The God on the Cross

You know, sometimes a passage you read, it just sticks out to you.

It's almost like it's just spiritually highlighted off the page.

! I knew I had read it before, I'm sure many times.

Several years ago, when I read Luke 9, verse 51, it just stuck out to me.

Luke 9:51

It says, when the days drew near for him, speaking of Christ, to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

Up until that time, Jesus was healing the sick, he was raising the dead, he was teaching the kingdom, he was training the twelve.

And something happened after that. Things began to change.

Before that time, often he would tell people not to tell others what he had done.

Sometimes he would tell them not to tell others what he had said.

And the reason he did that was to make his ministry longer.

To have more time with the disciples.

But at this point in his ministry, he reached the point where he began to drive toward the cross.

It is a pivotal passage.

And one that is appropriate for us today.

And in the Sundays to come.

Because we are setting our face toward the cross.

Toward the empty tomb.

Toward the death and the resurrection of Christ.

As we prepare for Easter.

In July of last year.

Three miners were trapped underground in British Columbia.

At a mine called Red Chris.

It's a copper and gold mine.

There were two separate rock falls that had affected their exit.

And they could not get out.

They were alive.

But they were not free.

Now the mine had an underground emergency refuge area.

It had air.

It had water.

It had food.

It had communication.

In other words.

They had what they needed to be sustained for a while.

But there was nothing in that chamber that would get them out of the hole that they were in.

They could not live there forever.

They could breathe.

But not there forever.

Their only hope was that someone on the outside would reach them.

Someone would get through what was blocking them.

They needed somebody to clear the way that they could not clear themselves.

They needed someone to save them.

And after 60 hours, thankfully, they broke loose, got to them, and they got out alive and saved.

When I read that story, I thought about how that is a fitting picture of us in a human condition apart from Christ.

We can survive this life without Christ.

We can linger for a while, maybe for a long time, but we can't linger forever.

We cannot cope with what's to come.

We can cope with the daily.

That is until we can't.

We need somebody to lead us out of the hole we are within without Christ and lead us to Christ.

Let's set our face toward the cross this morning.

2 Corinthians chapter 5, beginning in verse 14 says,

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

For the love of Christ controls us.

He's talking about Paul and Timothy.

Because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died.

And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves,

but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.

Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself,

not counting their trespasses against them

and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

God making his appeal through us,

we implore you on behalf of Christ,

be reconciled to God.

For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin,

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In this passage, Paul is telling the Corinthians that he is in a struggle.

He loves the Lord.

He wants to see the Lord.

He's been faithful to serve the Lord.

And he looks forward to the day that he can see him face to face.

But he also wants to live to please the Lord.

And he knows for the time being that that's to be on the earth.

And what he's saying here

is that what he does for others,

he does through the love of Christ.

Because of what Christ has done for him.

And thank God what Christ has done for us.

The cross makes all the difference.

And I want to show you the difference that the cross makes.

First, I want you to understand the motive of the cross.

The love of Christ is the controlling factor in the Apostles Paul's life.

No wonder.

Christ radically changed his life.

In late 2014 and early 2015,

ISIS militants abducted 21 migrant construction workers in Libya.

All of them were from Egypt except for one.

And he was from Ghana.

These workers were passionate Coptic Christians.

They were passionate for the Lord.

They loved the Lord.

And ISIS was trying to force them to convert to Islam.

And in an ISIS propaganda video,

they lined the men up on the beach.

They announced in that setting

that they were targeting, quote,

people of the cross.

And you could hear the kneeling men praying,

Ya Rabbi,

Ya Soha.

Which in their language means,

Oh my Lord Jesus.

The one Guanian among the Egyptians said,

while they were crying out to God,

their God is my God.

Shortly after this picture was taken,

each man was decapitated

and died on that beach

because they would not back off the Lord.

Now, I want you to look at that picture.

When Paul was saved,

he was on his way to Damascus

to kill Christians.

The guy in the white camouflage

is the leader of this group.

