More Discoveries at the Cross

For our time of study and God's word this morning, what I, Phil led to do is to continue doing what we were doing, last week, and that is looking at the cross and it turns out there's more discoveries to be made at the foot of the cross. And last week we looked at 6 discoveries that we can make as we gaze upon the cross and, this week we're going to look at 7 additional ones. I was a little frustrated last week in preparing for the message because there were just so many points I had to cut out of the message that I knew we didn't have any time for, but today I want to sweep those things together and make some more discoveries at the foot of the cross.

It turns out there's a lot.

that is inside Christ and Him crucified if we would but take the time to both realize it and then search out those things. The world may look at us gazing at the cross and they're like, Well, what do you see? I don't get it. They don't get it.

It's foolishness to them, but inside is infinite wisdom and treasures of wisdom and insight. in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 2, the apostle Paul is reflecting on his ministry to the Corinthian believers when he was with them earlier. And he says, basically, you guys recall that when I was with you, I determined to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified. In other words, he's saying, when I, when I was with you, I behaved as if that's all I knew.

And you guys would come up and And, try to talk about this guru or this philosopher, and, what these other guys are saying who are traveling through Corinth and, and giving their philosophical teachings. But I kept bringing you back to Christ and Him crucified. I know more than that, but I was content to minister to you as if I only knew Christ and Him crucified. And when you think about the theological assumption and even the practical assumption that underlies that philosophy of ministry, you realize that in the mind of Paul, Christ and Him crucified was large enough to carry all of the freight that needs to be carried of power and glory, transformation and wisdom and insight that believers need for life and godliness.

part of the reason we're focusing on this theme, and I, I didn't intend this at the outset, but But in recent weeks, I've, I've realized that my children are getting older. And I had a son that graduated this, this past week. And, as a, as a parent, I feel and have felt guilt. I'm just asking if I enjoyed them to the degree that I could have and should have, and I think about the parent that I've been, and for every right thing I can point to that I've done, I can think of 5 right things that I failed to do or even mistakes that have been made and sins that have been committed, and I have to an unusual degree, needed to just be at the foot of the cross, and I'm finding abundant grace that is there.

But I've also been just asking myself, when my kids leave our home, what do I want them to take with them? I've tried over the years to teach them, no doubt thousands of things, but, but if they forgot everything, what is the one thing that I don't want them to forget? And what that is, is this Christ and Him crucified. If my children can go forth from our home embracing Christ and Him crucified with that in front of their face, I know my children are going to be OK.

And I know that they're going to find inside of that all of the power, the transformation, the grace and the wisdom and insight that they need. And so just for myself in terms of informing my, my personal life, my walk with the Lord, and also our parenting of our children, these themes have been very prominent to me. And I'm just asking myself, what are the things that I want my children to see at the cross. And so like I said today, what we'll do is we'll make 7 more valuable discoveries at the foot.

Of the cross, 7 more valuable discoveries. And just by way of real quick review, I'm just going to read these off. Last week as we lingered at the foot of the cross, we made 6 discoveries. Number 1, Jesus is the Son of God.

Number 2, God's wrath against sin and sinners is real. Number 3, we must have been helpless to save ourselves, or this would not have been necessary. Number 4, sin is much worse than we imagine. Number 5, God has provided atonement for our sins at great cost to Himself, a cost that we need to ponder.

And then sixthly, we saw that God loves us with an amazing love. Well, there's more for us to discover, and we will try to plumb the depths of the glories of the cross and make some more discoveries today. By the way, did you guys read about the lady over in Israel? And I've got my own suspicions about the story, but she was, wanted to get her mom a new mattress.

Any anyone read about that? She wanted to surprise her mom, get her a new mattress, so she buys a new mattress, takes the old mattress, throws it out, and the garbage people come and pick it up and she puts the new mattress on there and, and presents it to her mom and her mom freaked out when she saw what had happened because her mom had stashed her life savings inside the old mattress, over a million dollars worth. So they were talking this week how this lady is going through the landfills there in Israel looking for a ratty old mattress that in and of itself people might think might not have any value, but there's a great amount of wealth inside and she's feeling pretty bad, but that mattress is very valuable to her because of what is inside.

