Judgment, Love, and the Cross of Christ

Any view of judgment and love that neglects to see from the perspective of the cross of Christ is at least either blind or short-sighted.

"If you want to see what judgment looks like, go to the cross. If you want to see what love looks like, go to the cross." (D.A. Carson)

Three hours

"Christ dispatched more work in those three hours He suffered, than ever was or will be done by all creatures until eternity. It was a good six days of work when the world was made, and He had a principal hand in that; neither has He been idle since. But that three hours’ work on the cross was more than all the other. More will not be done in eternity that virtually was done in those three hours. As they say that eternity is all time contracted into an instant, so all time, past and to come, was contracted into those few hours, as well as the merit of them. For He then made work for the Spirit, and indeed for all three persons, to eternity. He did that which the Spirit is writing out in grace and glory forever, and all that ever was or will be done toward the saints was then perfected: ‘He perfected for ever them that are sanctified, by that one offering’ (Heb 10:12,14)." — Thomas Goodwin, A Habitual Sight of Him: The Christ-centered Piety of Thomas Goodwin, ed. Joel Beeke and Mark Jones(Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009), 63-64

(HT: Of First Importance)

We overcome on the basis of the blood of the Lamb

“How dare you approach the mercy-seat of God on the basis of what kind of day you had, as if that were the basis for our entrance into the presence of the sovereign and holy God? No wonder we cannot beat the Devil. This is works theology. It has nothing to do with grace and the exclusive sufficiency of Christ. Nothing.

Do you not understand that we overcome the accuser on the ground of the blood of Christ? Nothing more, nothing less. That is how we win. It is the only way we win. This is the only ground of our acceptance before God. If you drift far from the cross, you are done. You are defeated.

We overcome the accuser of our brothers and sisters, we overcome our consciences, we overcome our bad tempers, we overcome our defeats, we overcome our lusts, we overcome our fears, we overcome our pettiness on the basis of the blood of the Lamb.”

—D.A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 103

Let his love win your love

“When we go to the cross, we see our God dying for us. If you let any other god down, it will beat you up. If you live for people’s approval or your career or possessions or control or anything else and you don’t make it or you mess up, then you’ll be left feeling afraid, downcast, or bitter. But when you let Christ down, he still loves you. He doesn’t beat you up; he died for you.

Let his love win your love, and let that love replace all other affections. The secret of change is to renew your love for Christ as you see him crucified in your place.”

- Tim Chester, You Can Change (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2010), 128.

(HT: Of First Importance)

All good things secured by Christ on the cross

“Everything that we know and appreciate and praise God for in all Christian experience both in this life and in the life to come springs from this bloody cross.

Do we have the gift of the Spirit? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Do we enjoy the fellowship of saints? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Does he give us comfort in life and death? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Does he watch over us faithfully, providentially, graciously, and covenantally? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Do we have hope of a heaven to come? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Do we anticipate resurrection bodies on the last day? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Is there a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Do we now enjoy new identities, so that we are no longer to see ourselves as nothing but failures, moral pariahs, disappointments to our parents—but deeply loved, blood-bought, human beings, redeemed by Christ, declared just by God himself, owing to the fact that God himself presented his Son Jesus as the propitiation for our sins? All this is secured by Christ on the cross and granted to those who have faith in him.”

—D.A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 70-71

(HT: Of First Importance)

Building faith by preaching Christ

“Faith is not built by preaching introspectively (constantly challenging people to question whether they have faith); faith is not built by preaching moralistically (which has exactly the opposite effect of focusing attention on the self rather than on Christ, in whom our faith is placed); faith is not built by joining the culture wars and taking potshots at what is wrong with our culture. Faith is built by careful, thorough exposition of the person, character, and work of Christ….

