The Cross

9 - The Freedom of the Cross (Part II)

Jeff Fry — Mon, 25 May 2009 09:46:49 GMT

Freedom of the Cross Part II

^NIVGalatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." …. ^IVGalatians 4:1 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. ² He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. ³ So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. ⁴ But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, ⁵ to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. ⁶ Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Thesis: We must take hold of our freedom to sonship through the cross.

I. Intro

A. Review

Suffering of the Cross

wickedness of the cross

Forgiveness of the cross

Victory of the cross

Notoriety of the cross

Cover of the cross

friendship of the cross

Freedom of the cross – Part I

B. This Week: We must take hold of our sonship through the cross

II. We must take hold of our sonship through the cross

A. State

1. Review the passage – Read Galatians 3:13 and 4:1-7

a) Background to Galatians

(1) Controversy between the Jewish Christians and the Gentiles in the Galatian church

(a) Judaizers as they were called were saying that the Gentiles must keep the Torah law in order to be a true Chrisitan and accepted by God

(b) Paul was saying “no” to this. Christ has ushered in a new relationship with God which was by faith, not by law-keeping.

(c) Much of the book centers around Paul answering the Judaizers and proving that Gentiles don’t need to be circumcised, observe certain festival days, follow certain dietary restrictions, and geneally keep the Torah to be one of God’s people.

2. Galatians 3:13 is important because it shows us how Christ has freed us from religious rule-keeping (or law).

a) Deuteronomy 27:26 says that everyone who does not follow the law of Torah is cursed

b) As it was impossible to keep all the law, people were in God’s debt, under the law’s penalty, and otherwise cursed.

c) But Christ took that penalty of ours upon himself on the cross.

d) Therefore, the cross frees us from the law, the penalty of the law.

3. Galatians 4:1-7 will show us that the cross frees us to becoming sons of God, sonship.

a) In Galatians 3:26 Paul introduces the topic of “sons of God”

(1) Paul says that believers (“you all”) are sons of God

(2) How?

(a) By faith in Christ

(b) Not by the law

b) Galatians 3:27 says, “all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ”

(1) Declarative statement telling us what is true of us because of our decision to believe in Christ as Lord and Saviour

(2) This means …

(a) that you have already put on Christ

(b) This means that you have taken on the characteristics, virtues and intentions of that which you put on.

(c) This means that you become like that person/thing

(3) In this case you take on the status of a son of God as Christ was God’s son.

(a) There is now a new relationship between the person who believes and God that is initiated through faith

c) 3:28 he says that all believers have the same status – “sons of God”

(1) “neither Jew nor Greek …”

(a) we see here the controversy in the background

(b) Paul is saying it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew who culturally keeps the Torah law or if you are a Gentile who doesn’t

(c) Once you become a believe you have a new status that wipes out all other status that you may have had

(2) Nobody gets a preferred status – we all are just sons of God

(3) How much better can you get than that?

d) Galatians 4:1-3 describes what it was like as the people of God before Christ while under the law

(1) Uses analogy of a “child”

(a) Back in those days children had no more rights than slaves

(b) They were under the supervision of:

(i) A pedagogue who was responsible for discipline in the child’s life(ii) A teacher who was responsible for academic teaching in the child’s life

(2) Verse 3 : “so also when were in slavery to the basic principles of the world”

(a) Basic principles of the world = “Mosaic law” (decalogue handed down to Moses)

(b) “slavery”

(i) That law had power over them (ii) The law dominated them and had force over them(iii) They were subject to it in that they were supposed to live it out as God’s way of living, but they couldn’t(iv) Galatians 3:22-23 says. “But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed”.(a) Try to break a sinful addiction on your own strength – you won’t be able to do it.(b) There was a study of youth offenders who were given Christian teaching to help reform them. The success rate in the Christian youth offenders prison was much greater than those prisons without Christian influence.

e) Galatians 4:4-7 tells of the new status under Christ

(1) Two things:

(a) “God redeems …” v. 5

(i) this is what God does(ii) he pays the penalty for our sin(iii) redeem = buy back our debt before God (our sin – the cert. of indebtedness)

(b) We receive …

(i) This is what our response should be(ii) To receive, accept the redemption that God has bought us

(2) V. 4-5: When we receive redemption we receive the “full rights of sons”

(a) We inherit everything that is God’s – the whole world (compare Romans)

(3) V 6: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out “Abba, Father”.

(a) We receive a loving relationship with our Father God

(i) This is primarily a relationship that Christ’s death on the cross opens up to us(ii) “god sent the Spirit of His son into our hearts”(a) heart – seat of our intellect, emotion, and esp. the center of our moral and spiritual life.(iii) V. 6 “calls out” – greek word showing great emotion often used of an inarticulate cry(iv) “abba” = Aramaic for “father” and means a close relationship with God the Father(a) Loving atmosphere(b) Including loving discipline for our betterment – to conform us to the image of Christ(c) A loving Father – child relationship which cares too much to just let the child do whatever he/she wants therefore there is loving discipline(d) There is a new service – the child sees the goodness of the Father and wants to serve Him and follow Him and imitate Him(i) Children are great imitators(ii) Paul says, “imitate me as I imitate Christ”(v)

(4) V 7: “so you are no longer a slave, but a son”

(a) Jesus liberates us from the domination of sin which has force over us

(b) This through putting us in a relationship with the Father, not by giving us rules to follow

(c) We move from slaves to the law (the moral code we can’t live up to) to sons of God!

(d) This does not mean that now we can do whatever we want as a son

B. Illustrate

C. Apply

1. “no longer slaves to the law”

a) means we are no longer slaves to whatever we believed in before coming to Christ

(1) for some it was a type of law or relgious rules

(2) for some of us it may be a very secular believe in

(a) materialism

(i) whoever dies with the most toys wins(ii) you are as successful as the amount of things you have

(b) entertainment (hedonism)

(i) Nintendo ds(ii) Wii(iii) Movies(iv) Computers

(c) Self

(i) The idea that life should be focused on me, me , me and what I want(ii) I am the center of my world

(3) These things are tiring

2. no longer even a combination of son and religious rules

a) I’m afraid that many of us live under this rubric including myself

b) We are purely sons and that it all

III. Conclusion

A. Prayer for

1. “receiving this redemption that Christ bought us”

2. “receiving our loving relationship of a son”

8 - The Freedom of the Cross

Jeff Fry — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:42:17 GMT

8 – Freedom of the Cross

by Jeff Fry

Darwin Park Community Church, UK

Galatians 2:17 "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. ¹⁹For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

Thesis: We are free from our ego through the cross

I. Intro

A. Review

1. Suffering of the Cross

2. wickedness of the cross

3. Forgiveness of the cross

4. Victory of the cross

5. Notoriety of the cross

6. Cover of the cross

7. friendship of the cross

B. This Week: The freedom of the cross - we are free from our ego through the cross.

II. We should be free from our ego through the cross

A. State

1. Background on Galatians 2:17-21

a) Setting is a controversy and disagreement between Jewish and Gentile believers in Galatian church

b) Jews requiring circumcision and Jewish rules to be followed to be accepted in the church

c) Gentile believers don’t follow these rules and therefore are excluded by Jewish believers

d) Conflict arose so much so that Paul had to call Peter to account for his actions

2. Paul saw through the conflict by teaching on the cross

a) Galatians 1:9 emphasizes the gospel – “if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned”

b) Galatians 3:1 ephasizes the crucifixion – “you foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.”

3. Unpacking Paul’s language (again – previously it was the union w/ Christ language : “with Christ”)

a) V. 19 “For through the law I died to the law …”

(1) What does “died” here mean?

(a) To cease all relations with it

(b) So if Paul died to the law then he ceased all relations to the law and stopped living by the law

(i) Christians have

(a) Died to the law

(b) Died to sin

(c) Died to the world

(c) Paul saw the purpose of the law as an instrument used by God to bring us to the point where we are no longer dependent on it for living our life in order that we might be more alive to God (by the Spirit).

b) V. 19 “so that I might live for God

(1) What does “live” here mean?

(a) To come into relaitonship with someone, to join yourself to some other entity

(b) Paul is saying that he will come into a living relationship with God in a personal, non-legal way

c) V. 20 “I have been crucified with Christ”

(1) This is not the physical death of the Christian but the spiritual idea that we are united with Christ in His death

(2) Again the “with Christ” phrase should immediately tell you that we are talking about “union with Christ” concepts.