And the cross is valuable to us because of who is hanging up on that cross, but also it's valuable because of all that we find inside.

And so let's look at some of the things that we do discover inside of Christ and Him crucified. Number one that we'll look at today is this we discovered that God really wants a personal relationship with us. There's no way to live at the foot of the cross, to gaze at Christ and Him crucified, and not come to this startling conclusion that the God of the universe, the King of the universe, wants a very personal relationship with us. And he wants that very badly to such a degree that he is willing to give over his son and death.

Jesus is willing to die so that we might be brought into relationship with God. we often talk about through the cross, we have forgiveness of sins, justification, we're made righteous, and we receive God's Holy Spirit, our conscience is cleansed. And that's all great. And we celebrate that.

But God would say, that's just the small stuff. That's just the stuff that needs to be done to get those things out of the way, to get obstacles out of the way so that you can then be brought to me. And we can have a face to face relationship with each other. As John Piper emphasizes in his book, God is the Gospel.

He essentially says in that book that God is the greatest thing about the gospel. God Himself and a relationship with Him is what makes the gospel truly good news, and we see this as we gaze at the cross and we ask ourselves why. Look at what Peter says. As he serves as our tour guide to explain one aspect of the meaning of the cross, he says in First Peter 3:18, for Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God.

And the idea is so that we would be brought to God. God is looking at us, facing towards us. We are facing towards Him in a face to face relationship with each other. Christ died so that we would be face to face in relationship with God.

I think that's worth us pondering because many times we might just fall into a rut where, as Christians, we just try to mess up or not mess up. you would think we try to mess up sometimes, but we try not to mess up too badly and maybe try to read our Bibles and pray a little bit and, and do some good things. But I would just ask you over this past week, Have you enjoyed face to face relationship or communion with God? Have you had face time with God?

God would say, I sent my son to die so that we could have this face to face relationship. the psalmist in Psalm 16 talks about the pleasure of God's face. In fact, literally in the Hebrew texts, It reads this in Psalm 16:11. He says, like at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

But in that same verse, he says, in your face is fullness of joy. That's literally what it says. He's saying, in your face, I find fullness of joy. And what that means is when I look at your face, God, I see fullness of joy in you.

And as I gaze into your face, it is in your face that I find for myself the experience of fullness of joy. And so the face of God is the greatest good of the gospel and Christ died so that we would be brought to the face of God to behold his face in an intimate relationship with him. Write down this reference. 2 Corinthians 4:6, Paul speaks of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, which is where in the face of Jesus Christ.

That's what God wants to bring us to, to his face so that we could find fullness of joy, and Christ died, so that we could be brought to the very face of God and enjoy intimacy with him. As we gaze at the cross, that's a discovery that we make. Wow, God, I'm amazed that you are this passionate in pursuit of me and wanting this intense of a relationship with me. There's a second discovery we make at the cross.

That I want us to look at this morning, and that is that God the Father can be trusted completely. There's no way you can look at the cross for long at all without observing the trust that Jesus must have had towards his father. And as you gaze at the cross, and read your Bible, looking at the cross, you find out that Jesus trusted his Heavenly Father utterly in all of his suffering. And his dying.

Look what it says in 1 Peter 2:23. He, Jesus kept on entrusting himself to him who judges right, righteously, and he bore our sins in his body on the cross. And so what that educates us about is the fact that we all know in the garden, Jesus said, let this cup pass, but nevertheless, not my will but your will be done. He was essentially entrusting himself over to his Father right there, right?

Well, he not only did it in that moment, but Peter says he kept on entrusting himself. And I want you guys to get a visual of that. as, as Christ was arrested, he's now in the custody of those that are arresting him. But he's saying to himself, No, I'm in your custody, Father.