We feed on Christ himself, and we do so not by some physical eating of his body, but through faith in the Christ proclaimed in Word and sacrament. These four alternatives [moralism, how-to, introspection, and social gospel] have left much of the evangelical and Reformed church malnourished. People know what they ought to do, but they are dispirited and lethargic, without the vision, drive, or impetus to live with and for Christ. And the reason for this dispirited condition is that the pulpit is largely silent about Christ. He is mentioned only as an afterthought or appendage to a sermon; in many churches, he is never proclaimed as the central point of a sermon, and surely not on a regular, weekly basis.”

—T. David Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers (P&R 2009) pp. 75—76, 88—89.

HT: Miscellanies

The only fruit that will last is the fruit that grows on the cross

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. (John 15:16)

On the day after the night in which Jesus spoke these words to the eleven and to you, Glen, he laid himself down on the cross and bought you with his blood. You are now his fruit and his fruit-bearer. The only fruit that will ever endure to eternal life is fruit which grows out of the cross. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:23, 24). We are Christ’s fruit because he died for us. We are his fruit-bearers if we are willing to take up our cross and die with him. Never forget the setting of your text, Glen. It is no accident that when Jesus had commanded you to go and bear fruit, he went and died. Your call and your ministry must always stand in the shadow of the cross of Christ. The only fruit that will last is the fruit that grows on the cross.

(The quote above is from an Oct. 11, 1981, sermon titled "I Chose You to Bear Fruit: Ordination of Glen Bloomstrom" by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

The power that frees us from holding grudges

Satan aims to make the cross of Christ look weak and foolish. Notice Ephesians 4:32–5:2. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.” The power that frees us from holding grudges is that in the cross of Christ God satisfied his grudge against us and dropped it. So Paul says, forgive as God in Christ forgave you. When we hold a grudge, we cancel out the cross. We act as though God did a foolish thing on the cross, since he dropped his infinite grudge against us, but we are going to hold on to our little grudge against so and so. And thus Satan brings the cross of Christ into contempt.

(The quote above is from a Dec. 16, 1984, sermon titled "Satan Seeks a Gap Called Grudge" by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

Seeking the glory of God and seeking the salvation of the lost are not two distinct goals

I don’t want us to make the mistake ... of separating the desire for people’s salvation and the desire that God be glorified. Think for a moment: What happens when a person who is lost becomes saved? Objectively, they pass from death to eternal life, from condemnation to justification, from alienation to reconciliation with God. Subjectively, they cease to rely on themselves or good works or idols and rely on God’s mercy. They cease to glory in themselves and begin to glory in the cross of Christ and the grace of God. When salvation comes to the lost a new heart is given which glorifies God by trusting in him and enjoying him and obeying him. Do you see what this means? Seeking the glory of God and seeking the salvation of the lost are not two distinct goals. The salvation of the lost is the new creation of persons who glorify God for his mercy. If you love people, you will want for them more than anything else the maximum eternal joy of knowing God as Savior in Jesus Christ. And if you love God, you will want nothing more than that his glory be known and enjoyed and magnified by the salvation of as many people as possible. It is the genius and beauty and wonder of God’s redemption that the pursuit of the lost and the pursuit of God’s glory are one pursuit.

(The quote above is from a Jan. 22, 1984, sermon titled "Tell How Much the Lord Has Done for You!" by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

The danger of false assurances

Galatians is God’s reminder ... that we are in constant danger of false assurances. Satan is continuously at work tempting us to think and feel that because we use God-talk, and come to church, and pray at meal times, and avoid gross sins, we are, therefore, under God’s blessing. But the book of Galatians concerns a group of people (called Judaizers) who do all those things and are under God’s curse. None of us should sit easily under the scrutiny of this book. Divine blessing and divine curse are the issue. And the continental divide between the two is not between church people and non-church people, nor is it between those who call Jesus “Lord” and those who don’t. It is between those, on the one hand, who have been crucified with Christ and now in poverty live in continuing reliance on the living Christ, and those, on the other hand, who have never really died to self-reliance and whose religious activity, though “moral” and intense, is all an exercise in self-reformation. The one group glories only in the cross of Christ by which they died to all but God. But the other group extols the powers and potentials of the self and diminishes the grace of God (2:21) and the cross of Christ (5:11). The one group of church members enjoys the blessing of God promised to Abraham and his descendants; the other group of church members is under a divine curse.

