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The Wrong Kind of Cross-Centered · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Cross centered. We put that compound adjective before nouns like
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  Speaker 1: life or preaching or church, cross centered life, cross undered preaching,
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  Speaker 1: cross centered church, And for over twenty years it has
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  Speaker 1: been a catchphrase in the American Reformed world. Cross centered.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, the concept is far older in the Navigator's
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  Speaker 1: Bible reading plan. Today we read First Corinthians one, verses
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  Speaker 1: eighteen to thirty one, where Christ crucified is the power
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  Speaker 1: of God and the wisdom of God. That's according to
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty four, the cross of Christ is the sharp
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  Speaker 1: edge of the sword that meets all the fake and
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  Speaker 1: false hopes of this world. The cross is essential to
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  Speaker 1: our ministry, and it is so essential according to legend,
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  Speaker 1: Charles Spurgeon once told preachers that every sermon should make
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  Speaker 1: a bee line to the cross, a bee line to
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  Speaker 1: the cross. Whether he actually said that, it's doubtful. But
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  Speaker 1: he did this very thing, and that's quite obvious. He
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  Speaker 1: took every sermon to Calvary. And with good Friday tomorrow,
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  Speaker 1: it's a timely topic today on askpestor John the wrong
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  Speaker 1: kind of cross centered? We get their Bestor John, because
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  Speaker 1: you say some controversial things, even some perplexing things, in
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  Speaker 1: your book on preaching, expository exultation, your New One, Expository Exaltation,
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  Speaker 1: specifically in chapter sixteen, that chapter on expository Exultation and
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  Speaker 1: Christ Crucified Part two that we might live to righteousness,
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  Speaker 1: which is basically a chapter on one Peter two twenty four,
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  Speaker 1: which is a key text for you. Here. Not only preachers,
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  Speaker 1: but lots of people who listen to preaching would love
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  Speaker 1: to hear you, I think, explain more fully what you're
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  Speaker 1: getting at when you criticize the method of preaching that
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  Speaker 1: begins with a text and makes a bee line to
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  Speaker 1: the cross. You say that the beeline should be to
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  Speaker 1: the cross and then from the cross as well. Explain
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  Speaker 1: why why does this matter so much to you?
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  Speaker 2: I am really exercised about this because because of the
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  Speaker 2: way I have seen the pattern of the New Testament distorted,
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  Speaker 2: the pattern of the New Testament distorted in the name
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  Speaker 2: of making much of the Cross of Christ and of
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  Speaker 2: justification by faith alone. Here's what I mean. There's a
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  Speaker 2: kind of preaching and a kind of treatment of justification
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  Speaker 2: that goes like this. The Bible says, be holy, but
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  Speaker 2: we can't be perfectly holy because we're sinners. Therefore Jesus
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  Speaker 2: Christ came into the world and was perfectly holy on
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  Speaker 2: our behalf. Therefore, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
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  Speaker 2: his holiness will count as your holiness. And of sermon,
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  Speaker 2: go in peace. So you make a bee line from
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  Speaker 2: all the imperatives to the cross, get justification, clear, make
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  Speaker 2: the people feel better, and dismiss them. That's the sermon.
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  Speaker 2: That is absolutely not the pattern of the New Testament.
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  Speaker 2: The pattern of the New Testament is this. The Bible says,
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  Speaker 2: be holy. We can't be perfectly holy because we're sinners.
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  Speaker 2: Therefore Christ came into the world and was perfectly holy
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  Speaker 2: on our behalf. Therefore, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 2: and his holiness will count as your holiness. Now in
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  Speaker 2: the power of this justification and freedom, the freedom and
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  Speaker 2: power of the Cross, go be holy. End of sermon,
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  Speaker 2: Go in peace. The point of hundreds and hundreds of
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  Speaker 2: biblical imperatives concerning holiness and love and justice is not.
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  Speaker 2: The point of all those imperatives is not you can't
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  Speaker 2: do them. Christ did them trust him in a message.
