righteous.

Or maybe I'm tired of trying to be good when I could become righteous if I just had faith in God and not in myself.

God, I pray that you'd just wipe addiction off of people in this room right now.

I pray that you'd restore some things in people right now.

I pray that there'd be some spitting on the ground and putting mud in each other's eyes after this.

I need to participate in your sanctification.

We don't want to just come to church and stare at the back of people's heads and leave.

It's not what Christ died for.

We are the body of Christ and we need each other.

We need to be speaking to each other's life, not being jerks, but just loving each other and helping us become who the Bible says we can be.

This is why the world looked at the church in Acts and says, Wow, I wish I had somebody love me like that.

And so, Lord, just uh right now, just kind of settle in on us like a San Francisco fog, and just increase our capacity to boast in you.

Redemption is for worship.

You didn't purchase us just so we could say thank you.

You purchased us so every time we hear songs that make much of you, we say thank you with how we worship.

And so, Lord, we want to spend just a little bit of time just boasting in you and the sufficiency of the cross.

Thank you for this privilege.

We say it in Jesus' name.

When everyone said, Do not hurry from the cross.

Linger near to survey, to stand, to ponder, your Savior's suffering and death.

Consider carefully, consider well the preciousness of his sacrifice for you, the greatness of his mercy toward you.

Then depart from Calvary, knowing that the Spirit will keep you and your crucified Savior's strong embrace, and prompt you to trust him and obey him always.

The God of peace be with you all.

Bless you be your dismissed.