Pilgrim’s

Protest

-2-

what has the church done with the cross?

 

I honestly couldn’t tell you when I last heard a solid message or had a fruitful discussion dedicated to the cross of Christ. I don’t mean lip service over tea & biscuits, or the honourary mentions slipped in whenever there is an appeal for people to come forward for salvation in meetings. Neither am I referring to the annual offerings that some squeeze out during easter. I’m not referring to crucifixes that bear an emaciated, sad & anorexic looking figure, or the highly decorated & bejewelled bling that hangs casually from our necks. I mean that awful time when Jesus Christ hung there in our stead. I mean the dreadful place where our Saviour bled & died for our sins. I mean that frightful event that caused The King of Kings to be murdered as a common criminal, for us, His creation. The preaching of the cross is essential. So then, why is it that so many forget, neglect or ignore it, as though it were optional? Some have cried in their milk, with their thumbs in their mouths & swerved away from the cross & it’s purpose altogether. They sob into their hankies like professional mourners, crying; Penal Substitution isn’t nice; Penal Substitution isn’t fair; Penal Substitution isn’t right. Others remove the cross because they are embarrassed by it. It’s bad for public relations. It tarnishes the image. It’s a hard sell to the outside world. This is to say nothing of what the cults have said of the cross; some of which has seeped into The Church. This, is this Pilgrim’s Protest!

¹⁸ (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: ¹⁹ Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) (Philippians 3:18-19).

God’s act of pouring out His wrath upon His Son, on our behalf, is not an act of spiritual child abuse inconsistent with His love, as some have stated or otherwise intimated in their theology. This view is ill informed at best. The cross is a vital element of Redemption’s whole. The cross of The Lord Jesus Christ satisfies every one of God’s attributes. Every single one. We cannot preach The Gospel without preaching the cross. Paul said, ‘But God commendeth his love toward 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’ (Romans 5:8-9) & ‘He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?’ (Romans 8:32). Whatever the naysayers believe; Penal Substitution is biblical & it is just.

²⁴ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ²⁵ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; ²⁶ To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (Romans 3:24-26).

The event of the cross is not something that God arbitrarily did to Christ, but rather, it was a supreme action that He accomplished with Him. Do not forget, that in this we see the majesty of The Trinity, because God Himself became a man in order to take the force of Divine judgement at Calvary; so why do so many shy away from it? They reduce God to their poor & petty level, missing the magnitude of that moment at the cross. This, is this Pilgrim’s Protest!

³ Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father (Galatians 1:3-4).

⁵ For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; ⁶ Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time (1^st Timothy 2:5-6).

¹³ Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; ¹⁴ Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:13-14).

It bothers me that there are so many who are willing to drop kick the cross out of their vocabulary, their sermons & out of their church buildings, because of its inconvenience. They are ashamed of it. They cannot explain it. They hate it. This isn’t the way that they would put it, but it’s plain enough for all to see & hear. I’m not talking about those outside The Church, but those who are within it. If The Lord had not gone to the cross, suffered & then died there, we would have no salvation. The cross of Christ is as essential as His resurrection. It is because of His cross that we have The Great Exchange (2^nd Corinthians 5:21).

There are others who teach that the cross is a place of defeat, claiming that The Lord Jesus had to endure the sure death of Adam & spend time tormented, abused & tortured in hell before rising from the dead & emerging victorious. One would have to be totally blind, a blithering idiot or otherwise completely biblically illiterate, to come to this conclusion. Perhaps all of the above. The only defeat at the cross, was that of the devil (1^st Corinthians 2:8).

¹⁹ For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous (Romans 5:19).

⁸ And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8).

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. ¹⁸ For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. ²³ But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; (1^st Corinthians 1:17-18 & 23).

Taking into consideration everything that The Lord has done, what He promised in the garden, what He prophesied in The Scriptures, what He Himself performed; please tell me, why is the cross of The Lord Jesus Christ so despised? Not from without, but from within. The cross still has enemies. Do not be one of them. this, is this Pilgrim’s Protest.

Hebrews says, ‘But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man (Hebrews 2:9) & ‘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 (Hebrews 12:2). Satan hates the cross & what The Lord accomplished there. Not in hell, as some foolishly teach, but at Calvary. That is error. That is heresy. That is a lie. Trust this, brethren; when Jesus Christ said it is finished; it was finished!

¹⁴ In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:.. ²⁰ And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. ²¹ And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled ²² In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight (Colossians 1:14 & 20-22).

¹³ And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 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; ¹⁵ And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:13-15).

Without the preaching of the cross we do not have a full picture of The Gospel. If we remove it because we’re ashamed of it, because we’re embarrassed by it or because we cannot adequately explain it, it becomes nigh impossible for us to countenance picking up our own cross. Search The Scriptures. Look at what Jesus said about it & then look at God has done for us. This causes a huge problem for those who have made themselves enemies of the cross. This, is this Pilgrim’s Protest!

Paul said, ‘To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace’ (Ephesians 1:6-7). No wonder he wept when he was at Ephesus.

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; ¹⁵ Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; ¹⁶ And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby (Ephesians 2:13-16).

The Lord Jesus Christ is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 & His death on a cross, although horrific, paved the way for our salvation. His body was broken & His precious blood was shed. I cannot imagine what it must been like to behold, but He did it for us & it pleased The Lord to bruise Him (Isaiah 53:10). Teach it. Preach it. Believe it. Embrace it.

He also calls us to take up our cross. Paul says, ‘For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.’ (Romans 6:5-6) & ‘And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.’ (Galatians 5:24).

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 (Galatians 6:14).

²⁰ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

Even though there are those who balk at the cross of Christ & denigrate it, let me remind you that what was achieved there is regularly commemorated by The Church at the communion table (1^st Corinthians 11:26). Are we celebrating spiritual abuse? No. Are we honouring defeat? No. Eternity will not be long enough for us to pour out our gratitude to The One who bled, died & obtained salvation for us. He is the Captain of our salvation. So please tell me; what has The Church done with the cross?

 

 

 

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