(a) Ephesians “you have been raised with Christ”

(b) Colossians

(i) 2:12 “having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith”

(ii) “God made you alive with Christ”

(3) now we are taught that we are united with Christ in his dying (separation, ceasing a relationship – but with what?)

d) “and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me”

(1) What is this saying? It is saying that I don’seek to fulfill my desires, but Christ’s desires.

(2) Christ is the example: In the crucifixion, the cross, Christ gave himself for us (Paul says this very thing in the second half of v. 20)

(a) He didn’t want to die – he struggled with it in Gethsemane

(b) But he threw off His desires and obeyed God and went and did God’s desire for him.

(3) being crucified with Christ means that the cross enables us to give up ourselves, our egos

(4) Paul doesn’t live for the wishes of himself, but for the wishes of Christ

(5) the cross causes us to die to our ego, our selfishness. We are freed from ourselves and given Christ’s Spirit to live in us.

B. Illustrate

1. ian was telling me that last week on Sunday he had tickets to see the football match just at the time of our service. But he gave them away and came to church instead.

a) This is dying to self, to ego and letting Christ live through you – that means allowing Christ to sit on the throne of your life and direct your life instead of self.

b) It is interesting to me to reflect on how God blessed our worship time last week too.

c) That’s what happens when you yield to God

C. Apply

1. You can err in two ways :

a) Too positive a self-image (think too highly of yourself)

b) Too negative a self-image (think too lowly of yourself). I’ll concentrate on this one for the sake of time.

2. Satan will have a field-day with our ego.

a) What gets in the way of our dying to self and living to God is our own need for self-worth and self-validaton.

b) One of the basic needs of man is to know that he is significant and to feel that he/she is worthy

c) We seek this, we search after it, we pursue this significance in our life.

(1) But we substitute our God-given self-worth for a fake. Such fake substitutes are::

(a) Work (if I’m good at my work then I’m significant and I’ll be rewarded for it with a lot of money)

(b) Status – we seek positions of status to make us feel worthy

(c) Power – we seek positions of power and then we feel worthy because we are powerful.

(2) WE ALREADY ARE WORTHY IN GOD’S EYES – WE DON’T HAVE TO EARN IT THRU FALSE SUBSTITUTES

(a) We are worthy because we are created in God’s image which is good

(i) Genesis says that we are all created in the image of God.

(ii) That image of God has been tainted by sin (through the fall) but it is still in us and being renewed and regenerated in Christians as Christ is formed in us.

(b) We are worthy because we are a new creation (ARE a new creation, not WILL BE) (2 Cor. 5:17). This means we are already under the new regime of Christ and have His power of the indwelling Spirit to overcome sin.

d) When we start looking to outside sources for our self-worth then Satan can manipulate us

(1) If I start to think that my self-worth is linked to my preaching then I might start to covet preaching

(a) Step on that other guy who wants to preach

(b) Crush this guy, I criticize that other guy who just spoke to lift my own self up

(c) Don’t let anyone else preach, etc etc

(2) Or worship leaders could start to depend on their worship abilities to give them self-worth instead of Christ.

(a) Then they start comparing themselves to others and if they determine that they are better then they feel good about themselves, if they don’t then they feel lousy

(b) Satan has got you with this thinking!!

(i) You will never be sure if you are better

(ii) It is devisive which is just what Satan wants

(iii) It is focused on you getting glory, not Christ (bad theology according to the Bible which says God gets the glory)

(iv) It is an untrue picture of your self-worth because the world creates illusions of self-worth but God gives a true picture of self-worth.

3. Ego is the opposite of unity. We need to start working together as much as possible as a team and so it’s impotant that we understand this

a) Sunday school

(1) Sunday school workers have to work together . If we let our ego get in the way then we start to think only of our own needs and wants and we are the centre of the world.

(2) If we have died to ourselves, and we are living to Christ, the most important thing is not you and what you want but that the children learn about the love of God in Christ

(3)

b) Worship

(1) Ego can easily get in the way of worship and the worship team. It can become all about me and my playing when the focus needs to be about Christ and God being lifted up and worshipped.

(2) We can get so wrapped up in what others think of my playing and how I am doing that we lose the real purpose of worship – that you fade away and that Christ is exalted.

(3) But when we die to self we no longer are trying to get kudos and strokes from what we are doing.

(a) Victory over ego: WE already have kudos and strokes from God – all we need.

(b) We already know we are accepted and loved and of great value because of the cross –

(i) Accepted – Christ have removed the separating barrier

(ii) Loved and of great value – Christ gave his life for us

c) Preaching

(1) I have to be careful to always focus on lifting up Christ and glorify Him in all we do. Not to draw attention to myself but to draw attention to Christ. If I am living to God then motive and desire in preaching will be only to obtain glory for God.

d) Hospitality

(1) Serving teas to people as they come in

(a) Comment in the Guest Book : “Thank you for your warm welcome”

(2) Setting up chairs

e) Technology

(1) Computer slides

4. Freedom from ego/self is important because Satan will try to divide us by using our egos against us, but God will try to unite us.

a) We must rebuke the spirit of divisiveness as Satanic and embrace the spirit of unity from God as we work together

b) John 13:35 says, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”.

III. Conclusion

A. So, we should let the cross illuminate for us the aim of our life – not ourselves, but Jesus.

B. “… no longer do I live, but Christ lives in me” (2:20)

7 - Friendship of the Cross

Jeff Fry — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:36:26 GMT

7 – The Friendship of the Cross

by Jeff Fry

Darwin Park Community Church, UK

Ephesians 2:11-19

¹¹Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-- ¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. ¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household

Thesis: We should feel the friendship of God through the cross

I. Intro

A. Review

1. Suffering of the cross

Thesis: we must cross-suffer like Jesus (Hebrews 12:1 – “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles that we may run the race …”

2. Wickedness of the cross

Thesis: the cross justifies the wicked

That means you and me – we are sinful, ungodly, wicked

God doesn’t accept good people trying to be right in his eyes, God accepts wicked people who are willing to receive the forgiveness bought for them through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross

3. Forgiveness of the cross

Thesis : we must live as forgiven sinners

Picture is that humanity all are in body bags which represent their sin – they can’t breathe spiritually and are dead (what would it feel like and be like to be trapped in a body bag where there is no oxygen and you can’t breathe?)

The cross pops the body bag and lets fresh air in and the person comes alive

Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins

4. Victory of the cross

Thesis: we must live in the victory of the cross, not in defeat.

Evil powers hold a certificate of debt against us. This is an IOU before God of all our sins that we have committed.

“having cancelled the written code (certificate of indebtedness) … he took it away nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14)

So, when Satan throws up your sins in front of your face again say to him

“What of it. I have a rescuer Jesus Christ who took away that guilt and nailed it to the cross never to be seen or remembered again.

These past sins and traumatic events which happened to me cannot be brought up again against me.

I am not defined by my past, but rather by who I am in Christ.

5. Notoriety of the Cross

Thesis: God purposed that everyone should know about the cross

Colossians 2:15 says, “¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them (in public), triumphing over them by the cross.

Have you ever thought about why Jesus’ death was so public? Because that’s the way God wanted it.

Someone last week said that in this way there would be a lot of witnesses – and that is exactly right.

And all would hear about it.

And we are God’s ambassadors

That is our calling and purpose – to tell others about the cross and the good news of it.

6. The Cover of the cross

a) Thesis: We should be thankful that the cross covers us from the wrath of God

b) Romans 3:25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished

c) Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!

d) God still hates sin and must punish sin but in His love He sent Jesus to take our punishment for us.

B. This week

1. We should experience the friendship of God through the cross

II. We should feel befriended through the cross

A. State

1. Get our head around the passage : Read Ephesians 2:11-19

a) Background of Ephesians 2:11ff

(1) Paul throws up two symbolic men

(a) Letter addressed to Gentile believers

(b) Gentile believers as described in Eph 2:11ff

(i) “uncircumcised” (v. 11)

(ii) “separate from Christ” (v. v. 12)

(iii) “excluded from citizenship in Israel” (v. 12)

(iv) foreigners to the covenants of promise (v. 12)

(v) “without hope” (v. 12)

(vi) “without God” (v. 12)

(vii) “far away” (v. 13)

(viii) “aliens” (v. 19)

(ix) “foreigners” (v. 19)

(c) Jew

(i) “the circumcision” (v. 11)

(ii) “to those who were near” (v. 17)

2. The friendship of God reaches out to us

a) God takes the initiative because he loves us

(1) We were enemies of God

(a) Ephesians 2:16 says, “and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility”.