He was their spokesman.

He was their leader.

Paul went from being a guy like that

to being one of the greatest men of God

and proclaimers of the gospel

to ever live.

My friend,

that's the kind of difference

that Christ makes in someone's life.

He went from being the one in white

to the one in orange

for the sake of the gospel.

He is the man that writes in verse 15,

and Christ died for all

that those who live might no longer live

for themselves,

but for him who for their sake died

and was raised.

Let me tell you something.

The motive of the cross,

the reason Christ went to the cross

is to miraculously save

a lost and dying world.

Not only that,

I want you to see the miracle of the cross

because the apostle Paul goes on

to explain what happens

through the cross.

The miracle of the cross

is not that Christ changes someone

or that he restores someone

or that he improves us.

The miracle is that he makes us new

is what scripture says.

In other words,

the sin

and our lack of restraint

toward temptation

that comes before the sin

is removed

by the forgiveness of God,

we have a lack of restraint.

Once we come to Christ,

things change.

Now, I didn't say temptation's gone.

It's not.

What I'm saying is

when we come to Christ,

the powerlessness that we felt

toward temptation is gone.

In Christ,

we have the power of the Holy Spirit

to fight our battles for us.

However,

for that newness to come,

the old has to pass away.

Just like the picture of baptism shows us,

we have to die to self.

Jesus died

that we might die to self

than that we might live for Christ.

And when we die to the old way

and to the wants of ourselves,

we come to life in a new way in Christ.

No longer are we shackled to sin,

unable to be free from it.

In Christ,

when we lean upon the Holy Spirit of God,

we're free from it.

We're made new from it.

Our perspective on God is made new.

Now, the devil loves for us

to fall back into that old mindset

and think that we can't walk away from it.

But I want you to know

that in Christ,

we have the power of the Holy Spirit of God

to walk away from it

and to walk in freedom in Christ.

Verse 16 says

that we do not regard Christ

according to the flesh anymore.

In other words,

we don't worship a babe in the manger.

We don't worship the suffering servant of the garden.

The cross, thank God, is empty.

Don't wear jewelry with Christ still on the cross, okay?

Because he's not on the cross.

We serve a risen Savior.

We worship a glorified Savior

on the throne of God.

And it is through that glorified Savior

that we invest our lives

and that we're made new.

And that changes our perspective on things.

It changes our view of people.

In Christ,

when walking with the fullness

of the Holy Spirit of God,

we see people that live in ways

contrary to the ways of God.

We see them in a new perspective.

We don't see them as enemies.

We see them as people that need Christ.

They're not just lost friends

and family and coworkers.

They're lost sheep that need a shepherd.

They're in a hole sustaining.

They need somebody to clear the rock.

They need a cross.

To provide a way for them to come to Christ.

And that leads to the ministry of the cross.

This is powerful.

Because as Christ has ministered to us and for us,

we're to minister to others.

And it's called here the ministry of reconciliation.

As I travel,

Dawn likes for me to bring her coins

from around the world.

And years ago,

I was on my way to Africa on a mission trip

and I stopped in Paris for a layover.

And at that time,

I had never been to Europe.

And so I stopped at the money exchange

in the airport.

And I either gave the lady a $5 bill

or a $10 bill or something like that.

And I said,

can I just get a mixture of coins

with this money?

And she said, no.

She said, the fee is more than you're giving me.

So I took my good old American money

and I left.

When I went to Europe just a month ago,

before I went,

I contacted my bank.

And for an even exchange,

I received euros in my mailbox

just a couple of days later.

Now, I want you to see this.

In verse 18, it says,

all this is from God,

who through Christ reconciled us to himself

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

The word for reconcile there

is a marketplace word.

It's a word that speaks of someone

exchanging money for another currency.

And through Christ,

because of what he did for us on the cross,

we have the opportunity to go

from being outside of Christ,

thank God,

to being in Christ.

It is the great reconciliation.

It is a faith exchange.

Christ took on our sin

and gives us life in return.

