I am a prideful person. There are so many instances daily that my main focus is how I can be noticed and how I can get my name complimented and praised. If I was truly honest, I would admit that I want my own self and who I am to be lifted high and maginified. I think more highly of myself than I ought to; I’m consumed with self. Why do I say all this? Well, to ask for you to pray for me in this area, but mainly to expose this reality in light of the truth of the Cross. As I think on this truth, I don’t see any ground for my boasting. How can a man boast before the Cross of Christ? If you think about the Cross and what it means according to the Scriptures, there is no room to boast at the foot of the Cross. Yet, I continue to boast in myself; this is a result of not consistently preaching the Gospel to myself.
There are a number of truths that can be seen in the work of Christ on the Cross, but there are two that the Lord has been constantly teaching me through His Word these past few weeks. One, God’s grace displayed on the Cross, and, two, man’s sinfulness displayed on the Cross.
When we look at the truth of Christ being crucified on the Cross, God’s grace is put on full display. If you see the Cross but don’t see the grace of God, then I’m not sure what you’re looking at. The fact that a sovereign, holy, righteous God would send His Son, Jesus Christ, to a world full of sinners that would mock Christ and spit on Him, in order to save those very same sinners completely screams GRACE!! The only explanation for such an event is the grace of God. This undeserved gift of salvation through faith in the work of Christ is our eternal hope. The truth of Christ becoming a “propitiation by His blood” (meaning His death satisfied the righteous wrath of God, and, at the same time, covered our sins), and that we did nothing to earn this or to make it happen is a manifestation of God’s mercy and grace.
Seeing the Cross not only means seeing God’s grace, but it also means seeing the greatness of our sin. “It was my sin that held Him there;” our sin was the reason Christ had to die. Christ’s death satisfied the penalty for our breaking of God’s law. But, the grossness of our sin is seen in the fact that it killed the perfect, spotless, blameless Lamb of God. See the nails in His hands and feet, the crown of thorns on His head, and the sword in His side– how sinful we are! We were right there with the crowds screaming, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Our sins hammered those nails, our sins shoved the crown of thorns onto His brow, and our sins stabbed the sword into His side.
The Cross displays both of these biblical truths. Our sin is great, but God’s grace “is greater than all our sin.” We are so wretched and depraved, but the God of our salvation is infinitely merciful and gracious. But we can’t leave Christ on the Cross; the Gospel wouldn’t be the Gospel if it wasn’t for the resurrection. Christ conquered the power of sin and death, and our souls can now have life through the power of His resurrection! May God continue to grow us in our knowledge of the beauty and depth of the Gospel.
May 20, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Amen. I understand completely. Everything we do is tainted with sin. That can be overwhelming, realizing that even the best things we do are tainted with wretched sin. J.I. Packer considered suicide when he contemplated his sin, until he realized that the cross condemns all men; and that all our sin is nailed to the cross, defeated by Christ, and his righteousness, not our own can set us right before God. The cross indicts all of us; we stand before it humbly; guilty, and if we are believers then we are redeemed and washed, and set free, declared innocent yet through the death of God’s only son.
This is moving.How encouraged we can feel through this, and I am reminded of Paul, who said, “Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?” Thanks be to Christ Jesus.
May 22, 2007 at 1:28 pm
The gospel is oozing through you brother. I pray that it only continues more and more. Let us be “fools for Christ’s sake” as we live out our roles as “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”