(b) Reconciliation assumes a broken relationship which is then reconciled, put back together, healed, mended, made right.

(i) For us today “to reconcile” = “to make friends”

(ii) Reconciliation means there are two sides who are at odds with each other

(a) For example, in Romeo and Juliet there was the Montagues and the Capulets

(b) Two feuding families

(c) Before we trusted Jesus we were enemies of God (wrogiem) and needed to be made his friend.

(d) Why were we enemies of God? What made us enemies of God?

(i) We rebelled against God knowingly or unknowingly via our sin (ie. our defiance of God, our neglect of God, our breaking of God’s law, avoidance of God, etc)

(e) Colossians 1:21 says, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death …”

(i) The relationship is described with words such as “alienated”, “enemies (in your mind)”.

(a) “mind” = emotions, acts of the will, totality of man’s spiritual nature

(ii) God is perfectly holy

(iii) Every one of us is a sinner (i.e. not perfectly holy)

(iv) The cross takes care of the sin problem and rips up the certificate of sinfulness (debt)

(2) God made the first move to restore the relationship with us (we didn’t make the first move)

(a) God sent Jesus to die on the cross when we were still sinning against Him and when we were His enemies rebelling against Him

(i) Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(ii) God risked rejection

(iii) God’s love was unconditional to our performance, attitude, achievement, accomplishments, attainments, looks, talents, abilities, etc.

(iv) He laid the gift of Christ out for us even while we were in a state of rebellion against him.

(b) 1John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us”

(c) I John 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

(i) While God is just and must punish sin, His first and natural reaction is love. That is why he sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin instead of punishing us. Sin was punished (this is the justice part) and we were spared (this is love).

(d) So, what? Why does the cross make any difference to us?

(i) It changes everything. It enables friendship with God.

(a) Col. 1:21 “once you were alienated … But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death ….”

(b) Paul is saying that through the cross our relationship with God has changed – from enemies to friends

(c) “once” in verse 21 refers to our pagan, pre-Christian past

(d) “but now” refers to our present standing before God as believers in Christ

(e) this is our spiritual standing before God or as some theologians say, “this is how God sees us as believers”

B. Illustrate

1. Who is your worst enemy? Think of the person you are most at odds with, that is most repulsive, that you would least enjoy spending time with and multiply that by 1000! That is how we were to God. We were morally repulsive people. But God loved us anyway and sent Jesus for us and we became God’s friends.

a) When we say we love someone what we mean is this – Jane and Ben are walking down the beach in the cool evening sun. Ben says to Jane, “Jane, I love you. I love your beautiful, brown, flowing hair, your smooth skin is so soft to the touch, your button nose is so cute, your smile makes me feel great …” But you’d never catch Ben saying, “Jane, I just love your greasy hair, your wrinkled skin, your bulbous nose and your constant frown just really turns me on.”

b) But God’s love is extraordinary: Morally we are the person with the bulbous nose, greasy hair, wrinkled skin, bad breath, etc. etc and He still loves us. He wants to be our friend.

C. Apply

1. We are to reflect God in our life as much as we can. What does it mean for us that God took the initiative to love and have a relatoinship with dirty, rebellious, morally disgusting sinners like us?

a) How are we to relate to others who we may not enjoy being around for one reason or another?

(1) They are rude

(2) They are arrogant

(3) They are pompous

(4) They are boastful

(5) They are insulting

b) Are there any types of people that you have a hard time loving?

(1) God doesn’t say you have to be their best friend but He does call us to love them (all men even men we don’t like).

(2) Where would it have left you if God had treated you conditionally?

c) How does God’s love teach us to love others and to relate to others esp. the fact that He took the initiative to love us?

(1) God is the God of relationships – Father , Son and Holy Spirit – the three in one.

(2) When is the last time you took the risk and initiated a relationship with someone?

(3) What keeps you from initiating relationships with others? Fear, rejection, uncertainty? Where do you think these negative thoughts are coming from – God or Satan?

(a) We relate to others best out of a firm knowledge of who we are in God’s eyes

(i) Accepted by God

(ii) Secure in God

(iii) Significant in God (this is a main part of the Freedom in Christ course)

(4) How do you picture God? Do you see yourself lovingly accepted by God or is God distant, cold and suspicious of you? How was your own father toward you? We often project our own father onto God the father and this can give us problems if our father was cold and distant.

(a) My Dad & the kite

III. Conclusion

A. God wants to be your friend! The cross is His way of making that relationship happen, it is His invitation to you to be freinds …

1. like one big text message from God saying “I love you and want to be your friend”

2. It’s like a giant symbol of God telephoning you or stopping by your house just to spend time with you - forever.

3. It’s God building a bridge over the huge chasm of separation so that you can be together with Him.

B. God has taken the initiative to befriend you by sending His own son to reach out to you and say that He loves you. How have you responded to this incredible act of love by God? (Prayer for the acceptance of starting a relationship with God)

C. God wants to be your friend!

6 - The Cover of the Cross

Jeff Fry — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:21:54 GMT

6 – The Cover of the Cross

by Jeff Fry,

Darwin Park Community Church , UK

Romans 3:25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- ²⁶he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Thesis: We should be thankful that the cross covers us from the wrath of God.

I. Intro

A. Review

1. So far in our series we have covered the suffering of the cross, the wickedness of the cross, the forgiveness of the cross, and the victory of the cross.

a) Suffering of the cross

(1) Thesis: we must cross-suffer like Jesus (Hebrews 12:1 – “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles that we may run the race …”)

b) Wickedness of the cross

(1) Thesis: the cross justifies the wicked

(2) That means you and me – we are sinful, ungodly, wicked

(3) God doesn’t accept good people trying to be right in his eyes, God accepts wicked people who are willing to receive the forgiveness bought for them through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross

c) Forgiveness of the cross

(1) Thesis : we must live as forgiven sinners

(2) Picture is that humanity all are in body bags which represent their sin – they can’t breathe spiritually and are dead (what would it feel like and be like to be trapped in a body bag where there is no oxygen and you can’t breathe?)

(3) The cross pops the body bag and lets fresh air in and the person comes alive

(4) Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins

d) Victory of the cross

(1) Thesis: we must live in the victory of the cross, not in defeat.

(2) Evil powers hold a certificate of debt against us. This is an IOU before God of all our sins that we have committed.

(3) “having cancelled the written code (certificate of indebtedness) … he took it away nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14)

(4) So, when Satan throws up your sins in front of your face again say to him

(a) “What of it. I have a rescuer Jesus Christ who took away that guilt and nailed it to the cross never to be seen or remembered again.

(b) These past sins and traumatic events which happened to me cannot be brought up again against me.

(c) I am not defined by my past, but rather by who I am in Christ.

e) Notoriety of the Cross

(1) Thesis: God purposed that everyone should know about the cross

(a) Colossians 2:15 says, “¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them (in public), triumphing over them by the cross.

(b) Have you ever thought about why Jesus’ death was so public? Because that’s the way God wanted it.

(c) Someone last week said that in this way there would be a lot of witnesses – and that is exactly right.

(d) And all would hear about it.

(e) And we are God’s ambassadors

(i) That is our calling and purpose – to tell others about the cross and the good news of it.

B. This week: We should fall down and thank God for putting our punishment onto His Son.

II. WE should be thankful Christ deflected our punishment

A. State

1. We have been following themes of the cross from Colossians 2:10-15 but today we will depart from Colossians while we keep on this theme. My idea came from the mirror of Colossians, Ephesians 2:3 which talks about those outside of Christ as “the objects of wrath”. Then Ephesians 2:4 says “but God ….” as if God changed that … how?

2. Have you ever considered that the cross of Christ shows the wrath of God against sin

3. Wrath of God is one thing that people, even ministers and theologians, do not speak about much these days. It’s not PC (politically correct), it’s not pleasant, it’s not nice! Tolerance is in, truth is out! Modern man is above making God out to be wrathful and angry with sin. We must put forth a kinder, gentler sort of God!!

a) One well-known British scholar hated this verse because he was so much against God being wrathful that when translating the NEB Bible he was heard to have muttered under his breath “what rubbish” at this passage!