And in return,

we are simply to share

that message with others.

We join in to a ministry

of reconciliation

by sharing what Christ has done

for us with others.

As he did for us,

we do for others.

We share the change

that Christ has made in our lives.

Now, how do we do that?

Well, he goes on to say in this passage

that we are ambassadors for Christ.

Now, what's an ambassador?

An ambassador is a representative.

I want you to hear me now.

It's a representative of a different land.

Ambassadors live in a foreign land

among a people of a foreign language,

and they live a different way of life.

Ambassadors live in that land.

They take part in that land,

but they're not citizens of that land.

Instead, they speak for their country

they represent.

The reputation of their country

is in the hands of the ambassador.

Their words are listened to.

Their deeds are watched.

Their duty is to carry out

a definite message

and implement definite policies,

all while being sensitive

to how they impact the country

in which they live.

My friends, I want you to understand something.

We are resident aliens.

We live here,

but if you're in Christ today,

you're a citizen of heaven,

and we need to act like it.

This world is not our home.

We need to talk like it.

Let's speak as an ambassador

a definite message

with boldness

for what we represent.

God has called us

as Christians

to be ambassadors

for the gospel

to a lost and dying world,

and it is

the ministry

of the cross.

If Christ has changed you

through the Holy Spirit of God

empowering you,

you have the opportunity

to participate

in seeing other people

change

by the power

of God.

It's the ministry

of the cross.

Let me tell you,

lastly,

the ministry

of the cross.

One of the great passages

of Scripture

and one that defines

why Easter

is so very important

is in verse 21,

and it says,

for our sake

he made him

to be sin

who knew no sin

that in him

we might become

the righteousness

of God.

Christ

never sinned.

He was not born

with a sin nature.

That is the significance,

one of the significance

of the virgin birth.

He did not have

a sin nature.

He never sinned.

He never felt a strain

between he and the Father.

He never felt

the weight of guilt.

He never felt

the dread

of the ramifications.

He never felt

the anticipation

of the fallout

that comes

when somebody's in sin.

That is until the cross.

And on the cross,

he took on

all of our sin,

felt the chasm

of separation

between he and the Father,

and that darkness

that covered the earth,

as Scripture tells us,

upon his death,

that started

within him.

And he did all of it

to allow us

to become

the righteousness

of God.

Ellen Vaughn

is a journalist

who wrote a book

called

The God Who Hung

on the Cross.

And in that book,

she tells the story

of a Cambodian pastor

who traveled

throughout his providence

sharing the gospel.

And in that providence

of Cambodia,

it was filled

with small villages.

And he would go

from village

to village.

And one village

he would go,

they would not listen

to him

because they followed

Buddha.

He would go

to another one,

and they did not

listen to him

because they followed

demonic spirits,

spiritualism.

Seemed like

everywhere he went,

they would not listen

to the gospel

until he got

to one particular

village

that received him

warmly.

He asked the villagers

about their openness

to the gospel.

Why were they different?

And a woman

shuffled forward,

she bowed before him,

she grasped his hands,

and she said,

we've been waiting

on you for 20 years.

And then she told him

the story

of the mysterious God

who had hung

on the cross.

In the 1970s,

there was a brutal

communist-led regime

that took over Cambodia.

It caused destruction

throughout its path,

destroyed everything.

And when the soldiers

came to this village

in 1979,

they immediately

rounded the villagers

up and forced them

to dig their own graves.

After the villagers

had finished

digging their graves,

they prepared

themselves to die.

Some screamed out,

to Buddha,

others screamed out,

to demon spirits.

Others cried out

to their ancestors.

But one woman

started to cry

for help

based on a childhood memory.

She said a story

her mother told her

about a God

who hung on a cross.

And the woman

prayed to that

unknown God

on a cross.

Surely,

surely if this God

had known suffering,

he would have compassion

on their plight.

And suddenly,

those people

who had been

calling on all

their individual gods,

all of a sudden,

there became

a solitary cry,

just a great wail

among them all

praying to the God

in which she was

calling upon.

