The Cross
This week I found myself thinking on the cross. So often my thoughts gravitate and then I muse on verses, illustrations, or hymns of the faith. Our hymnal here at Door Bible Baptist has 30 hymns dedicated to just the topic of the cross. Do you remember Isaac Watts, At the Cross; or Charles Wesley, And Can it Be That I Should Gain?; or George Bennard, The Old Rugged Cross.
There are Three things I want to look at in reference to the cross. The first is the awful price on sin. Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:13 “But sin, that it might appear sin, …that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Things that the Bible calls sin we seem to excuse, ignore, justify, downplay, joke about, redefine, or even promote. Remember that to die with unforgiven sin is to eternally end up in the lake of fire. Sin is serious to a holy and unchanging God. Hence, the payment for sin was the death of His only begotten Son on the cross – the blood sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
Second, the cross represents God’s amazing, awesome, unfathomable love. That He would freely choose to suffer such for the payment of man’s sins. The famous John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Romans 5:8-9 “But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Then thirdly, there is our response to the cross. We have a choice to turn from sin, repentance, and to accept this free gift. Romans 5:15 “But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” Colossians 1:20 “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself;”. Acts 20:21 “…repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The cross; we looked at it in light of sin, in light of God’s love, and in light of mankind’s need to respond to it. Let’s close with the words of the first verse of the hymn by Horatius Bonar, Hallelujah for the Cross:
The Cross it standeth fast, Defying every blast,
The winds of hell have blown, The world its hate hath shown,
Yet it is not overthrown, Hallelujah for the cross!
Pastor Mark Englebert of Door Bible Baptist Church, Rural Sturgeon Bay
There are Three things I want to look at in reference to the cross. The first is the awful price on sin. Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:13 “But sin, that it might appear sin, …that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Things that the Bible calls sin we seem to excuse, ignore, justify, downplay, joke about, redefine, or even promote. Remember that to die with unforgiven sin is to eternally end up in the lake of fire. Sin is serious to a holy and unchanging God. Hence, the payment for sin was the death of His only begotten Son on the cross – the blood sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
Second, the cross represents God’s amazing, awesome, unfathomable love. That He would freely choose to suffer such for the payment of man’s sins. The famous John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Romans 5:8-9 “But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Then thirdly, there is our response to the cross. We have a choice to turn from sin, repentance, and to accept this free gift. Romans 5:15 “But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” Colossians 1:20 “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself;”. Acts 20:21 “…repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The cross; we looked at it in light of sin, in light of God’s love, and in light of mankind’s need to respond to it. Let’s close with the words of the first verse of the hymn by Horatius Bonar, Hallelujah for the Cross:
The Cross it standeth fast, Defying every blast,
The winds of hell have blown, The world its hate hath shown,
Yet it is not overthrown, Hallelujah for the cross!
Pastor Mark Englebert of Door Bible Baptist Church, Rural Sturgeon Bay
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