LIMPOPO BIBLE INSTITUTE SETH MEYERS 1 THE BEAUTY OF THE CROSS Introduction: Beauty is the skillful combination of orderliness, creativity, and unity in any created thing. Therefore, a careful examination of the intricate details of the cross-work of Christ will reveal it to be the pinnacle of beauty among all of God s works. Question #24: Who killed Jesus? Answer: There are at least three answers to this question. I. The human instruments were the Jews and Romans. A. God had power over these nations and could have manipulated them in any way He chose, but He allowed their sinful hatred of the light to manifest itself in the murder of His Son. B. The Jews bear the weight of crucifying their Messiah. Mark 15 13-14 C. The pagan Romans were the actual hands who whipped His back and drove the nails. II. The cause was the sin of all men. Galatians 1 4 A. The murderers of Jesus were no different than we are. Romans 3 23 B. The wicked act of crucifying Christ was the vilest display of human depravity ever. But the evil of the human heart remains the same to this day. 1 Steven Lawson C. There is enough tinder in the heart of the best men in the world to light a fire that shall burn to the lowest hell, unless God should quench the sparks as they fall. There is enough corruption, depravity, and wickedness in the heart of the most holy man that is now alive to damn his soul to all eternity, if free and sovereign grace does not prevent. 2 Spurgeon III. God planned His Son s death. Acts 2 23 A. God is not bound by time, but logically the decree to allow the Son to die was made after the decree to allow sin to enter the world. 3 Ephesians 1 11 B. This incredible sacrifice by the Father shows His love toward us and His hatred toward sin. Romans 8 32 C. The cross was not an afterthought when Adam sinned. Revelation 13 8 The sovereign administrator of the universe controlled the most vile crime mankind has ever committed so that He could bring many sons to glory. Question #25: Why couldn t God forgive us without Christ s death? Answer: God has three connected attributes that explain why He cannot forgive sin. Romans 3 24-26 I. God s righteousness cannot continually ignore sin. 3 24-25 1 Lawson, Foundations of Grace, page 312. 2 Spurgeon, Presumptuous Sins sermon 135, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 3, page 385. 3 See page 81 on the decrees of God.
A. Righteousness is always doing whatever conforms to God s attributes. 4 Therefore, God is the standard of righteousness, and He could only be unrighteous by not exhibiting who He is. B. God patiently endured the sins of the Old Testament. This was righteous because it showed God s incredible longsuffering and patience. 3 25 C. However, He did not overlook or forget those sins. This was righteous because He is omniscient and eternally angry at sin. Contemporary error alert! Many people think that God s mercy can forgive them if they will only pray and ask for it. They choose not to think about His justice that must punish their criminal activity. They think this way because they are that way. The sins weren t that bad to them, so they imagine that God does not care either. Humans can ignore sin because of Romans 3 11, but God cannot because of 3 21. II. God s justice must punish sin. 3 26 A. Is God s justice fair? 1. No, we all deserve Hell. Jesus did not sin, but He went to the cross. That is not fair. 2. Yes, God punished our sins in Christ, and it could be called fair for Him to forget and forgive those sins because His anger has been appeased. So, ultimately, NO, God s justice is not fairness because our salvation is rooted in God s grace not our sin. But if you think about God s justice being satisfied in Christ then there is a kind of fairness to God s forgiveness of believers. B. God s justice is one portion of His righteousness. 1. There is no justice without a punishment that fits the crime. 2. Punishment is proof of wrath. 3. The punishments of the Bible (wars, death, and Hell) show the level of crime that God sees sin to be. Illustration: A judge who let murderers, terrorists, and child abusers go because they said they were sorry. Everyone can see injustice there. C. Every human naturally desires justice because of the image of God that He placed inside them. D. Omniscient justice moved divine wrath to slay Christ on the cross or man in Hell. The marriage of those two attributes is truly righteous. III. God s wrath completes His righteousness. 3 25 A. Wrath is an essential characteristic of the one true God. John 3 36, Revelation 19 15, 2 Chronicles 29 10 (and dozens of other passages in both OT and NT) 1. Because without anger He would not love righteousness. 2. Because without anger He would not be fair. 3. Because without anger He would not be immutable. 4. Because without anger He would not be wise. 4 John Piper lists a number of different definitions of righteousness before arguing convincingly for this definition: God s righteousness is his unswerving commitment to preserve and display the glory of his name. The Justification of God, Baker Academic, 1993, page 103.