(The quote above is from a April 10, 1983, sermon titled "Christ Redeemed Us from the Curse of the Law" by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

What is the wisdom of the world?

I suggest this definition of the “wisdom of the world”: it is the use of the human mind to achieve and maintain a ground for boasting before God and man. Now it begins to become really clear why merely human wisdom regards the cross of Christ as foolishness. The death of Christ on the cross is such a radical indictment of the hideousness of our sinfulness that human wisdom has to mount all its biggest guns to destroy the cross, lest it lose its ground for boasting.

(The quote above is from a July 13, 1980, sermon titled "The Wisdom of Men and the Power of God" by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

The difference between the essence of the natural man and essence of faith in Christ

Faith in Christ is foolishness to the natural man because the essence of the natural man is his love of self-determination and the sense of power and pride that come from it, while the essence of faith in Christ is to say, “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of Christ.”

(The quote above is from a May 20, 1984, sermon titled "How the Spirit Helps Us Understand" by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

The cross of Christ is a great stumbling block for the proud

John Piper: The cross of Christ is a great stumbling block for people who do not have the grace to humble themselves before God and man.

(The quote above is from an Aug. 28, 1983, sermon titled "Only a New Creation Counts" by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

The Cross and the Christian

1 Corinthians 2:1–5

I wonder if you would agree with the following view of the cross of Christ: the crucifixion of Christ was a once-for-all substitution of the Son of God in my place so that I would not have to suffer but could enjoy the abundant life that he purchased for me. This is a common view today—in practice if not in theory. And it is very near the view that Paul had to contend with at Corinth.

The Cross and the Christian

The problem with this view of the cross is that it leaves out a huge fact—namely, the one Jesus stated in Luke 9:23—“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” When Christ died on the cross for sinners, he not only stood in my place, doing what I never could do (forgiving my sin), but he also showed me what I must do if I would save my life, namely, take up my own cross and join him on the Calvary road of death to self.

Christ died to save us from hell but not to save us from the cross. He died so that we could be glorified, but not to keep us from being crucified. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily.” For the Christian the cross of Christ is not merely a past place of substitution. It is also a present place of daily execution.

(The excerpt above is from a Feb. 7, 1988, sermon titled "The Present Power of Christ Crucified" by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

What is the difference between man’s wisdom and God’s wisdom?

What then is the difference between man’s wisdom and God’s wisdom? One way to answer this question is to notice from 1 Corinthians 1:17 and 1:23 that human wisdom nullifies the meaning of the cross of Christ and God’s wisdom upholds the meaning of the cross. Paul says that if he had come preaching “in wisdom of word” (the literal translation) “the cross of Christ would ... be made void.” And he adds that “the Greeks search for [human] wisdom” and therefore regard the preaching of the cross as “foolishness.” So there is something about “human wisdom” that nullifies the cross by regarding it as foolishness, when, in fact, the cross is “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).

[Piper, J. (2000). The pleasures of God: Meditations on God's delight in being God. Includes study guide: p. 343-372. (Rev. and expanded) (275). Sisters, Or.: Multnomah Publishers.]

May issue of the Next Webzine in 60 seconds

From the Next blog:
(by Ricky Alcantar)

The May 2009 issue of the Next Webzine is now live. Here’s what you’ll find inside:

Author Spotlight

D.A. Carson is one of the foremost biblical scholars of our day and has written or edited more books than you’ve probably read, yet at the center of his ministry is the truth of God’s Word. We love that Carson – our spotlighted author this month – is a learned scholar with the heart of a pastor.

Whether you’re new to Carson or an old fan you’ll find some interesting facts about in Justin Taylor’s introduction to the author Who Is D.A. Carson? (For example: He reads about 500 books a year, travels 100,000 miles a year, and no [one] ever calls him “D.A.”) Justin has also put together a beautiful list of Carson resources grouped helpfully around statements like: “I want to learn how Christ and culture relate,” or “I want to work through the entire Bible in a year.”