(1) His reasoning was that in John 3:16 it says that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son …”

(2) So, this wrath must be brought on by ourselves by being disobedient and destroying ourselves rather than from God

(a) Some Christian made up a limerick about him: “There was a professor called Dodd who name was exceedingly odd he spelled his name if you please with three D’s while one is sufficient for God!”

(3) But the problem is that this is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is found not to wink at sin, but to hate sin and to even react with wrath and punishment against that which defies him.

(a) Yes, God’s nature is love, but this must be balanced with God’s justice – ie. God hates sin and will punish it.

(b) God cannot ignore sin or wink at sin

(c) God is not ammoral or distant or asleep

(d) God doesn’t see Mother Teresea and Hitler the same!

(4) God is wrathful toward us because of the sin we have committed. He must punish and condemn sin to be just.

(a) 2 Thessalonians 1:5 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power

b) It is recounted of CS Lewis, famous Cambridge Professor and Christian, that after hearing a young man’s sermon on judgment he had some advice. He had heard the man say,
“If you do not receive Christ as your Savior, youwill suffer grave eschatological ramifications”. After the service Lewis asked the young man, “do you mean that a person who doesn’t believe in Christ will go to hell?” “Precisely said the young man. “Then say so”, Lewis advised.

4. That God has a wrathful aspect to his nature is a true and Biblical picture of God.

a) Psalm 7:11 says, “God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses His wrath everyday.”

b) God is not morally flabby and lax.

c) Numbers 14:18 says, “‘The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty’

d) In the NT Jesus spoke clearly and plainly of hell being a conscious place of terror, pain and judgment for those who do not repent and turn to God and thank Him for rescuing them from such an eternal hell through Christ.

5. Having said all that let’s look at our passage: Romans 3:25 says, “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood …”

a) Where is wrath in that passage?

(1) “sacrifice of atonement”

(a) First, the context

(i) Romans 1:18-3:20 is Paul’s recounting and telling us about the fact that all men are under God’s condemnation on account of their evil ways and sin.

(ii) In 3:21 Paul takes a turn with “But now a righteousness from God …”

(iii) So, Paul is now telling how this sin is dealt with

(b) Next, the word “sacrifice of atonement” is one word in the Greek and refers to the OT sacrificial system on the day of atonement

(i) Literally it usually refers to the cover of the Ark of the Covenant

(ii) Here is refers to “the means of satisfying God’s judgment and removing sin”.

(iii) The word is used over 20 times in the OT (while only 2 in the NT) and conjurs up many OT images. Once a year on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) the priest would go into the Holy of Holies to offer atonement for the nation.

(a) Firstly he sprinkled the blood of a perfect goat onto the cover of the Ark so he could continue the ceremony without fear of judgment due to his own sins.

(b) Second step was that he offers the sin-offering of a goat to take away the sin of the people.

(c) Third, Aaron lays his hands on a second goat (the scapegoat) as a symbol that the sins of the people had been transferred to this goat and sends him outside the camp to die.

(d) Therefore, in this context of Romans 3:25 the word comes at us with both its meanings (a double-sided coin) – firstly, to remove the judgment or wrath of God and secondly to remove sin. Today we will look at the fact that Jesus averted or deflected God’s wrath.

b) What is this passage saying?

(1) Knowing what we know now about the phrase “sacrifice of atonement” meaning to “satisfy God’s wrath” who can put this verse in their own words –ie. what does it mean?

(a) “Jesus’ death for us was …” who can finish the sentence?

(i) God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement = God presented Jesus as a way to deflect His wrath which should have been poured out on us for our sins. Instead this wrath and punishment were poured out on His Son.

(ii) Isaiah 53:5 says, “ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

(a) That punishment, that crushing, than piercing should have literally been done to us for our sin

(b) But instead God (in the Father) presents the sacrificial offering (in Christ) because of His love for us.

(i) God’s love stands over us as well as his wrath and therefore He takes the punishment and condemnation in the death of Christ.

(ii) He must because he is just. He can’t just dismiss and waive that sin of ours.

B. Illustrate

1. One night I was at the pub with a friend and as we were leaving around 11:30pm or so we got to talking at the door with a young man and young woman –probably in their 20’s. The man especially was less inhibited thanks to the pub and was quite open to talking with us. We started on the topic of God. The woman began to say to me … “I was hoping God would send me someone I could talk to. You see I’m a murderer ….”

a) Guilt, wrath

b) Jesus – appease, avert, absorb

C. Apply

1. I usually look for a practical application for you to take home. I found this hard to do for this talk. But I think it maybe is this that God wants us to focus on is:

a) The fact that our sins caused such great suffering of Christ on the cross

b) The fact that we should have suffered like this in eternity for our sins

2. Therefore we should give thanks daily that God was so loving as to put himself forward to receive this punishment in our place.

III. Conclusion

A. I remember when my understanding of the cross moved to a deeper level. Growing up as a kid I went to church and Sunday school and heard the story of Jesus’ life and death. Initially the death of Christ struck me as an unfortunate event that such a good man who had done so much good to others was put to death so violently by a few who were jealous of him. It was not much more than a historical story in which the perpetrators of the crime of his death didn’t make sense in doing what they did. It was not until my first year at university that the cross and its meaning reached a deeper level when I heard that I was sinful and separated from God, condemned by
God for my sin. Now that was a shock. But then I was told that there was an answer – the death of Christ on the cross for me. Now that was news that I had to think about. That was deep. And my understanding of this good man’s death started to take on new dimensions that fit so well with all the rest that I knew about him. This utterly bad news (sin) and good news (payment for sin by death) seemed to make more and more sense out of a senseless killing. I began to see God’s purpose in it all. I began to see a beautiful love of a Father for His children. And now of a just judge too who cannot wink at the evil of sin.

B. I remember preaching to my brother, mother and sister about why Christ had to die on the cross. It now all made sense why this good man had to die and I wanted to share it with my loved one.

C. Share the great news with everyone.

5 - The Notoriety of the Cross

Jeff Fry — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:36:38 GMT

The Notoriety of the Cross

By Jeff Fry

Darwin Park Community Church, UK

Colossians 2:11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Thesis: Everyone should know about the cross.

I. Intro

A. Review

1. So far in our series we have covered the suffering of the cross, the wickedness of the cross, the forgiveness of the cross, and the victory of the cross.

a) Suffering of the cross

(1) Thesis: we must cross-suffer like Jesus (Hebrews 12:1 – “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles that we may run the race …”)

b) Wickedness of the cross

(1) Thesis: the cross justifies the wicked

(2) That means you and me – we are sinful, ungodly, wicked

(3) God doesn’t accept good people trying to be right in his eyes, God accepts wicked people who are willing to receive the forgiveness bought for them through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross

c) Forgiveness of the cross

(1) Thesis : we must live as forgiven sinners

(2) Picture is that humanity all are in body bags which represent their sin – they can’t breathe spiritually and are dead (what would it feel like and be like to be trapped in a body bag where there is no oxygen and you can’t breathe?)

(3) The cross pops the body bag and lets fresh air in and the person comes alive

(4) Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins

d) Victory of the cross

(1) Thesis: we must live in the victory of the cross, not in defeat.

(2) Evil powers hold a certificate of debt against us. This is an IOU before God of all our sins that we have committed.

(3) “having cancelled the written code (certificate of indebtedness) … he took it away nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14)

(4) So, when Satan throws up your sins in front of your face again say to him

(a) “What of it. I have a rescuer Jesus Christ who took away that guilt and nailed it to the cross never to be seen or remembered again.

(b) These past sins and traumatic events which happened to me cannot be brought up again against me.

(c) I am not defined by my past, but rather by who I am in Christ.

B. This week

1. Thesis: everyone should know about the cross

II. Everyone should know about the cross

A. State

1. Review the passage: Read Colossians 2:10-15

a) Background:

(1) Occaision: written to dispel false teaching that was being taught at Colassae regarding a “better” way to open communication between man and God than Christ. Some were teaching that one needed to apply certain rules and regulations and deny oneself in a way that would open up communication between oneself and God through the agency of angels.

(2) Christ was being replaced, so Paul called them back to Christ.

