The Man on The Middle Cross | Alistair Begg

[Music] so [Music] the cross has less than its proper place in preaching and in theology the cross is rejected by other religions islam rejects the notion of a sin bearing savior according to the quran each one shall reap the fruit of their own deeds and therefore there is no place there is no need for the cross and indeed to the muslim mind it is unthinkable that a major prophet of god should come to such an ignominious end hinduism while accepting the historicity of the death of christ rejects its saving significance and humanism in all of its forms in contemporary selfism rejects the notion of the cross entirely arrogant professor from oxford university remarked that christianity is the worst of all religions he said because it rests on the allied doctrines of original sin and vicarious atonement which he said are intellectually contemptible and morally outrageous so the cross is rejected by other religions the cross is marginalized by liberal scholarship and this is painful the cross is in danger of being trivialized by the approach of much contemporary evangelicalism the offence which is clearly stated by paul in this section the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but that is exactly what paul preached wasn't paul just able to do this because that's the kind of thing that people in paul's day were happy to hear actually no if he had chosen to respond to the expectations of his listeners he would have spent the afternoon performing miracles and then he would have had a crowd over to his tent later in the evening when they could sit around and discuss philosophy it wasn't just that he chose not to give them what they wanted he continued to provide them with the one thing they didn't want now what possible idea of church growth is this that you you set your style up to make sure that whatever it is that appeals to people you've decided i'm going to set that aside and why don't i talk to them about something else why don't i give them this story of a crucified christ especially if i've got a number of jewish people listening because it stumbles them and of course the gentiles they just thought it was absolutely ridiculous why do such a thing why do it then and why do it now that god's power is seen in weakness and his wisdom is revealed in the foolishness of what is preached that the cross is actually not simply a central event of biblical theology but the cross is actually the pivotal event of human history and they will never understand the bible unless they realize that the cross is at the very center of god's making himself known who would think that the major problems of our world and the troubles of human life find their ultimate solution in the execution of an innocent man in a.d 33 and in the preaching of that news about him to the nations of the world who actually believes that we do not expect people to believe it we understand that their immediate response to it is to say you know what you you are a major clown and we don't know where you appeared from but the sooner you go back the better because in actual fact it is obvious to us that such a thing is falling and yet everywhere paul goes he does the same thing he's essentially got one string to his bow he goes into the synagogues again and again and he labors to show them that the messiah had to suffer and die check it out wherever he goes and he goes in and he says now i want to show you from the scriptures that the messiah had to suffer and die and then when he has done that he then says and this jesus is that messiah this jesus is that christ in other words the jesus of history is the lord of glory he was pointing out something that we need to point out in our preaching and that is i'm not going to talk about myself i'm not going to try and impress you in the way i speak to you because if i were to do that you might then just be fascinated by my ability by my rhetoric by my capacity with language by the philosophical notions that i can promulgate for you but i'm not going to do that at all i'm not here to build a crowd no i'm here just to tell you about the death of the lord jesus christ preaching the message in such a way that people would cease trusting in anything other than the work of god in christ we didn't read as far as verse five of chapter two but that's the point that he makes he says and the reason for my approach is straightforward so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of god and where is the power of god displayed in the weakness and where is the epitome of weakness in this death of a galilean carpenter jesus of nazareth nothing looked less like a messiah than that scene on the middle cross outside the city wall nobody would have walked up there and said oh this must be the messiah no they walked up there and said this paul couldn't possibly be the messiah after all the whole thing has come to a crashing halt in a palestinian tomb when we apply this we have to say first what this means to the unbeliever why this message for the unbeliever because the message of the cross establishes the gravity of the human condition the message of the cross establishes the gravity of sin says that the story of humanity is the story of man's rebellion a man's alienation and man's brokenness and the death of jesus and the picture that is then given to us in the bible causes us to ponder and then to proclaim that it took the death of god's perfect son to deal with my sinful life with my alienation and with my brokenness and with my rebellion that no part of our lives is left intact our emotions our affections our minds our wills the anti-god bias which is part and parcel of our human existence comes in at the level of our understanding and our intellect and there is no intellectual road to god there is no intellectual road for us to get there we cannot access him on our own terms we cannot access him in our own time no we need him to come and