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  Speaker 2: That's not the way the New Testament reads at all,
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  Speaker 2: not even close. The point Rather of all those imperatives.
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  Speaker 2: Is that Christ died to use the words of Romans
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  Speaker 2: seven to four, so that in union with him, we
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  Speaker 2: might die to the law, belong to another, to him
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  Speaker 2: who is raised from the dead, in order that we
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  Speaker 2: might bear fruit for God. That's Romans seventy four. The
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  Speaker 2: aim of the death of Jesus and our union with
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  Speaker 2: him and justification was that we might belong to him
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  Speaker 2: and bear fruit for God. Christ died for us that
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  Speaker 2: we could obey biblical imperatives by the power of the
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  Speaker 2: blood of Jesus and the Spirit of God. Not perfectly
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  Speaker 2: in this life, of course, we're not perfectionists, but rather real,
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  Speaker 2: real transformation, confirming a real, supernatural change. The Cross of
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  Speaker 2: Christ is glorious not only because it purchases forgiveness and justification,
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  Speaker 2: but also because it purchases new power to be holy
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  Speaker 2: and causes us to be holy and warns us against
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  Speaker 2: the dangers of not being holy. The thrust of the
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  Speaker 2: New Testament is not to end with a celebration of justification.
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  Speaker 2: I say that again, the thrust of the New Testament
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  Speaker 2: is not to end with a celebration of justification, but
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  Speaker 2: to end with a celebration of the glory of God
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  Speaker 2: manifest in blood bought sanctification. Another way to say this
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  Speaker 2: would be, don't just make a beeline to the cross
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  Speaker 2: and stop with the celebration of justification. Rather make a
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  Speaker 2: beeline from the cross, from the power of the Cross
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  Speaker 2: to the hundreds of commands in the New Testament that
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  Speaker 2: describe our sanctification. That's the direction of the New Testament.
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  Speaker 2: It's the achievement of the cross, in the practical transforming
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  Speaker 2: power of the Cross that gives it a public glory.
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  Speaker 2: The New Testament takes us to the cross in order
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  Speaker 2: to send us from the cross, justified, forgiven into a
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  Speaker 2: newness of life and holiness. Over and over again, the
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  Speaker 2: Bible says that it was the purpose of the cross
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  Speaker 2: to make us holy Romans eight three. By sending his
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  Speaker 2: own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
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  Speaker 2: he condemned sin in the flesh. That's one of the
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  Speaker 2: most beautiful statements of substitutionary punishment in the Bible. He
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  Speaker 2: bore our condemnation in his own flesh in order that
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  Speaker 2: the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us,
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  Speaker 2: who walked not according to the flesh, but according to
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  Speaker 2: the spirit. In other words, Christ was condemned in our
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  Speaker 2: place so that we would walk according to the spirit
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  Speaker 2: and fulfill the just requirements of the law, namely love.
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  Speaker 2: As it says in Chapter thirteen of Romans one Peter
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  Speaker 2: one eighteen, you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited
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  Speaker 2: from your forefathers with the precious blood of Christ. In
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  Speaker 2: other words, we weren't just delivered from guilt and condemnation
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  Speaker 2: by the Cross. We were delivered from lifestyles inherited from
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  Speaker 2: our parents Verse Peter two twenty four. Christ bore our
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  Speaker 2: sins in his body on the tree that we might
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  Speaker 2: die to sin and live to righteousness. In other words,
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  Speaker 2: Christ bore our sins, not only that we would be
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  Speaker 2: forgiven for our sins, but that we would stop doing them,
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  Speaker 2: that we would die to sin and live to righteousness.
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  Speaker 2: Tied Us two fourteen. Christ gave himself for us to
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  Speaker 2: redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself
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  Speaker 2: a people of his own possession. Zealous for good works,
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  Speaker 2: Christ died to create a new kind of people who
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  Speaker 2: are zealous for good works. When we're not zealous to
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  Speaker 2: do good works of holiness and righteousness and love, we
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  Speaker 2: dishonor the cross, we contradict the purpose of the cross
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  Speaker 2: Verse Grindin six nineteen. You're not your own You were
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  Speaker 2: bought with a Christ, namely the price of the blood
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  Speaker 2: of the Son of God. Therefore, glorify God in your body.
