Good Friday 2016

Please join me in prayer. Fathers, we are gathered here this evening to gaze upon Christ and him crucified. Lord, this is a most holy and awesome sight. And God, we ask that you would open our eyes to see rightly. God, I ask for your grace to preach Christ and him crucified with boldness, with clarity, with love, and in a way that will magnify your name. God, please help me and help us We pray these things in Christ's name, amen. Well, I'd like to begin this evening with, in a somewhat unusual way, I have a riddle for you. What is so simple that even a young child can understand it? yet so profound that even the wisest of scholars cannot. And as we ponder this riddle, I would like for us to turn to 1 Corinthians 1. And I will pick up reading in verse 18. First Corinthians in chapter one, verse 18. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block, and to the Greeks, foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen. And the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him, You are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God, For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. So what is so simple that even a young child can understand it, yet so profound that even the wisest of scholars cannot? It's the message of the cross of Christ. This is a message That intellectually speaking is simple enough for even a child to understand. But this is a message that is spiritual. And though you were to possess all the intellectual understanding of the wisest scholar. Without the spiritual understanding of a humble child. It would be foolishness to you. And if you are here this evening and you do not know Christ. Oh, that God would give you eyes to see this message. This message is the most powerful, the most captivating, the most life giving joy, inspiring peace, imparting hope, filling message of all. And if you are here this evening and you know Christ. Look to the cross and do not allow your eyes to turn away. Don't look at other things. Determined with Paul not to know anything except Jesus Christ and him crucified. He is our life and him crucified is our hope. You never move on from the cross. No, for the Christian, all eternity will be spent in awestruck wonder at what Christ has done on Calvary. In other words, do not be like the Corinthians. This is Paul's concern. This is why he is writing these things to them. He sees a church that has become preoccupied with wisdom. A church that is dazzled by eloquent speakers, that's moved by rhetoric and powerful speaking. A church that's becoming reliant on the wisdom and the philosophies of men. You see, they think that if their allegiance is placed in the right teachers, that then they will become truly holy. That then they will have true wisdom, that then they will have this power for evangelism. And so Paul says, if you look at verse 12, he says, now I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul or I am of Apollos or I am of Cephas or I am of Christ. It's a divided church. Each one picking the teacher that they think is the greatest. Pursuing this kind of worldly wisdom. But this wisdom is tickling their pride. It is leading them to boast of what they know and to feel superior to others. In reality, rather than this wisdom doing any kind of spiritual good for them, it is leading them away from the center of Christianity, away from a humble, simple focus on the cross of Christ. And it's producing division in the church and immorality in their lives. And these things are addressed throughout the rest of the letter. And Paul's goal here is to help them to see that this so-called wisdom is not true wisdom at all. That this is wisdom that never has and never will lead anyone to salvation. And so he says, look, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. And verse 20, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Or in verses 22 and 23, he says, For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. You see, ultimately, what this kind of wisdom does is it is leading them to place their faith in man. instead of God. What foolishness that is. And Paul is writing here to try to lead them back to the cross, back to simple faith in Christ. Look again at chapter two and verses one through five. Paul says, and I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. And he does all this, why look at verse five, so that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Now, it's not that Paul is an anti-intellectual. It's not that Paul is saying, well, Christianity is irrational or that we just need to have blind faith. What he's saying is this. It is foolish to think that the kind of wisdom which puffs up your pride will help you to receive a spiritual message. Because it is impossible to receive a spiritual message without the spiritual quality of humility. He'll go on in chapter 2 verse 14 to say, The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And friends, proud men, are never spiritual men. So Paul refuses to present the message of the cross in a way that would tickle the pride of his hearers. Because his whole goal is to lead them to humbly depend on God. So notice also what Paul does do. Verse two of chapter two. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Paul preached Christ and Him crucified and nothing else. Now, you can't preach Christ crucified without preaching the incarnation and the resurrection. And you can't preach Christ without preaching on creation, the fall, eternal judgment, and God's law. But it's the cross that is the very heart and soul of Christianity. It's the cross that is the son of the Christian faith around which everything else orbits. And Christ crucified is the life from which all spiritual strength flows. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. And so what I want us to take from this, we must be a cross-centered people who keep the cross in view. And if we will, if we do, we will see that it is the most glorious, captivating, life-giving, joy-filling, peace-imparting, hope-inspiring message of all. It ought to be our great preoccupation, even our obsession, our very life. But what we have to realize Is that this is a message which will be utter foolishness to you unless you're humble. Because the message of the cross is a message. That assaults all human pride. The message of the cross will oppose your pride in every way. It will offend your pride, it will confound your pride, and it will confront your pride. And either your pride will blind you to really grasping the message, or your pride will rise up in hatred for the message, or this message will put your pride to death. There can be no truce. Either we must be humbled or we cannot be saved. And I'd like to take the remainder of our time to consider why this is so. Why is it that this message is so diametrically opposed to pride, to human pride? And I'd like to give us three reasons. And the first is this. Because God designed it that way. God designed it that way. And really the whole thrust of verses 19 through 31 of chapter 1 is really about God's design in salvation. Paul quotes Isaiah in verse 19 because it's a plan that hasn't changed since the beginning of time. And it may be helpful for us to think back, well, how did sin enter the world in the first place? It was because Adam and Eve wanted wisdom. They wanted to be wise. They refused to trust God's word and God's wisdom. So in pride and arrogance, they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so that they could be like God, knowing good and evil. And so what Paul is saying is that when God designed a plan of salvation, he designed it in such a way that it would undo our prideful confidence in our own wisdom. Look at. Verses 19 through 25, look beginning of verse 19, for it is written, God says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. And then Paul continues, where is the wise? You know, where is this wise and learned, insightful man? Where is the scribe, the Jewish scribe who was the theologian, the historian, the authority concerning God's law? Where is the disputer of this age? Right. The Greek philosopher and orator. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? You know, which of these wise men revealed to us the way of salvation, which of them figured it out? None of them. Verse 21, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. You see, we didn't figure out the plan of salvation, no, God came to deliver it to us through preaching. And the thing of it is, proud people do not like preaching. Paul continues, for Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. The Jews want God to come and show them great signs and wonders, and they say, well, then I'll believe when you prove it to me. The Greeks say, well, we want to hear compelling and convincing philosophical proofs, and then we'll believe when you convince us on intellectual grounds. Really, what they're doing is they're wanting God to stoop down and to come on their terms. But Paul says, no, God doesn't do that. God is revealing his salvation through preaching. And God is doing that so that those who are called and those who do believe will humbly on their faces proclaim that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and will humbly say, even the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisest of men, and even the weakness of God is stronger than the strongest of men. Look also at how Paul develops this point in verses 26 through 31. Paul now turns to the question of, well, what kinds of people does God generally choose to save? And what kinds of means does God generally choose to use to bring about his purposes? And Paul, he basically is telling the Corinthians, look around you. He says, for you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised. God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are. God doesn't typically choose the wise, the mighty or the noble. God typically chooses the foolish, the weak, the base and the despised. And why does God do that? Verse 29, so that no flesh should glory in his presence, that no man will boast in men before God. And verses 30 and 31. He says, but of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. So God does things this way, so we will not boast in man, but so that we will boast in Christ. You see, God's very design behind the cross, God's design behind election, God's design behind his whole plan of salvation is to crush all human pride. And to receive all glory for himself. God is a God who was jealous for his own glory. He says, I am the Lord, that is my name and my glory, I will not give to another. God is a God who opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And therefore, the message of his cross opposes all who live for self and self glorification. But offers the most remarkable grace to the humble. So the message of the cross opposes Our pride? Because God designed it that way. But the second reason that the message of the cross diametrically opposes human pride is because the cross is the ultimate declaration of human weakness and human wickedness. You see, the cross is a message which tells us something about man. The cross is a message of God the Father sending His own Son into the world to die for the sins of His people. And what that tells us is that we deserve to die. The cross is a declaration that you and I deserve to be hung. Naked, beaten, accursed for all to mock at and scorn. We deserve the curse. Our sins are wicked. We are the criminals. That's what God is saying through the cross. And secondly, he's telling us not only are you wicked, but you are weak. You can't save yourself. There's nothing you could do to pay for your sins. There's nothing you could do to transform your life. You're powerless. And God is saying, I am going to treat you like a little child who is too weak to do anything to save yourself. And therefore, Christ has done everything for you. That Christ would be wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And friends, if there is anything which greats against the proud, it is being called weak and wicked. The proud person hears the message of the cross and says, I know I'm not perfect, but I've done a great deal of good in this world. I'm at least as good as many people I know. But the cross says your sin is utterly inexcusable. You deserve to die. The proud and self-righteous person says, what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life? What mountain must I climb? What depths must I descend into? What great feat must I accomplish to be accepted by God? But the message of the cross says. Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven. Do not say in your heart who will descend into the abyss. It says the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith which we preach, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The message of the cross is that Christ has paid it all. And this message is a great stumbling block for Jews. And foolishness to Greeks who are unwilling to come to terms with their own weakness and wickedness. But for the humble. Who know that they are weak. Who know that their sins have gone up higher than their heads. This is good news. So, the message of the cross diametrically opposes human pride because God has designed it that way. Secondly, because it is the ultimate declaration of human weakness and human wickedness. And thirdly, and finally, the message of the cross opposes human pride. Because it is the ultimate declaration of God's holiness. Now, first of all, the cross declares that God is so holy that he will not and cannot overlook sin. God's justice is perfect. There never has been and there never will be even one sin that does not receive its full retribution from God's justice. In fact, the cross declares to us that even the son of God himself. Could not bear the sins of his people. Without being crushed under the wrath of God, the father. God would not overlook sin even in Christ. How much less will he overlook sin in us if we are not in Christ? But at the same time. The cross declares. That God is holy in his love and in his mercy. Not only does it declare the holiness of his justice, but it declares the holiness of his love and his mercy. That the father so loved this world that he gave his only son. That Christ Jesus, the son of God, so loved his people, so loved his father that he came. To suffer. And to die. And actually, I think it's that part of the message that is actually most offensive to human pride. It's that which can seem so, like such foolishness, that seems so scandalous. You know, we need to ask the question, What kind of a God would become a man? Now, unless your idea of God is someone who is so small that he's only a little bit bigger and a little bit different than you are. The notion that the uncreated creator from all eternity, that the high and the holy one would condescend to become human. To become a creature. That is shocking. That should be astonishing to us. And even more than that, the notion that this God would not only become man, but that he would die. I mean, how can this be? How can the immortal die? How can the very author of life be slain? Not only does he become a man, and not only does he die, but he died the death of the cross. And friends, because we live 2,000 years later, we don't really appreciate the connotations of crosses. You see, we have crosses on necklaces, there's crosses on buildings, there's crosses on signs, there's crosses all over the place, and we associate it with love. Back then, it would have been considered impolite to bring up the word. You see, what would you say if you came up to someone wearing a strange looking necklace and you're like, you know, what is that? And they said, oh, it's an electric chair. You know, I worship a man that was electrocuted. I think we would think it was a bit strange, a bit astonishing. But even that's not a great analogy because the electric chair was supposed to be humane. The cross was the most gruesome torture they could come up with. It was so horrific it was considered inappropriate to bring it up around polite company. And yet, Paul says, we preach Christ crucified. We proclaim it for all the world to hear and to know. And it really should be no wonder it's foolishness to Greeks and a stumbling block to Jews to think that the God of heaven would condescend to be a man. To die and to die the death of the cross. No wonder to them it would seem ridiculous and absurd, indecent and scandalous. But, you know, deep down, I would suggest to you that it seems that way to the proud in heart. Because what the proud in heart is really thinking is this. God would never do such a thing. God would never do a thing like that. Because if I were God, if I was all powerful, if I was the creator, I would never do such a thing. You see, proud men cannot conceive of a God who could be so unlike themselves. But what the message of the cross is all about is a God who is not like us. It's about a God who is holy, who is set apart, who is other, who is transcendent. A God who is both perfectly holy in his justice and perfectly holy in his love. It is about a God who has revealed himself through his son, Jesus Christ, who, though he was in the very form of God, did not think equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a slave and coming in the likeness of men. and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. See, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And that is a message that is foolishness to the proud in heart. But if we will humble ourselves to receive this message, acknowledging our weakness and our wickedness, turning from pride and self and glory in the holy God who is not like us, but who has sent his son to make us like him. Then we too will say with Paul, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Let's pray. Father. Oh, how we thank you. For your love for us. And for your son. And for his crucifixion. Oh, how we praise you that you have used the most heinous crime in the history of the universe. To bring about the most glorious salvation that we could possibly imagine. I know how we pray that we would indeed be humbled before you. And that we would boast in Christ, that he might receive all the glory that is due his name. In his name, we pray. Amen.