I'm in your possession. I'm trusting you, Father. And as he stood trial and false accusations were being made against him, Jesus is standing there saying, Father, I trust you. I'm entrusting myself to your care, and I'm praying.

And I'm trusting that you will come through for me as Jesus was punched, as he was slapped, as he was spat upon, as a crown of thorns was placed on his brow and then beaten down into his head with a rod. Jesus is saying, Father, I'm trusting you. I'm entrusting myself over to you. And then Jesus was stripped of his clothes and his arms were wrapped around a large stone, and before the vicious whip even touched his body, He's saying, Father, I'm trusting you, I'm trusting you, I'm entrusting myself over to you who judge righteously.

And he was whipped again and again as the pieces of his flesh were falling from his body. He, he kept entrusting himself to his father as he was laid upon the cross and nails were driven through his hands and through his feet, and as, as his nerves were screaming from the terrific pain of the whole thing, Jesus is saying, Father, I trust you. He kept on entrusting. Himself to his father as he's gasping on the cross, being mocked and ridiculed, he kept entrusting himself to his father.

Even when his father forsook him and Jesus exclaimed, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He still trusted him. In fact, with his dying breath, he said, Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit. Peter is telling us that Jesus kept on.

In trusting himself to God to his dying breath. All the way to the point of dying. Jesus is saying, I, I trust God so much. I will die and leave my well-being to him.

Jesus was buried in a tomb and what happened barely 3 days later, God raised him from the dead. And ascended him ultimately to his own right hand. And Jesus now at the right hand of God looks at us. He's now in the embrace of the Father clothed with majesty and glory, and he says to you and I, he says, Hey, my Father can be trusted.

I totally trusted him utterly through all of the suffering I endured, and he has come through for me. And so as you look at Jesus hanging upon a cross, I want you to see the God man entrusting himself. I want you to see someone trusting his Father, absolutely, teaching us that God can be trusted and whatever whatever sufferings and agonies that we might endure in this world. One of the things we learned from this is that, however, is not, we don't learn that OK, if I just trust God, I won't suffer.

If I just trust God, I'll never be punched and spat upon. If I can just trust God, I'll never be crucified. He won't let me suffer. Is that what we learned from the cross?

What we learn is that through the crosses we can trust God in our suffering, inside of our suffering. Knowing that God will be utterly, completely faithful. And I'm touched personally just by the abandonment of Jesus to his Father's will, completely trusting him. And so my challenge is not to say to you guys, Hey, trust in God.

Trust in God, resolve to trust in God. No, I would just exhort you to gaze at the cross, to gaze at Christ crucified, and you will catch yourself trusting the same Father that Jesus. Himself was trusting through his agonies and his death. There's another discovery that we make at the cross that we can linger over this morning, and that is that God feels pain over the sins of men, and so should we.

God feels pain over the sins of mankind, and so should we. Is it not true that when we gaze at the cross, we see God in pain? Right? God is in pain.

God, the God man is writhing in pain upon a pole. We see God suffering physical pain. We see the God man suffering spiritual pain, as well of our sins being placed upon him and crushing him and being abandoned by his father, whose wrath is falling upon him. In that moment, we see God in pain, and he's in pain partly over the sins of men.

And we learned that we too should be pained by it. Isaiah 53:5, we learned that Christ was pierced from our transgressions. He was crushed from our iniquities. And the question I want to ask you guys is we know that God was experiencing pain on the cross.

But was that the first time God ever felt any pain over sin? Think about it. Was at the cross, God was like, oh, that, that hurts. I've never felt that before.

Was the crucifixion, the first moment that God felt excruciating pain over the sin of man. The answer to that is no. In fact, in the Old Testament we find that God was pained long before over the sin of man, before the flood in Genesis 6, we learned that the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, literally in the Hebrew text, it said the Lord was pained to his heart. He felt pain that cut all the way down to the center of his infinite being.

