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Christology #7
Oct. 16, 2005 (AM) - Pastor Ronnie Wolfe

THE CROSS OF CHRIST - PART I

Part 1 - A Pointing To The Cross@

1 Cor. 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

Introduction

One of the most famous symbols in the entire world is that of the cross. Christians many times use a physical cross for a symbol of their faith, but nowhere in the Bible does it say anything about a symbol of faith, except in our own water baptism in which we symbolize the cross as a part of the Gospel of Christ.

But the cross is important to every believer. It is the standing ground for the battle for our soul. It is the battle ground for the price of the believing soul. It is the victory ground for the punishment of sin and the destruction of Satan.

Every mind should be pointed to the cross of Jesus Christ. Every poem should include some ramification of the work of Christ on the cross. Every story should be reminiscent of Christ= s suffering and his glory shown through the cross. Yea, every finger should be pointing to the cross, showing every young mind and heart the way to the cross. Every conversation should eventually end at the cross of Jesus Christ along with every sermon and Sunday School lesson and every song.

Pointing to the cross! This is what the Bible does. In all of its content, from first page to last, the Bible points to the cross. This is the subject that we want to take up today.

  1. POINTING FORWARD FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT
    1. Arrow #1. Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
      1. In this verse we find the first prophecy of the coming Messiah, which we all know is Jesus Christ.
      2. In that prophecy we understand that God is speaking to Satan. He says to Satan that this A seed@ will bruise his head, although Satan= s seed will bruise the heel of Jesus Christ.
      3. This is perfectly portrayed in the death of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus= heel was bruised in the pain that he suffered on the cross, but Satan received his death blow through that death and especially since the Lord was raised from the dead. In resurrection, Satan was pronounced dead, though he will not surely die until he is cast into the Lake of Fire at the end.
    2. Arrow #2. Isa 53:1-5 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
      1. Here we see the second arrow pointing to the cross.
      2. This is the prophecy of the Lord= s death, and it speaks of his being despised and rejected of men.
      3. Here he is called A a man of sorrows,@ because he sorrowed for the souls of men enough to die for us.
      4. He was acquainted with grief, knowing the judgment of God that had been displayed on him because of our sin.
      5. He bore, or carried, our griefs and carried our sorrows.
      6. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
      7. When I survey the wondrous crossOn which the Prince of glory died,My richest gain I count but loss,And pour contempt on all my pride.
      8. Looking at the cross through the eyes of Isaiah gives us a perspective that we cannot get any other way. He looks at a far-distant transaction that cannot be known in an experiential way. It must be known only forensically. But Isaiah saw the cross nonetheless, and he believed it and wondered why many others had not believed it. That is the reason he begins this section of scripture with A Who has believed our report?@
    3. Arrow #3. Psalm 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
      1. Fulfilled in Lu 22:47 And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.
      2. This is another arrow pointing to the cross of Jesus Christ.
    4. Arrow #4. Zec 13:7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man [that is] my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
      1. This is a prophecy of the scattering of the disciples at the time of the Lord= s death.
      2. Fulfilled in Mt 26:31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
    5. Arrow #5. Isa 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Fulfilled in Matt. 26:67-68
    6. Arrow #6. Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put [him] to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong [his] days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
      1. Fulfilled in Mt 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
    7. Arrow #7. Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him [a portion] with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
      1. Fulfilled in Mr 15:27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. 28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.
      2. From Old Testament times, then, we see at least seven arrows that point to the cross. Anyone who spends time in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament will find himself, if he investigates with honesty, looking eventually to the very cross of Jesus Christ that is the symbol of what Jesus did for his people in dying as our substitute to pay for our sins and function as our High Priest.

  2. POINTING BACKWARD FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT
    1. Arrow #1. Read Luke 24:13-35 with special reference to verse 32.
      1. Their hearts burned within them, because they were speaking of the events of the cross when Jesus died for our sins.
      2. His death on the cross culminated in the resurrection from the dead, and Jesus is the Victory, and we are his winning people.
    2. Arrow #2. Ga 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
      1. Paul is here looking back at the cross and making the cross the changing point of his whole life.
      2. Before Paul was born again, he had no glory in the cross but gloried in his own works and his own knowledge; but after he was saved, he gloried in only one thing: the cross of Jesus Christ.
      3. Just as every believer today should glory, not in their own efforts or even in their own will or feelings, but in the cross of Christ. If we could do that, then we would not become offended at little things. Our purpose will be direct, and our mind will be set upon Christ, our Savior.
    3. Arrow #3. Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
      1. The handwriting of ordinances was nailed to the cross.
      2. Otherwise, we would have to keep the feasts and try to keep God= s Old Testament law in order to be saved, and then not one of us could be saved, since we are not saved by the blood of bulls and goats.
      3. Looking back at the cross, we can now see Jesus shedding his blood as our perfect sacrifice and, at the same time, nailing the strictness and burden of the ceremonial law to the cross.
      4. Thus, we know that we are saved by the grace of God through faith alone and not by the works of the law.
    4. Arrow #4. Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
      1. This arrow points back to the cross, helping us to see Jesus as we read of this true event that took place 2,000 years ago.
      2. At the same time, we can see Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven.
      3. When we see Jesus on the cross, we see him as the author of our faith.
      4. When we see Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father on the throne of God, we see him as the finisher of our faith.

      Conclusion

      So, we see Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We have looked at him through the eyes of those who lived before he was actually on the cross, and we have looked at him from the eyes of those of us who are saved and live since the actual events of the cross.

      Either way, you see the author and finisher of our faith. Every page of the Bible leads us to the cross. The cross is the true crossroad. It points back into ancient history to people who by faith were saved by God= s grace, and it points to the future to people who will come unto him by faith.

      But mainly the cross is ours to view today in our own lives. It is a cross that was real. We do not need play crosses or symbols of the real cross to carry around. We simply need to take a fresh at the real cross upon which our Lord died and become infatuated with its power and its glory.

      If you have never seen Jesus there dying for your personal sins, then you need to see the cross one more time today in a way that you perhaps have never seen it before.

      May God prick your heart today to look at the cross one more time and be able to repent of your sins, kneel at the cross in your heart and mind and trust the only Savior that can save you forever, and he can do it all because of the cross.

      So many songs have been written about the cross:

    5. Behold The Lamb
    6. Beneath The Cross of Jesus
    7. Blessed Redeemer
    8. Grace Greater Than All Our Sin
    9. It Is Finished
    10. When He Was On The Cross, I Was On His Mind
    11. Jesus Paid It All
    12. Ivory Palaces
    13. Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross
    14. Kneel At The Cross
    15. Once For All
    16. The Old Rugged Cross
    17. When I Survey The Wondrous Cross
    18. Wounded For Me

 

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