cross the boundary so that we might know him savingly and what is the message of the cross it is that god in christ has done exactly that that he has crossed that boundary and that he has made himself known and so when we think about it in terms of its gravity in in the predicament that we face it also is possible for us to explain to our friends the absolute necessity of god's grace preach what the bible says that human beings are rebels against god by nature under his judgment and lost and that jesus crucified who bore their sin and curse is the only available savior we either proclaim that or we emphasize human potential and human ability with christ brought in to boost them but with no necessity for the cross except to exhibit god's love and inspire us to greater endeavor the latter is popular the former is true the average response to the preaching of the word of god is not what shall we do but when can we leave it's like uh where are you going for lunch it's what's it's it's trivial or it's applause applause who started applause i don't care if you've had a lot of applause this is not a performance this is not something you get kudos for this is to quote tiliki again this is horrible tiliki says the pulpit draws the preacher the way the sea draws the sailor to preach and to really preach is to die naked and every time you do to realize that you're gonna have to do it again that's what it is to stand as mcshane said as a dying man in the face of dying men and women and the issue of eternity is at stake and in between a lostness in the grave and the opportunity for reality is the cross of jesus christ there stands the cross of christ with two arms outstretched to save and that's what they said what do you want us to do and peter says repent and be baptized every one of you because to put your confidence and trust in the person and work of the lord jesus is actually to believe the gospel without the preaching of the cross without preaching the cross to ourselves all day and every day we will very very quickly revert to faith plus works as the ground of our salvation if you were to die tonight and and you were getting entry into heaven what would you say if you answer that and if i answer it in the first person we've immediately gone wrong because i because i believed because i have faith because i am this because i am continuing loved ones the only proper answers in the third person because he because he they think about the thief on the cross and what an immense i ca i can't wait to find that fellow one day to ask him how did that shake out for you because you were you were you were you were cussing the guy out with your friend you've never been in a bible study you never got baptized you nev you didn't know a thing about church membership and and yet and yet you made it you made it how did you make it that's what the angel must have said you know like what are you doing here i don't know what what do you mean you don't know well like because i don't know well you know did you excuse me let me get my supervisor they go get their supervisor ranger so we're just a few questions for you first of all are you are you are you are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith [Music] you guys said i never heard of in my life and and what about let's just go to the doctrine of scripture immediately this guy's just staring and eventually in frustration he says on on what basis are you here and he said the man on the middle cross said i can come now that's the that is the only answer that is the only answer and if i don't preach the gospel to myself all day and every day then i will find myself beginning to trust myself trust my experience which is part of my fallenness as a man if i take my eyes off the cross i can then give only lip service to its efficacy while at the same time living as if my salvation depends upon me and as soon as you go there it will lead you either to abject despair or a horrible kind of arrogance and it is only the cross of christ that deals both with the dreadful depths of despair and the pretentious arrogance of the pride of man that says you know i can figure this out and i'm doing wonderfully well no because the sinless savior died my sinful soul is counted free for god the justice satisfied to look on him and pardon me that's why luther says most of your christian life is outside of you in this sense that we know that we're not saved by good works we're not saved as a result of our professions but we're saved as a result of what christ has achieved now i would remind you brothers and sisters of the gospel that i preached to you which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word i preached to you unless you believed in vain all that christ has done for us is of no value to us so long as we remain outside of christ and if ever there was a time for those who have come to the cross of christ and have knelt down and have been transformed by the power of the spirit if if there ever was a moment in a time surely it's this moment it's this time to go out and lovingly kindly imaginatively creatively crazily say to people i've got a really good friend and i'd love to introduce you to him if you'd be interested and then you can just tell them about jesus need to save [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Apologia Bros

Views: 7,950

Rating: 4.9732738 out of 5

Keywords: John MacArthur, RC Sproul, Steven Lawson, Sound Doctrine, Reformed Theology, Ligonier Ministries, American Gospel, Grace To You, Christian Faith, Todd Friel, Charles Spurgeon, Alistair Begg, Calvinist, The Gospel, Calvinism, Biblical Doctrine, Christian, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, Christ alone, Arminian, Faith Alone, Grace Alone, Paul Washer, Salvation, Middle Cross, Alistair Begg Sermon, Truth For Life, Parkside Church, Gospel of Christ

Id: iqt85ipxWlU

Length: 16min 49sec (1009 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 18 2021