2. God is good at PR. Does that surprise you?

a) God is a great believer in advertising,

b) He is great at getting the word out

3. Have you ever considered why Jesus’s death was so public?

a) Why was he put up on a hill for everyone to see and then hung on a cross like a criminal to die?

b) Why wasn’t it more like John the Baptist’s beheading – private, with dignity

c) We are going to find out why

4. Col 2:15 “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

a) “having disarmed the powers and authorities”

(1) these are the powers of evil which were holding the certificate of indebtedness against us which used to be their main weapon against us.

(2) God ripped up this document which listed our sins against us by nailing it to the cross in Jesus’ death for our sins

(3) The evil powers have nothing against us now – they have no weapon they can wield against us

b) “he made a public spectacle of them” is literally “to mock in public” (Colossians 2:15)

(1) The first word “to mock” implies that the mocking is public but just to make sure Paul adds “in public”

(2) So, Paul is emphasizing that Christ’s public death on the cross was symbolically a victory parade where the captives were marched

c) “triumphing over them by the cross”(NIV) should literally be “leading them in triumphal procession through the cross”

(1) It was well-known that after a victory the Roman army would lead their captives in a victory parade through the streets of the city with the general of the army leading the parade.

5. Why was Christ’s triumph so public?

a) To remind us that the cross is to be put before all men as an invitation of forgiveness in Jesus

(1) Since there is only one way to God, Jesus, this one way must be made known.

(a) Contrary to popular opinion the Bible does not teach many roads to God, but it teaches that there is only one Messiah and Saviour, Jesus Christ

(b) Uniqueness of Christ

(i) Colossians 2:10 says, that only in Christ is the “fullness of deity”(ii) John 14:6 says no one comes to the Father except through Christ. (iii) Colossians 2:14 says that only Christ destroyed the debtor’s certificate that stood against us and kept us from God (iv) C S Lewis was asked, “Of all the religions of the world, what makes Christianity unique?” he said, “That’s easy: grace”. All the other religions of the world you have to earn your salvation, but in Christianity Christ has purchased your salvation by the cross.

(2) We are the main channel to get the message out

(a) 2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.

(b) “ambassador” = a person who takes an official message from one kingdom to another kingdom

(i) messages are usually of an important or urgent matter(ii) he/she is ready to go anywhere in the world that he is needed(iii) delivers the message and usually tries to persuade the recipient of the importance and content of his message

(c) “Therefore, go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit …” (Matthew 28:19)

(d) you have been called to be an ambassador for Christ by taking the message of this victory to your friends, family, neighbours, work colleagues, etc.

(e) When is the last time you took your calling seriously and shared your faith with someone, invited them to church, gave someone a tract about the message?

b) So that God would be glorified

(1) “triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:15)

(2) The triumph is God’s and this victory parade is God’s not ours.

(3) The issue is sin, not how good we are.

(a) Sin is what is counted against us not a lack of good works.

(i) The certificate of indebtedness that stands against us has written on it all our sins, not our lack of good works.

(b) God forgives us our sin in Christ through the cross

(c) God takes away the certificate of indebtedness and rips it up nailing it to the cross

(d) We are accepted before God on that basis, not on the basis of our good works being great enough to tip the scales in our favor. Thus God gets the glory not us for our salvation.

(4) When man turns to his own efforts in religious ritual and traditions there is no glory for God, but only mans putrid smelling self-effort which always falls short.

(a) Colossians 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. ¹⁹ He has lost connection with the Head …”

(b) God has set the way to get to Himself and it is Christ and Christ alone, not through our own efforts to gain His acceptance.

B. Illustrate

C. Apply

1. who are you hopeing to share this wonderful message of hope with? Who is on your list (maybe one neighbour, one work colleague, one family member)? Who are you praying for?

a) This is our calling

b) This is what we are here for

c) Are you fulfilling your calling as an ambassador for Christ?

2. I was recently walking with a man on the school run to school and he was Polish and he asked me if we could meet and he could speak some English with me …

a) We can talk about anything

b) I can share my testimony

c) God didn’t bring him into my life by accident

III. Conclusion

A. So, the cross is not a symbol of defeat, but a symbol of the public victory of God over the powers of evil.

B. The cross was a public event to remind us that the message of this victory was to get out to all people and that we are the means to get the message out.

C. What a great message to share:

1. You can have a second chance – your past can be put away and you can walk into being a new creation in Christ – a new person.

2. You can rip up your guilt-deeds because God has nailed it to the cross

a) Not long ago I had a young woman come up to me in a pub almost out of the blue and share with me a very sad story about the guilt she had from her abortion

b) She said to me, “I’ve been wanting someone to come and talk to me about God because I’m a murderer …”

(1) That’s how she saw herself and she was seeking release from all the guilt she had been living with since that abortion and do you know how great the news was when you can say to these people that Christ can take that guilt-ridden deed and rip it up and nail it to the cross forgetting it forever and you can become a NEW CREATION through Christ.

#4 - The Victory of the Cross

Jeff Fry — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:30:20 GMT

#4 - The Victory of the Cross

By Jeff Fry, Darwin Park Community Church, UK

^NIVColossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Thesis: We must live in the victory of the cross, not in defeat.

I. Intro

A. Review

1. So far the series on the cross has covered the suffering of the cross, the wickedness of the cross and the forgiveness of the cross.

2. the suffering of the cross:

a) Thesis: we must cross-suffer like Jesus

(1) To cross-suffer is to throw off sin like Jesus threw off the temptation to walk away from the cross in Gethsemane. Sometimes we are tempted to be disobedient, to walk away from what God has called us to, and disobey – we must turn away from sin and do what is right.

(2) We do this by praying to God for strength, by reading the Word, by filling our mind with the truth of Scripture, and by opening ourselves to God’s Holy Spirit (ie. when we read the Word we listen to the Spirit, when we pray we listen to the Spirit).

3. the wickedness of the cross:

a) Thesis: the cross justifies the wicked

b) The death of Christ was in order to allow the wicked to come to God. Note – the cross’s work makes it possible for the wicked to come to God, to be forgiven, to be cleansed and come before a holy God.

c) Romans 4:5 “However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.”

(1) This negates the medieval Christian belief that those who are holy by the good deeds that they do will be acceptable to God. This was the idea of the monastary – to shut oneself off from the sinful world so as to obtain holiness on one’s own power. That’s why the catholic church still insists today on naming people saints when they do special things for God – they have to have attributes of charity and heroic virtue, they have to do a miracle, and the Pope must recognize them as a saint (canonization). The true Christian doesn’t become a saint by doing special things for God, but by believing in a Special Person, Jesus Christ.

(2) That’s why the Bible calls all who trust in Christ saints. Ephesians 1:1 “… to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus”.

(3) Compared to God’s holiness and perfection and without-sinness, we are all wicked (ie. sinful or ungodly).

(4) The only condition in romans 4:5 needed to become “right” in God’s eyes is to trust or believe in God and Christ Jesus.

(5) All of us are ungodly because all of us sin and are ungodly (or wicked)

(a) - Isaiah 64:6 “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

(b) I’ll never forget when I was in Poland and a friend and I went to the Catholic Seminary library to do some research. The seminary was there to serve the students training to be priests. When we got to the door of the big, old library building we found that there was a person (a priest) whose job it was to observe the comings/goings of all the people coming into/out of the library. As soon as we approached the door, he stopped us and explained that secular people are not allowed into the library that it is only for the holy clergy. We explained that according to the Holy Scriptures we had been deemed saints by God because the righteousness of Christ had been counted to us through our faith in Him and he let us in!

(c) Romans 10:3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

4. the forgiveness of the cross:

a) Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,

b) Thesis: we must live as forgiven sinners

(1) Christ forgave us unconditionally (remember the prodigal son – the Father forgave him before the returning son said a word to him about being sorry)

(2) We must forgive others in this way

(3) To not forgive others means that you torture yourself with bitterness and gaul according to Matthew 18:32-35 when the servant did not forgive his fellow servants like God had forgiven him.

(a) Verse 35 says that if we do not forgive our brother from our heart then God just leaves us to be tortured in our bitterness.

B. This Week

1. Thesis: we must live in victory, not defeat.

II. We must live in victory, not defeat

A. State

1. Why are so many Christians leading defeated lives and not having victory over sin in their lives but still living in bondage?

2. Do we really know how to handle Satan’s attacks against us?

a) Tactic 1: Accusation:

(1) One of Satan’s main ways to attack us is by using lies to accuse us and thereby beat us down spiritually until we give up.