It wasn't just a surface pain, but he was pained, and he was pained in his heart over the sins of men. We have a God in pain over the sin of mankind in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 63:10, the prophet says, but they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Psalm 78 of the children of Israel.

It says how often they rebelled against him and grieved him in the desert. Again and again they tempted God and pained the Holy One of Israel. God is experiencing excruciating pain over the sin of man. His heart experiences turbulence, literally, in Jeremiah 31:20.

God says, as Ephraim, my son, indeed, as often as I have spoken against him, I certainly will remember him. Therefore, my heart yearns for him. That word yearns means my heart is turbulent. For him.

My heart is turning over and over. Martin Luther translates this, my heart is broken for him. My heart is pained for him. So even in the Old Testament, we have a God being described who experiences pain over the sins that we commit.

So, The cross, one of the agendas of the cross, amongst other things, is that God brought that pain to earth. God puts that pain. He puts His pain over our sin on tangible, visible display so that we could see the intensity of his pain. So there's no way to look at the cross and not know that God feels very deeply about our sin and suddenly we turn from the cross and look at our sin.

And we see our sin differently, and we realize this isn't just a private matter and I can just do whatever I want. No, there's a God who is involved who feels very deeply. He loves me, feels very deeply for me. He is committed to His glory, and I am spiting Him, despising Him, despising His glory.

When I rebel against His wisdom and replace it with my own, there is a God who feels very deeply over the choices that I make, and I need no other argument of that than the cross, which shows me God in pain because of sin. And I learned that I should be Seeing sin this way. Seeing sin differently. sin in my own life differently, and even sin around me and our culture differently.

Listen to what Paul says. 2 Corinthians 11:29, who is led into sin without my, literally without my burning? This is the Greek word for fire. Fire hurts, right?

Who is led into sin without me feeling That burning sensation inside of me. Paul was in pain when he saw other people being led into sin. In Acts 17:16, Paul was observing the idolatry and the paganism. In the city of Athens on Mars Hill, and it says his spirit was being provoked, which is the, this is the word that speaks of something that is sharp.

So like his spirit was being prodded, it was being provoked, it was being, being pierced as he saw. The city full of idols. Paul is in pain as he observes the sin around him. This is the heart of God.

What Paul was feeling was merely God letting him on what God himself feels as he looks at the sin of man, even the Galatians who were beginning to move away from the gospel. And they were beginning to bite and devour one another. Paul says in the book of Galatians, Paul says of them, I am again in labor. I'm in labor.

I'm experiencing labor pangs. And, and for a guy, guys probably can't think of any more intense pain than a woman in labor, right? That's the most intense thing that he can imagine. So.

So you look at these words that are being used here burning pain, being poked and pierced, and the pangs of labor, all of these things Paul experienced as he saw sin around him. Where do you get that? Where do you get that passion, that pain over sin in oneself and, and, and, and sin around you? You get that from, from living at the foot of the cross and observing the fact that very clearly pain is caused in the heart of God over the sin of man.

We sometimes are so casual about Things that we might, we might watch or be entertained by or listen to where, where people are committing sins. And professing Christians will even pay money to go to a movie where actors and actresses are asked to do things that they're going to be damned for if they don't repent, and professing Christians are being entertained by that. Imagine God sitting next to you as you're watching people committing sins against God. God is in pain over those things.

How can we be entertained by such things that break and pierce and burn the heart of God? And if you want to know the passion of the pain of God, God puts it on display on the cross. And so no longer do we see sin as no big deal. It is a big deal in us.

as well as in other people. There's another thing we discover as we gaze at the cross. And that is that God loves the world and so should we. God loves the world and so.

Should we, we, we have to be careful that we are not self-absorbed when we come to the cross. we do need to come to the cross and go, wow, God loves me. This is amazing. God gave His Son over for me, and Christ gave up his life for me.

No one could ever love me more or better than Jesus loves me. We do need to think about all of that and savor that and be committed to walking in the good of that love every day. But we also need to go outside of ourselves and realize he is not just dying for me. He's dying for the world.