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  Speaker 2: Christ bought us, just think of it. It bought us
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  Speaker 2: with his own blood, so that we would use our
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  Speaker 2: bodies to make him look glorious. God intends for the
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  Speaker 2: upshot of all redemptive history to be the public glorification
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  Speaker 2: of His great achievements in Christ. Forgiveness of sins and
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  Speaker 2: justification are invisible, they become public. They become visible, a
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  Speaker 2: visible glorification of God on this earth when they bear
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  Speaker 2: fruit in the lives of Christ's people Verse Peter two twelve.
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  Speaker 2: Keep your conduct among the gentiles honorable, so that they
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  Speaker 2: may see your good deeds and glorify God on the
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  Speaker 2: day of visitation. That's the ultimate aim of the cross, forgiven, justified,
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  Speaker 2: transformed doers of good deeds, such that God is publicly
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  Speaker 2: glorified in a transformed people. This is what Paul prayed
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  Speaker 2: for and Philippians won. It is my prayer that you
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  Speaker 2: may approve what is excellent and so be pure and
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  Speaker 2: blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit
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  Speaker 2: of righteousness that come through Jesus Christ to the glory
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  Speaker 2: and praise of God. The practical lived out fruit of
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  Speaker 2: righteousness comes through Christ crucified and results in the glory
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  Speaker 2: and praise of God. That's the pattern of the New
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  Speaker 2: Testament everywhere. So I say, don't just take a text
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  Speaker 2: and make a bee line to the cross and stop. Instead,
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  Speaker 2: take a text, make a beeline to the cross by
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  Speaker 2: all means, make it the foundation for every undeserved blessing
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  Speaker 2: in the Bible Romans eight thirty two. And then make
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  Speaker 2: a bee line from the cross back to that text,
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  Speaker 2: and urge your people to obey it in the power
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  Speaker 2: of the Cross and for the glory of God.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. On Speter two twenty four is worth memorizing. Here
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  Speaker 1: we make a bee line to the cross, and then
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  Speaker 1: we make a bee line from the cross, which really
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  Speaker 1: just echoes Romans eight thirty two, which is another great
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  Speaker 1: text to memorize that he who did not spare his
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  Speaker 1: own son, but gave him up for us all, how
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  Speaker 1: will you not also with him graciously give us all things,
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  Speaker 1: all things, all things from the cross? Its thirty two
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  Speaker 1: bee line to the cross. That a bee line from
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  Speaker 1: the cross with Christ's power in us to obey, because,
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  Speaker 1: as you said, the thrust of the New Testament is
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  Speaker 1: not to end with a celebration of justification, but to
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  Speaker 1: end with a celebration of the glory of God manifested
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  Speaker 1: in blood bought sanctification. That's good. Yeah, we don't ignore
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  Speaker 1: the cross. We celebrate it, and then we use the
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  Speaker 1: power of the cross. We take the power of the
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  Speaker 1: cross that's purchased by His blood to walk out the
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  Speaker 1: door and to pursue holiness with it. And if you've
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  Speaker 1: not read Expository Exaltation, I would highly commend that you
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  Speaker 1: do it. It's a thought provoking book, a soul stirring
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  Speaker 1: book on preaching from Pastor John. And we've been talking
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  Speaker 1: about chapter sixteen here today. Check that out. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: best for John for this episode and for that book,
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  Speaker 1: and thanks for joining us today. If you have a
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  Speaker 1: question to ask Pastor John, find a link to email
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  Speaker 1: us and find our complete episode archive all at the
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  Speaker 1: same place ask Pastor John dot com. Next time, Sex
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  Speaker 1: is Worship. Sex is Worship. I'm Tony Ranky. We'll see
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  Speaker 1: you on Monday.