(2) It’s a merciless spiritual beating that he gives us where he throws our past sins up in our face at us until we despair, until we see ourselves as not worthy, until we stop seeking fellowship with other believers, until we stop coming to the Lord in prayer making our requests known to him, until we are so devoid of God that our life sinks into the pit of hell

b) Tactic 2: Ignorance

(1) He will keep the truth of Scripture and therefore of God out of our minds so that we can’t defend ourselves against his lies

c) Tactic 3: Isolation

(1) He will keep us from enjoying fellowship with other Christians which is meant to encourage one another in our faith so we don’t give up.

(2) We recognize that we can’t help you adequately enough at just these Sunday church service meetings. That’s why we have the small group mid-week meetings where we can encourage each other in specifics of what is going on in our life.

(a) If you want to get involved in a group or host a group at your house please let me know.

3. How do we handle these attacks so that we aren’t defeated but instead live victoriously over sin in our lives? Colossians has a lot to say about this.

4. What God has done for you: We must understand this! This is so foundational to the Christian life that if we don’t understand first what God has done for us in Christ we will get our whole Christian life upside down. This comes first. Before we can live the Christian life rightly we must understand what God has done for us and not try to get right with God by doing good works

a) Quote by lewis Sperry Chafer

(1) What is your motive for doing right? I suppose that above anything else in the world you want to honor God with the right kind of a life. I believe that, men. You do not need to convince me of that. But what is your motive? Why do you want to live right? Is it in order that God might accept you or is it because He has accepted you? … Ninety-nine out of one-hundred people who are members of our Protestant churches today … think their job is to win the favor of God and they do not know that they have the favor of God from the moment they believe on Christ. … He has given you everything that He ever required and that is yours right now when you believe. Never are you called to fall back on the merit system. … Are you living the best you could because you were set right, or did you live the best you could hoping to be set right?

b) . Let’s look at what Colossians has to say about what God did for you when you first believed and trusted Christ as your saviour from sin:

(1) Spiritually we are united with Christ which means where Christ is there also am I.

(a) Called “Positional Truth” or our “position in Christ”

(b) Colossians 2:11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ¹²having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

(c) Ephesians 2:5 … it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

(d) So, we sit with Christ at the righthand of the throne of God in holiness and full acceptance before God only because of Christ and our union with him. We were connected to Christ and joined with him at the waist when we believed. Where he is there we are.

(e) Yes, God hates sin still. Yes, God is angry with sin still. Yes, God’s wrath is poured out on sin still. But this hate, anger and wrath toward sin has been deflected onto Christ now. That’s the point of the cross. We should have been punished for our own sins. But He took our place on the cross and bore our sins. We are cleansed before God and clean and holy - all because Christ has paid the penalty of our sin on the cross.

(f) So, when Satan throws your sins back into your face and by that sends you to the pit of hell, proclaim to him that instead you sit in heaven with Christ at the righthand of God the Father almighty by your union with Christ.

(2) Christ has destroyed the certificate of indebtedness

(a) Colossians 2:14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

(i) “written code” = certificate of indebtedness which listed what you were in debt for (ie. the things owed)

(ii) sort of like an IOU to God due to the sins committed

(b) Satan loves to arm himself with this document and wave it before us (hand out the document)

(i) He accuses us with it

(ii) He stirs up guilt in us

(a) We feel so guilty for certain things we have done or said

(b) Specific things we have done which we know have been awful he loves to bring up over and over against us condemning us until we feel no good, worthless and useless esp. to Christ but even in general.

(c) We are overcome by the guilt

(d) We are crushed by the guilt

(c) Christ disarms the devil by ….

(i) Taking away the certificate of indebtedness

(a) Colossians 2:14 “having cancelled the written code …he took it away nailing it to the cross”

(b) Literally the Greek terms used are:

(i) “having cancelled” = “wiping away or rubbing out” (lit. Gk)

(ii) “took it away” = “pick up or lift up from the midst of them”

(c) Christ decisively removes this IOU certificate by dying on the cross to pay it off.

(d) Isaiah 43:25 uses the same Greek word in the Greek version of the OT

(i) “I am the one who wipes out (ἐξαλείφων) your iniquities and I will not remember them”^{^[1]}

(e) the sins are not even remembered by God and cannot be brought up against you ever again

B. Illustrate

1. George Müller was a great man of faith. He emphasized meditation on the Word and prayer throughout his Christian life. Yet he learned a few things about communion with the Lord as he grew. Though he had spent time in prayer as the first thing after dressing himself in the morning, he now saw that spending time in meditation on the Word was the first thing he should do, not prayer per se. As he puts it, his heart was thus “comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, by means of the Word of God, while meditating on it”…“brought into experiential communion with the Lord.” Meditation on the word had a way of staying his mind on the Lord. But Müller did not give himself to meditation for the public ministry of the Word, though it obviously influenced his public ministry. His chief end, however, in his private meditations, was the “happiness” (i.e., contentment and joy) of his own soul. It was out of his meditations on the Word that he was inevitably led to prayer for himself and others. Such a process of meditation first, and then prayer, kept his mind from wandering and enabled him to experience God’s blessing and presence more acutely. Devotions done in the morning, in this way, prepared him to meet the challenges and temptations to come throughout the day.

2. The Word of God reminds us of who we are and is the perfect anti-dote to the lies of the enemy.

C. Apply

1. Some of you will learn that you must aim your spiritual weapons at the devil’s attacks. He knows your weakness, He knows where you feel the most guilt, he knows where your mind is weak on the truth and is most liable to accept a lie. You must aim Scritpure at that lie. That area of your life is called a stronghold – it just means an area in which your thinking isn’t in line with holy Scripture (2 Corinthians 10)

a) Stronghold Buster – a list of Scripture passages that is aimed at Satan’s prevalant lie in my life.

b) need to use a “chain reference bible” so that you can amass a list of verses aimed at the area.

c) For example, “purity”

(1) Go to http://www.studylight.org/con/tcr/

(2) There you can get the chain for that word (note: it returns all passages that deal with the idea of purity, not just the verses that have the word in it – even better!)

III. Conclusion

A. You must take time to learn how to fight the devil. He is not going to make it easy. It’s a battle and there is much at stake.

1. One of the most regretful things in war is civilian casualties. If you are oblivious to the battle and walk out onto the battlefield without any amour especially the Word of God, then you will be a casualty. You will be defeated and maybe not survive the fight.

B. Remember two key truths today:

1. God has united you with Christ and where He is there you are too (at the righthand of God the Father almighty, resurrected and with new life)

2. God has destroyed the IOU document that Satan waves in your face all the time with the guilt and shame that are all attached to it. You wave in his face the cross of Christ.

^{^[1]}O'Brien, P. T. (2002). Vol. 44: Word Biblical Commentary : Colossians-Philemon. Word Biblical Commentary (126). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

#3 - The Forgiveness of the Cross

Jeff Fry — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:52:43 GMT

The Forgiveness of the Cross

By Jeff Fry, Darwin Park Community Church, UK

Thesis: We must live as forgiven sinners.

I. Intro

A. Review

B. This Week

II. We must live as forgiven sinners

A. State

1. Read the passage: Colossians 2:13

2. Getting our head around the passage:

a) Background to Colossians:

(1) False teachers were present in Colossians and some of what Paul writes is to answer this false teaching. Catchwords of the opponents are:

(a) In Col. 2:8 Paul refers to their teaching as “philosophy” of the false teachers

(b) In Col. 2:8 Paul refers to the “human tradition”

(c) Col. 2:9 “all the fullness”

(d) 2:18 “delighting in humility and the worship of angels”

(e) “don’t handle , don’t taste, don’t touch” (2:18)

(f) issues seemed to be food regulations and holy days (why do they submit to these regulations?)

(2) the specific form of heresy is not agreed upon by scholars but probably involved some form of Jewish religious thought that was heresy – e.g. probably angels were involved in this heresy and thought to have been involved in creation and the giving of the Mosaic Law.