He's dying and shedding His blood so that through his blood, he can purchase for himself people from every tribe and tongue and nation across the planet. There is a big agenda here that is going on that goes beyond me. And as I look at the cross, I observe that God loves me. I also observe that God loves the whole world.

John 3:16, a passage that many of us have memorized. I want you to see that verse says, this is the apostle John, who personally witnessed Christ's life and his death. And John is saying, listen, I, I want, I want to tell you how to look at this. All right, I want to show you one of the things that this means.

What it means is this God so loved the world. That he gave up his only son, and the idea he not only gave his son to come into the world, but he gave up his son in death. John points to the cross and says, I want you to get that message from it. God loves you, but God so loved the whole world that He gave up his Son in death, so that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

We all are naturally selfish, self-absorbed. We don't care about other people, naturally speaking, but you come to the cross and you gaze at the cross and you make this discovery at the cross of God's obvious passionate love for the world. You then turn from the cross and you look at the world and now you forever see the world differently. You realize, wow, God loves the world.

Not only does he love the world, but look at how he loved the world. He gave his son, he sacrificed everything. Jesus gave his life for the world. God has loved the world.

at great sacrifice to himself. And I must love the world, and I must love the world with the same sacrificial giving love that God has shown to this rebel world. Number of years ago, I was reading through the The biography of Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China. And in his biography, there's a part of the narrative where Hudson Taylor had decided that he was gonna go to China as a missionary and And leave England.

And you, like today, when someone decides to go overseas to the mission field, it's extremely challenging, but we do have email, there's like instant communication now. There's Skyping and whatever the video, I don't know all the terminology for it, but you can have video. conversations with your family back in the United States and there's just that immediate, contact. But back in Hudson Taylor's day, when you went across the ocean, you had to travel by ship and so the journey often took months.

You didn't even know what awaited you on the journey itself. And as far as any correspondence, that would take months, as well. going back and forth. So there was like a finality about departing one's homeland and going off to the mission field.

Hudson Taylor was burdened to go to China, realizing how much God loved the people of China, because he gave his son for the people of China. But in his biography, he describes the farewell that occurred between him and his mom. And I want to just read this to you. He says my beloved now sainted mother had come over to Liverpool to see me off.

Never shall I forget that day, nor how she went with me into the cabin that was to be my home for nearly 6 long months. So this is going to be a 6 month journey for him and by the way, there's going to be seasickness on that journey. They're going to get caught in a storm that's going to last for a couple weeks. The seasickness was going to be just crazy and a point in the journey where everyone was afraid they were going to die.

And then there was a point in the seasickness where everyone was praying to die. It got so, so awful and unrelenting. So it's a 6 month journey and then look what he says with a mother's loving hand she smoothed the little bed. She sat by my side and joined in the last hymn that we should sing together before parting.

We knelt down and prayed. The last mother's prayer I was to hear before leaving for China. Then notice was given that we must separate, and we had to say goodbye, never expecting to meet on earth again. For my sake she restrained her feelings as much as possible.

We parted and she went ashore, giving me her blessing. I stood alone on the deck, and she followed the ship as we moved toward the dock gates. As we passed through the gates and the separation really commenced. Never shall I forget the cry of anguish wrung from that mother's heart.

It went through me like a knife. I never knew so fully until then what God so loved the world meant, and I am sure, quite sure my precious mother learned more of the love of God for the perishing in that one hour than in all her life before. It was as if in that moment, God the Father was gathering her into his bosom to feel something of what he felt, the sacrifice of giving his son for the perishing. Hudson Taylor goes on to say, oh, how it must grieve the heart of God when he sees his children indifferent to the needs of the wide world for which his beloved, his only son suffered and died.