You’ll also be able to get a taste for Carson’s writing in two excerpts from his work. First, in two excerpts from For the Love of God Carson comments on two incidents in the life of Christ. Then in The Supremacy of Jesus Christ in the Mediation of God’s Love Carson walks through John 17 and explains how the glory of Christ is most clearly seen in the cross of Christ.

Articles

In People, Not Culture Pastor Mark Lauterbach weighs in on the debate about how Christians should relate to culture by suggesting that before we talk about culture, we should talk about people.

In Courageous Femininity Lydia Shanks breaks some stereotypes about what it means to be biblically feminine and encourages women to embrace all God has for them (including getting a bowling score over 100).

In Christian Artists In a Secular World Bob Kauflin helps Christians walk through the sometimes difficult issues of how to relate to secular art as artists.

And in The Cross of Christ in Pictures I share what I’ve learned about the richness of a multi-faceted gospel with the help of John Stott.

Enjoy.

(HT: JoshHarris.com)

The greatest example of God using evil to bring about wonderfully good things is the cross of Christ

“Another biblical principle is that through history we see how God uses evil to bring about wonderfully good things. The greatest example is the cross of Christ, what John Murray called the “arch-crime of history.” Those who crucified Jesus were wicked (Acts 2:23), but they did what they did by God’s “definite plan and foreknowledge.” And through this horrible event, God sent his wonderful saving grace upon all who believe. If God can bring the best out of the worst, we should believe that even the other horrible events of history, such as the Holocaust, 9/11, and the killing fields of Cambodia and Rwanda, will somehow lead to good in God’s plan. Romans 8:28 says as much. We don’t know how these evils will lead to good, so our faith is tried. But because of what he has done through the cross, we can trust God. We walk by faith, not by sight.”

[Frame, J. M. (2006). Salvation belongs to the Lord : An introduction to systematic theology (108). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.]

We must know and embrace the full meaning of the cross

“The indomitable joy that carries the day in time of temptation and trial is rooted in the cross of Christ. If we would fight for joy and endure to the end in our struggle with sin, we must know and embrace the full meaning of the cross.

“If we would … rejoice in [Christ] as triumphantly as the first Christians did; we must learn, like them to repose our entire trust in him and to adopt the language of the apostle, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Jesus Christ” [Galatians 6:14], “who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” [1 Corinthians 1:30].”

[Piper, J. (2002). The roots of endurance : Invincible perseverance in the lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce (157). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.]

Crucified with Christ

“A believer is one who identifies with all that God affirms and condemns in Christ’s crucifixion. God affirms in Christ’s crucifixion the whole truth about Himself: His holiness, goodness, justice, mercy, and truth as revealed and demonstrated in His Son, Jesus. Equally, in the cross God condemns the lie: sin, deceit, and the idolatrous heart. He condemns my sinfulness as well as my specific sins.” - Alfred Poirier, “The Cross and Criticism,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling (Vol. 17, No. 3, Spring 1999), 18.

(HT: Of First Importance)

Savor the cross first as the basis of justification before (experiencing) its purchased power for sanctification

“Nothing was more important for John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce than the centrality of the cross as the root of endurance. They did exactly what Hebrews 12:1-2 calls us to do: “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” They endured … looking to Jesus … who endured the cross.

“But oh how jealous they were—as I am jealous—that we embrace the cross of Christ first and decisively as the ground of our acceptance with God, through faith alone, before we experience the cross as the price and inspiration of our own labors to endure in the battle for justice in the world. That is, they were careful to savor the cross first as the basis of justification before they experienced its purchased power for sanctification. Before the power of endurance came the pardon of guilt. Before the blood-bought enabling of righteous living came the free gift of perfect righteousness credited to our account because of Christ alone through faith alone.”

[Piper, J. (2002). The roots of endurance : Invincible perseverance in the lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce (29). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.]