LIMPOPO BIBLE INSTITUTE SETH MEYERS 3 Contemporary error alert! The God that most people have in their minds is a false god because their god is not angry at sin. Gods without wrath are the favorite little puppies of 21 st century men, but none of those gods made the world nor will any of them judge the world at the final day. B. Righteousness could not exist in a sinful world if wrath did not. If God is righteous and sin is defying His glory, then He must hate that, or else not be righteous. C. God s wrath teaches that God s values are not like ours. Illustration: o We view a lie as worth R5 and a murder as worth R500,000. o God views a lie and a murder as worth R5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 IV. The cross is beautiful. Beauty is founded on orderliness, creativity, and unity (all the parts have an evident connection). A. The orderliness of the cross: The plan of redemption did not cause any of God s glories to be sacrificed for another. It was a lawful idea by all accounts. B. The creativity of the cross: No where is God s creativity seen more than in the moral solution He created to blend dozens of his attributes. The cross is the only solution that satisfies love and wrath, mercy and justice, transcendence and involvement, omnipotence and righteousness. C. The unity of the cross: Righteousness, wrath, and love are ideas that are each intrinsically distant from each other, but the cross put them together in such a way that they do not contradict each other at all. D. The Trinity alone enjoyed this piece of art (the plan of salvation) for centuries. But now in the New Testament, Christians are able to appreciate the beauty of the cross. 2 Chronicles 20 21 5, 9-11 and Ephesians 3 Question #26: What happened on the cross? Answer: Christ satisfied God s wrath against sinful men by taking their place and paying with His precious blood. Question #27: How did Christ s death satisfy God? Answer: Propitiation ~ Romans 3 25 I. A propitiation is a sacrifice. A. This idea began in the Old Testament with the sacrificial system. (See especially Leviticus 1-7.) It is closely connected to atonement. 1. The idea of propitiation is translated with 10 different Hebrew words in the OT sacrificial system. The different words each describe another aspect of atonement. 5 5 International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, article on propitiation, vol. 4, page 2467.
2. The word is found four times in the NT: Romans 3 25, Hebrews 9 5, 1 John 2 2, 4 10 B. Blood was required. 1. The soul that sinned must die. Death and bloodshed proved the seriousness of sin in the eyes of God. Ezekiel 18 4 2. The examples of the OT and the blood of Christ on the cross loudly proclaim God s hatred of sin. Leviticus 1 5, Hebrews 9 22 II. A propitiation satisfies wrath. A. God is wrathful toward sin. 1. God is the one who set Christ on the altar. Romans 3 25 2. God is the one who created the Lake of Fire. Matthew 25 41 3. God is the one who controls temporal judgments like wars. Habakkuk 1 6-7 This same God is called a God of love! He is infinitely complex. B. The OT offerings could never satisfy God s wrath. Hebrews 10 11 C. Christ s sacrifice could satisfy God s wrath because of three realities. 1. He gave His life. 2. He was God. 3. He was innocent. III. Propitiation is connected with atonement and reconciliation. A. We are treating these elements of salvation individually, but remember that none of them are independent. They all work together. B. When God s wrath was satisfied (the negative side), peace and access (the positive side) were established. Question #28: Why is the blood of Christ an important element in salvation? Answer: Atonement ~ Hebrews 9 12 I. The OT emphasized atonement. A. Atonement means to cover or wash away guilt. All examples of atonement in the OT required blood. B. The idea is found in Jewish history as early as the Passover in Exodus 12 and 13. C. From that point on Jewish religious and cultural life revolved around the sacrificial system instituted in Leviticus 1-7. 1. However, animals were insufficient because they were finite. Hebrews 10 1-2 2. However, animals were insufficient because they were not guilty. Hebrews 10 3-4 D. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit used other terms like redemption and propitiation. II. The NT emphasized atonement. A. In the NT, the atonement is Christ s covering our sins with His perfect innocence so that the wrath of God is appeased.
LIMPOPO BIBLE INSTITUTE SETH MEYERS 5 B. Christ s blood satisfied the law s demands for death. Ezekiel 18 4, Hebrews 9 14 C. Christ s blood satisfied the promise made among the Trinity before time began. Hebrews 13 20, Titus 1 2 Atonement, propitiation, substitution, and redemption are all vitally connected. Question #29: How could Christ pay for sins he didn t commit? Answer: Substitution ~ 2 Corinthians 5 21 1. Substitution exhibits (shows) Christ s love. A. This doctrine required Christ to humble himself and be counted as a sinner. (Remember the descriptions of a sinner from page 16.) Hebrews 12 2-3 B. This doctrine required Christ to endure the pain of the cross. 1 Peter 3 18 C. This doctrine required Christ to be separated from God. Matthew 27 46 D. No one will submit to these things if they are not motivated by love. 2. Substitution gives sinners the blessings of salvation. Galatians 3 13-14