This is a man who lived at the foot of the cross, and as he gazed at the cross, he, he discovered something, and that is, wow, God loves the world, and that means he loves the people of China and therefore I should love the people of China too. I see a father who sacrificed his son, who gave his son over in death. And so I must love the world with that same love. My message to you guys this morning is not, hey, love the world, love the world.

My message is gaze at the cross and you will see a God who loves the world sacrificially, and you will catch that same love for the world that Hudson Taylor caught from the cross. sometimes we speak to young people. And we tell them, you guys need to be open to whatever God has for you. He created you as he has a plan for your life.

And if God wants you to go onto the mission field, you need to be willing to, to follow him and to do that, and to give your life away for the cause of Christ in that way. And it's good that we give them that message. But I feel like sometimes even more so, we need to give that message to the parents and to challenge parents to be willing to give their children away for Christ. Just like the father was willing to do the same with his son.

And so even parents look at the cross and see what God the Father did in giving up his most prized possession for the sake of a rebel world. And see if God does not touch your heart to be willing to give over your children to whatever it is that God leads them to do for his cause. There's a 5th thing that we discover at the foot of the cross, and that is that God loves the church. And so should we.

God loves the church, and so should we, as you gaze at the cross, you observe that, yes, he loves the world. Yes, he loves me, but, but there's something else also going on, and that is that Christ loves the church. In Ephesians 5:25, Paul tells us how View this, he says Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, the church, and so as you live at the foot of the cross and you observe the love of Christ for the church and sacrificing his life for the church, you then turn and take another look at the church and you see it differently, right?

Before you looked at the church and it's like, man, there's so many messed up people in the church and it's full of hypocrites.

There's so many problems and politics and, and issues and I don't know if I want to want to be involved. There's so much hurt that's there, so much work that's involved there. And often you look at a church and it doesn't seem attractive to you, all right, but you look at the cross and you see Christ laying down His life for the church in love for the church, and then you look back at the church and you say, wow. I see the church differently.

In fact, think about it. Why did Christ give himself up for the church? Look at this. Paul continues, look at these purpose clauses, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, he died and shed his blood so that he could make the church holy, not because the church was impressive in its holiness, but so that he might make her holy.

so that he might cleanse her by the washing of water with the words. He died so that he could bathe the church and wash away the filth that is still there. Verse 27, so that he might present to himself the church and all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Jesus died to be able to fix the wrinkles.

In the church. He died to be able to, to cleanse away the spots that he sees as he takes care of the church between now and glory as he prepares the church for that wedding ceremony in glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but so that she would be holy and blameless. Trust me, guys, when Jesus looked at us, the church, There was not much to die for. No one would have looked at us and said, Man, these are worth dying for.

But Jesus did. He gave his life. Why? So that he could then be washing the dirt, fixing the wrinkles, washing away, cleansing the spots that he sees.

Isn't that amazing? There are people today who are looking for The perfect church. They're looking for a church with no wrinkles. No spots.

No washing is needed. Church is already totally holy. You imagine that on a brochure? who wouldn't want to be a part of a church like that?

Frankly, I'd be afraid to be a part of a church like that because I'd ruin it. But But there are people looking for that perfect church, and they don't find it. So they're like, well, I just, I don't believe Christians really need to be that involved in the church or committed to the local church. But you can't live at the foot of the cross and think that way at all.

When you look at the cross, you then turn and look at the church and you see the spots and the wrinkles differently. And you realize Jesus died to be able to fix those things. So what's my problem? What's my problem?

You want to become a vital part of the Cornerstone family. All you got to do is fill out a form, application form. Answer some questions. Tell us your testimony in a few brief sentences, and sign a church covenant.

After reading through it, attend a membership class, and then hand the packet to the elders, and they take care of the rest and they vote on it and you become a member, and now you can be involved in addressing the wrinkles. and cleansing the spots and speaking God's word, and having a washing effect upon your brothers and sisters and helping to make this church holy and blameless before God in love. That's all you got to do to make that happen. Jesus had to get crucified and to die.