(3) Paul is trying to refocus them back onto Christ

3. “when you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your sinful nature”

a) before God gave us spiritual life, we were spiritually dead due to our sins (lit. “wrong doing”)

(1) spiritual death means that we were separated from God, alienated from Him due to our sin

(2) dead people can’t do anything until the are revived (i.e. a spiritually dead person cannot move toward God – he/she has no spiritual life and cannot make a spiritual move until he is resuscitated by God first)

(3) God acts upon our hearts in order to make us alive to Him – therefore the glory goes to God in salvation, not us!

b) “sins” = specific acts of rebellion against God, wrong doing

c) “in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature” = the fact that the non-believer lives in a constant state of disobedience toward God

(1) Two ways of looking at it:

(a) They are good people aren’t they – they don’t kill anyone, they don’t steal, they generally aren’t mean, etc, etc.

(b) But the real question is: do they strive to please God in all they do, say and think? Do they love God, do they thank God for what He has given them, what He is giving them right now, and what He will give them? Do they allow God to direct their decision-making? Do they please God? Do they allow God to be Lord of their life?

(i) Is not this ungratefulness to God?

(ii) Is this not ignoring the One who gives you your next breath?

(iii) Is this not an offence to God?

(iv) Is this not rebellion?

(v) Is this not disobedience?

(vi) Have they been less than loving? Less than kind? Less than sympathetic? Wrongfully indulged their natural desires? Cut moral corners? Take easy ways out? Are they at all self-centred? Are they lost in self-pity?

4. “God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins”

a) when God forgave our sins he took away the cause of our spiritual death – then we were made spiritually alive because sin no longer held us in its grip of death.

5. “having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us.

a) “written code” = certificate of indebtedness handwritten by the one who was in debt listing all his debts

(1) our IOU before God – “I am guilty on this account, on that account, on this other account, etc. etc.”

b) “with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us” = the Mosaic law which is not only the 10 commandments laid down by Moses but all the other laws in the first five books of the OT written by Moses (Pentateuch)

(1) since nobody has been able to perfectly obey all these laws then we are all guilty of breaking the law of God (the regulations that were against us).

(2) Have you ever stolen? Have you ever coveted something that belonged to someone else?

6. “he took it away, nailing it to the cross”

a) “he took it away” = God utterly destroys the written certificate of indetedness by destroying it

b) because Christ has been nailed to the cross our sins have been forgiven.

B. Illustrate

1. Illustrate: ripping up a piece of paper which has all your sins written on it and throwing it into the rubbish bin – all gone and never to come back against us again.

2.

C. Apply

1. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

a) A command to be kind and forgiving

b) Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus tells the story of the “Unmerciful Servant”

(1) A servant owes his king (God) millions of pounds

(a) Have you ever been in debt? You know what it feels like

(b) The King ordered the man and his wife and children and all they had to be sold to pay the debt

(c) The servant begged and pleaded with the King and the king cancelled the debt and let him go.

(2) The man goes free but then demands that the money due to him from his fellow servants be paid back. When they don’t pay, he has them thrown into jail.

(3) The king said to him, “You wicked servant,” he said. I cancelled all the debt of yours because you begged me to . Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.” (32-34)

(4) The man who does not forgive is tortured

(a) “don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:26-27)

(b) You are the one who suffers if you do not forgive someone as the enemy will take advantage of it and create …

(i) Bitterness

(ii) Resentfulness

(iii) Even physical ailments if it is over a long period

(5) Dr. Neil Anderson of Freedom in Christ ministries says that he estimates that over 50% of the problems he encounters in Spiritual Warfare counselling are due to unforgiveness

(6) God knew what he was doing when he had Jesus die on the cross.

(a) Forgive each other just as in Christ God forgave you

(b) Nothing can break down a relationship more than unforgiveness

(c) Nothing can break down a church more than unforgiveness

2. Who do you need to forgive today?

a) God has forgiven you millions and millions of pounds of wrong doing

b) Can you forgive someone you know like God has forgiven you and put years and years of enmity and rage and anger away so that you are not tortured anymore?

c) Maybe it’s your spouse, one of your parents, a sibling, a child, a work colleague, a former teacher, a boss – whoever. Don’t delay, don’t give the enemy a place to get at you.

III. Conclusion

A. So, don’t torture yourself. Forgive and experience peace that you’ve never experienced before.

#2: The Wickedness of the Cross

Jeff Fry — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:05:06 GMT

The Wickedness of the Cross

By Jeff Fry

Darwin Park Community Church, Lichfield, UK

^NIVRomans 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? ² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-- but not before God. ³ What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." ⁴ Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Thesis: We should rejoice that the cross justifies the wicked

I. Intro

A. Review

B. This Week: We must rejoice that the cross justifies the wicked

1. subpoint: we are rebellious sinners who have been less than loving to others, less than sympathetic, self-centred, and lost in self-pity.

II. We must rejoice that the cross justifies the wicked

A. State

1. Read the passage Romans 4:1-5

a) Background:

(1) The believers in Rome were a mix of both Jew and Gentile.

(2) One of the early church controversies was – what must one do to be a Christian? This still persists today with differing denominations teaching different answers – liberal , Roman Catholic, etc.

(3) Paul is explaining in Romans how all men – both Jew and Gentile – are under the penalty of sin in the same way. Now that Jesus has come salvation is open to both Jew and Gentile alike. The issue to be dealt with is sin and nationality brings no advantage in that endeavour.

(4) How do we become right in God’s eyes?

(5) Previously the Jews in the Old Testament times would earn this right standing before God by obeying laws both God-made and man-made. For example, dietary regulations, circumcision, and observing things like certain religious festivals.

(6) But now that Jesus has come and died, a new way of righteousness has come

(7) “this matter” in v. 1 refers to this matter of justification and whether it is by the law (i.e. works) or by faith. “Justification” (usprawiedliwienie) means “just as if I’d not sinned” and is a legal term used in a court of law meaning to declare the accused not guilty or innocent of a crime.

(8) The context here is the cross as we see from Romans 3:22-25 which says,

(a) “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sineed and fall short of the glory of god, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”

b) Why does Paul use Abraham here as an example of salvation by faith alone? (Ans: Abraham was the most important OT character for the Jews – he was called “Father Abraham”. The Jews erroneously used Abraham as an example of someone accepted on the basis of works, but actually he was accepted on the basis of his belief or faith, not on the basis of what he did. This is obvious from Genesis 15:6 which says, “Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness” – notice the “it” in this verse refers to “believed” – i.e. faith, not works. The promise was that Abraham would have offspring as numerous as the stars even though he and Sarah were very old and childless.)

c) In verse 3 What is the authority for Paul in solving this controversial matter? (ans: Scripture just like it is for us – he refers to Genesis 15:6)

2. Romans 4:3-5 “What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." ⁴ Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness”

a) He could have had inheritance papers drawn up for his servant, Eliezer (see Genesis 15:2), to become the inheritor of all that he owned. But instead he trusted God who said that he would have a son.

b) This faith in God’s word was what made Abraham right in God’s eyes, acceptable in God’s eyes.

c) It wasn’t anything that Abraham had done – any law kept, or serviced performed or ritual enacted that made him right before God. It was faith.

d) “work”: In other words the language of Genesis 15:6 is not language that says that Abraham received his due pay (i.e. right standing before God / acceptance) for his work performed, but rather it is language that signifies that he received a gift for believing God (no work was done).

e) The most amazing bit is when Paul says, “ … but trusts God who justifies the wicked …”

(1) It is not good people that God justifies as if there were any good people, it is sinners, the ungodly!!

(a) This emphasizes again that the justification of God doesn’t come from being good, earning it or anything done to merit this forgiveness of the cross

(b) The forgiveness that flows from the cross can only be had by faith

(c) If you don’t approach it through trust and faith in God’s word then you can’t have it.

(2) It implies that man is not good, but wicked or ungodly.

(a) This confers with the rest of Scripture. Consider:

(i) Ephesians 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

(b) We are describe as rebels, disobedient to God and repressing the truth.

(c) This comes out when we give in to temptations to wrongfully indulge natural desires, we evade moral and spiritual issues, we cut moral corners, take the easy way out, we are less than loving, less than sympathetic to others and are generally self-centred and lost in self-pity.

(3) But this fact that man is not good, but evil is generally becoming less and less believed in this world today. And this makes the cross irrelevant to people if they don’t believe that they are sinners needing salvation through the cross!

(a) Because modernism (belief in human reason and rational thought to deliver us from our predicament – ie. reason has failed to delier a morality that works in the real world) is dying out to Postmodernism (disbelief in a universal truth thus allowing relativism and pluralism to flourish).

(b) The upshot of the postmodern idea that there is no universal truth is that there is no evil. And therefore there is no need for the cross.

