I want you to begin
by turning in your Bible to
Philippians chapter 3, verse 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,
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,
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 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
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
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
chapter 2.
Colossians chapter 2,
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?
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