Quotes for the week of 4/15/18

Words To Live By

Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us.
― John R.W. Stott (posted 4/15/18)

What a man is alone and on his knees before God, that he is, and no more.
― Robert Murray M'Cheyne (posted 4/14/18)​

The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.
― Oswald Chambers (posted 4/13/18)

You can shut Jesus up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
― C.S. Lewis (posted 4/12/18)

You don't realize God is all you need until God is all you have.
― Tim Keller (Posted 4/11/18)​

How unspeakably wonderful to know that all our concerns are held in the hands that bled for us.
― John Newton (posted 4/10/18)

The point of irresistible grace is not that we can’t resist. We can, and we do. The point is that when God chooses, he overcomes our resistance and restores a submissive spirit. He creates. He says, “Let there be light!” He heals. He leads. He restores. He comforts.

― John Piper (posted 4/9/18)

The Desolate Agony of the Cross

“My God , my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mt 27:34, Ps 22:1

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. Isa 53:10, 11

Last week I posted a quote by John Stott (read it here).  I used this same quote this weekend to close out a sermon. But as I read it out loud, one phrase stuck hard in my mind: the desolate agony of the cross. What hit me is that in one simple phrase Stott captured the real scandal, the real tragedy and the real beauty of the cross.

Think about it. Sure Christ had to go through intense physical suffering. It was part of bearing our griefs and our sorrows. And yes He had to endure humiliation and rejection, since those are exactly the crimes we are most guilty of before God's holy throne. But neither the physical torture nor the psychological abuse solved our ultimate dilemma. We are a sinful, rebellious people. We are broken to the very core of who we are. We are the servant who owes his master over 5,000 lifetime salaries.(Mt 18:23-27)

Think about the garden of Gethsemane. What could possibly cause the Son of God, the one who could raise the dead, heal the sick and feed the multitudes to sweat drops of blood? What was it about the upcoming 24 hours that caused the eternal second person of the Trinity, the one who created and sustains all things, the one who was infinitely loved by the Father to say "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death"? (Mk 14:34)

The simple yet astounding reality is this. As Jesus bore our sins, God, who dwells in unapproachable light, could no longer look upon Him. The desolate agony of the cross is that in the majesty and mystery of the Trinity, the Father and the Son were ripped apart. Christ needed to endure the effects of hell, the despair, the total isolation, the unquenchable anguish and the absolute separation from God. Trust me when I say as alone as any of us may feel, we have never been as alone as Jesus was on the cross.

So today, can we bow (or kneel, or lay prostrate) before the savior who humbled himself to endure the desolate agony of the cross for us? Remember, Jesus did not do this for the fun of it or because he had to. He willingly and purposefully endured all of God's just wrath to rescue and redeem save you and me specifically. We have been on His mind and in his heart a long, long time.

To God Alone be the Glory

Three Lessons from the Cross

From the pen of John Stott:

“There are three lessons which I have learned from the cross.

1) I learned that my sin is foul beyond words. If there were no way for our sins to be cleansed and forgiven but that the Son of God should die for them, then our sins must be sinful indeed.

2) I learned that God’s love is great beyond all understanding. He could have abandoned us to perish in our sins. But He didn’t. He loved us and He pursued us even to the desolate agony of the cross.

3) I learned that salvation is a free gift. I do not deserve it. I cannot earn it. I do not need to attempt to procure it by my own merit or effort. Jesus on the cross had done everything that was necessary for us to be forgiven. He has borne our sin and curse.

What, then, must we do? Nothing! Nothing but fall on our knees in penitence and faith, and stretch out an open, empty hand to receive salvation as a gift that is entirely free”

To God Alone be the Glory