B. Illustrate

1. This week’s interaction

a) “I am a minister”

(1) like in Christian?, he asked

(2) do you believe in the Bible?

(a) Yes, but I explained that the Bible is often misinterpreted but I have total faith in the truth of the Bible if interpreted correctly.

(3) I asked, “Have you read the …”

(a) Parts

(4) My next would have been, “What part don’t you believe in the Bible?”

b) We were working together and we were commenting on a third person’s actions. Question came up between the two of us was this third person’s moral status – good or bad.

(1) He said good.

(2) I said there is good in there but that generally I believed that left alone on their own, without God, a person is generally self-centred, less than loving at times, cuts moral corners, takes the easy way out etc etc.

(3) Then the third person did something that all of us would probably say was wrong and even he was against! What then – are they still good?

(a) Postmodernist ideas can’t make sense out of reality, the world we live in (e.g. that there is evil or bad – for that to be true there has to be an absolute right and wrong).

(b) Ask the postmodernist if the Nazi holocaust was good or evil? If they don’t say evil then they must say good. If they say it is good can this remain unchallenged?

(c) There must be some criteria, some standards of judgment, that allow one to exclude certain viewpoints as unacceptable.

c) If there is no wrong or right there is no sin, if no sin then the cross is utterly meaningless as a means to pay the penalty for this sin.

C. Apply

1. How do we share with someone who is under the influence of this type of thinking?

a) The ability of God to satisfy the deepest human longings

b) The ability of Christianity to form true community where people love one another, love god, and love their neighbour

c) Relativism settles nowhere and nothing as we’ve just talked about; faith in God anchors people , giving them stability and purpose as well as a moral compass that works (wisdom)

d) Christianity gives a framework for making sense of experience

e) Solutions for feelings such as guilt, forgiveness, -> the cross.

III. Conclusion

#1: The Suffering of the Cross

Jeff Fry — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:03:56 GMT

The Suffering of the Cross

By Jeff Fry, Darwin Park Community Church, Lichfield, UK

1 Peter 4:1-2 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. ²As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God^{^[1]}

^NIVHebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. [in what? – in your struggle/suffering to throw off sin] ⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Thesis: We must cross-suffer like Jesus did.

I. Intro

A. Review

B. This Week: Christ was sent by the Father to suffer and die for our sins. The Scripture also says that as Christ was sent so are we. We are also meant to suffer on our road to inheriting the glory of heaven. This suffering is inevitable as we seek to throw off sin in our lives.

II. We must cross-suffer like Jesus

A. State

1. Review the passage (1 Peter 4:1-2 and Hebrews 12:1-5)

a) 1 Peter 4:1-2

(1) “arm yourselves with the same attitude” – what attitude? (ans: the attitude that Christ had toward his suffering – he suffered in order to deal with sin once and for all). We should have this attitude too – to throw off sin even if it takes suffering.

b) Hebrews 12:1-5 (Read context : Hebrews 11:35-40)

(1) Background: Hebrews 11 –

(a) The Hall of Faith (play on “The Hall of Fame”)

(b) Great fathers of the faith who were known for living by faith (living by and trusting in God’s word)

(c) Hebrews 11:35-40 – the examples of suffering

(2) What are we to throw off? (everything that hinders, esp. the sin that so easily entangles)

(3) In doing so, who or what are we to focus on or set our eyes on? (Jesus)

(4) And what is it about Christ that we are to consider especially? (ans: the opposition he suffered from sinful men)

2. v. 1 What is cross-suffering?

a) Answer: throwing off hindrances and sin that keep us from our relationship with God

b) The struggle, the fight is for our relationship with God. The enemy wants to stifle your relationship with God.

c) It is assumed that Christians will be fighting against sin by the power of the Holy Spirit

(1) This is natural for all true Christians

(a) That we hate the sin we see in us

(b) That we fight against it

(2) That we are in a race of faith

(a) Our own personal faith journey with God

(b) God has a purpose for us here and it is

(i) To glorify him by living by faith in His word

(ii) God rewards those who live by faith

d) Illustration

(1) The picture is of a runner who is in a race to win:

(a) Everything that hinders (even though it is not bad in and of itself)

(i) Tank tops with no sleeves so as not to hinder arm movement

(ii) Very light, short, shorts so as not to hinder his/her running

(iii) Shoes are light and if you are in track you would even have little spikes on the shoes so as to get better grip on the surface

(iv) Runners go into strict training

(a) Regular training

(b) Requires discipline

(c) Special diets

(2) You are in the race of faith and in order to make any progress spiritually you must throw off anything that hinders you and the sin that so easily entangles you.

(a) Some things that hinder you may not even be bad things in and of themselves but may be holding you back in your spiritual life

(i) Too much tele, not enough devotional reading

(a) We can never miss our favourite tele program but we easily miss our time alone with God

(ii) Greed for money or possessions

(a) Another new car

(b) The latest ninetendo video game and countless hours playing it and no time spent with God

(b) The sin that so easily entangles you

(i) You know what it is

(ii) Often in the family – one that you will see that down the generations your family members too dealt with – generational

(a) Alcoholism

(b) unfaithfulness

(c) outbursts of anger

(d) problems with sexual lust

(e) perfectionism

(f) caustic, critical tongue (my example)

(iii) Satan will focus on this one and loves to play this card on you

(iv) If you are not aware of this sin then the enemy will have a field day with it.

(v) Freedom in Christ course

3. V2 how do we cross-suffer?

a) Expect opposition like Jesus had when you throw off sin and hindrances

(1) “let us fix our eyes on Jesus … who for the joy set before him endured the cross … consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart”

(a) implicit is that we will suffer like Christ when we start to do battle with sin and try to start throwing off hindrances

(b) Why?

(i) Because our world is secular for the most part

(ii) Because when you start to throw off sin you will come into conflict with a sin-saturated world

(a) For example putting an honest days work in and working hard at your job and not taking advantage with extra long breaks, resting when supposed to be working, etc

(b) You will face opposition for those who are cutting corners and being dishonest

(c) Sin is often subtle

(iii) 1 Peter 4:1-5 1 Peter 4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. ² As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do – living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead”

(iv) Illustration – Campbell software (software piracy)

b) Expect to share the glory of Christ when you cross-suffer

(1) Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

(2) Jesus who suffered on the cross and then received his reward is our example of what will happen to us.

(a) We will receive a reward

(b) We will share in the glory of God

(i) Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs-- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. ¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

(3) Don’t grow weary of throwing off hindrances and sin because you will receive your reward

(a) Illustration: those of you who serve here every Sunday will receive your reward as this is a form of sacrifice and suffering

(b) I know your suffering in preparation and time away from family and certainly God sees it.

(c) You have to throw off the sin of laziness and discipline yourself to prepare worship or Sunday school and then you have to give up the rugby match on tele to be here to do whatever it is you are doing.

(d) Don’t think that God doesn’t see your service to him. You are storing up for yourself a glory that is going to be far more worthwhile than the rugby match on tele (even if England does beat Wales!).

(4) You can’t share in this glory if you don’t cross-suffer (throw off hindrances and sin)

B. Apply

1. Have you cross-suffered in the last year?

a) If not, why not?

(1) Must ask yourself - Are you really pursuing holiness – throwing off sin and hindrances to your relationship with God?

(2) Effort is implied

(3) Hebrews 12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

2. How are you working to throw off sin in your life? Sinful thoughts, sinful actions, sinful habits, sinful attitudes, sinful words

a) Focus on Christ and the way he threw off sin and hindrances during his life which led to such opposition from worldly men that they put him on a cross and crucified him.

b) Romans 12:1-2 – renew your mind with Scripture (soak your mind in Scripture – your mind is a sponge and Scripture is the water being soaked up into it – the truth)

c) Stronghold buster explained – in our Freedom in Christ course we will learn how to target the “sin that so easily entangles us” (stronghold) and bust its hold on us.

III. Conclusion

A. The suffering of the cross is our suffering too.

1. you don’t have to go seeking suffering – just pursue holiness and suffering will be a by-product of it

2. that’s cross-suffering : throwing off hindrances and sin

B. Prayer for those who

1. are not cross-suffers yet to become cross-suffers

2. are growing weary and losing heart of cross-suffering – that they will experience anew the promise of the glory they are storing up for themselves in heaven

^{^[1]}The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (1 Pe 4:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.