The Cross
The following are from the notes of the message that Randy (my pastor) gave yesterday on the 'Revelation of the Cross'.


"But God forbid I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Galatians 6:14

No theology is genuinely Christian which does not arise from and focus on the cross.
-John Stott

God's Glory Displayed in the Cross

But Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
John 12:23,24

Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately…where I am going, you cannot come.
John 13:31-33

For in the cross of Christ, as in a splendid theatre; the incomparable goodness of God is set before the whole world. The glory of God shines, indeed, in all creatures on high and below, but never more brightly than in the cross…If it be objected that nothing could be less glorious than Christ’s death…, I reply that in that death we see a boundless glory which is concealed from the ungodly. -John Calvin

Four Pictures of God’s Glory from the Cross

The Justice of God
Romans 3:21-26

·If God did not judge sin He would be ‘unjust’ to Himself.
·The cross demonstrates with equal vividness both His justice in judging sin and His mercy in justify the sinner.


The Love of God

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:5-8

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.I John 4:10

Three marks of false love:
·limitations (something is withheld)
·control (manipulation)
·detachment (self-sufficient and self-protected)

Three marks of authentic love
·Limitless self-giving
·Risk-taking with no certainty of acceptance or success
·A vulnerability that is easily hurt

·The cross can be seen as a proof of God’s love only when it is at the same time seen as a proof of His justice.


The Power and Wisdom of God
I Corinthians 1:17-2:8