All of them

praying to this

mysterious God

who hung

on the cross.

as they continued

facing their own graves,

their wailing

began to slow

and they began

to quiet

and it just

become quiet crying.

There was an eerie

silence

in that muggy

jungle air.

And suddenly,

they dared

to turn around

and look

at those who

were there

to kill them.

and they were gone.

As the old woman

finished telling

that story,

she told

that pastor,

she said,

ever since

that humid day

20 years ago,

the villagers

have been waiting.

Waiting for

someone to come

and share

the rest

of the story

about the God

who hung

on the cross.

Church,

almost all

of Pickens

and the

surrounding area,

if not all

of them,

have heard

of the God

who hung

on the cross.

But many

are waiting.

whether they

realize it

or not,

they're waiting

for somebody

to free

their way

out,

to show

them hope.

God

has surrounded

us

with a world

that desperately

needs Christ.

And he's

called us

to a ministry

of reconciliation.

reconciliation.

He's called

us to be

ambassadors,

representatives

for him.

Living in a land

that's truly

not our home.

To send a message,

to stick

to a calling

that God

placed upon

our life

when he

changed

our life.

If you're

here this

morning

and you've

never surrendered

your life

to the Lord

Jesus Christ,

I got good

news for you.

He'll take

you as you

are.

If you'll

confess that

you're a sinner

and ask him

to forgive you,

he'll wash

you clean

of those sins.

He'll make

you new.

Folks,

he won't

just clean

you up.

He'll make

you new.

Maybe you're

here this

morning and

you have

done that.

Maybe like

James,

you did

that years

ago,

but you

never have

acknowledged

that publicly.

And Jesus,

by his

commission and

by his

example,

tells us

that we

need to

follow him

in baptism.

If you've

never been

baptized as a

believer,

but you know

that you are

a believer,

I encourage

you to come.

Maybe God's

drawing you to

Pickens First

Baptist Church,

doing a wonderful

work in our

church,

I'm thankful

for that.

Maybe God's

drawing you

here.

If that's

the case,

we'll be

happy to

guide you

in what it

means to

be a member

of First

Baptist Church.

We'll stand

and sing in

just a moment.

You come

as God

leads.

Christians,

there's a

message that's

very clear in

scripture again

and again.

The Apostle

Paul makes it

very clear,

I hope I

didn't muddy

the waters

this morning,

that we

have a job

to share

what Christ

has done

in our lives

with others.

We have a

job to live

it out before

them.

we have a

job to share

with them.

Will you

commit your

life today

to be an

ambassador for

Christ?

To be one

that properly

represents the

kingdom in

which you are

a part of?

And will

stay to the

definite message.

Stay on

task.

Walk the

walk and

talk the

talk and

make the

difference

for Christ

that he's

called us,

enabled us,

and commissioned

us to do.

No better

time to do

it than as

we approach

a celebration

of the

resurrection

of the

Lord.

I don't

know what

God's telling

you, I

know what

he told

me.

I encourage

you to be

obedient to

whatever God's

telling you to

do.

We'll stand

in just a

moment, we'll

sing, but

more important

than that, you

obey God.

If you need to

give your life to

Christ, you

come.

If you need to

be baptized, you

come.

If you feel led

to join this

church, you

come.

If you need to

come to this

altar, you

come.

If you need a

pastor to pray

for you, you

come.

If you need to

pray where you

are, you

come.

Don't do

anything more

than what God's

told you to do.

Don't do

anything less than

what you feel like

he's told you to

do.

Just be obedient to

follow.

Heavenly Father, I

love you and I

thank you, dear God,

for the love that

you show us and

how your word shows

us that not only do

you change us, but

you give us the

opportunity to be a

part of change in

other people's lives.

And I pray that we'll

be faithful to that

today.

Lead us, Lord,

right now to simply

be obedient to

follow you.

in Jesus' precious

name.

Amen.