To be able to do that. And he did it. He says, I will die. So that I could be involved in this mess and wash and bathe and cleanse and make something that is now unholy, make it holy so that I can fix wrinkles and spots and make the church.

Into something that is beautiful. You spend much time at the cross, you will see the church differently. You will become more like Christ, place high value on the church. I was very touched a few weeks ago by a young man.

That I'd never met before. I got an email from him. And he's graduating from a, a school in Los Angeles as a pre-med student, I believe, and he's trying to choose a medical school to attend starting next school year. And he sent me an email and says, I'd like to talk to you and interview you.

I've got some questions for you. He says, I'm thinking about a medical school in the Riverside area, but I'm trying to find a solid local church and in the area because I have to find a solid local church in the area before I can commit to a medical school. And in the email and then in person he told me, he says there's other medical schools, schools I'm looking into, but he says I've been on the phone. I've been trying to communicate with pastors in these different locations, trying to find a solid local church real close to these schools.

I can't find any. And he says, but I know some people that go to Cornerstone. And, and I'm really seriously thinking about a medical school here in the area. And get this, he said, the medical school in and of itself is not my first choice.

But I'm almost certainly going to go there because there's a solid local church nearby. And in the phone conversation I had with him, I felt like I was getting the 3rd degree. This guy was like, What do you believe about this? What do you believe about this?

he was just pounding me with questions about our theology, our philosophy, our outreach ministries. He wanted to know what ministries that we have that he might be able to get involved in. He also asked this. He says, I'm a single guy.

He says, Is there any thing you guys have at your church wherein I can be I can be in a relationship with some older people and married couples that can pour into me and hold me accountable because I don't want to just wander around aimlessly without anyone watching over me and holding me accountable. This is like a 21 year old guy who's asking these kinds of questions and demonstrating this priority, and I commended him. I said, I just really appreciate your passion. For the church, and he wouldn't even take the compliment.

He says it's no big, no big deal. He says, My spiritual life is what's most important, he says, I can get a medical degree anywhere, he said, but if I lose my soul in the process, then what is that worth? Man, and what, he's not the only one like that. God's bringing a number of people into our church body with that mindset, and it's a glorious thing to To witness, you want that love for the church, you catch that at the foot of the cross.

OK? You just, you catch it because you gaze into the heart of one who loves the church so much he was willing to die for the church. Some people, when they see spots and wrinkles, they run, they leave, they go elsewhere they go. Other churches until they find spots or wrinkles there, and then they go somewhere else until they find wrinkles there.

Jesus saw spots and wrinkles and unholiness and filth. And he said, I'm going to die so that I can pour myself into transforming and beautifying these people. There's a 6th discovery at the foot of the cross that we make, and that is that we're never alone in any sorrow. We are never alone in any sorrow.

That's an inescapable discovery at the foot of the cross. guys, is it not true that our times of greatest loneliness are when we're in pain? Is that not usually the case? Because we feel like we're inside this circle of pain.

And though there might be people around us even talking to us, nobody knows what we're feeling. No one's feeling what we're feeling. And so we're lonely and sometimes we're at our loneliest, even when people are around, because no one's inside that circle of pain. No one's feeling what I'm feeling.

But what? You come to the foot of the cross and you behold Christ on that cross. You make a discovery, and here's the discovery, Isaiah 53:4. Surely, indeed, our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried, and you discover that not only did he bear my sins on the cross, not only did he bear the guilt of my sins on the cross, but he, according to this, is bearing every sorrow, every grief I ever have or ever will feel.

So I'm not alone in any sorrow, any grief, because whatever I have felt, he has felt. Think of the pains that you have experienced in your life, the griefs that you have carried, the sorrows you have felt, the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship that ripped your heart in two. My heart has bled at times as I've talked with people in this church family. who have been abused And unspeakable ways as children have been violated in horrific ways in their youth.

And you think about the pain, the grief, the sorrow that you, you still, just think of all the ways that made you feel and the grief and the sorrow associated with it. You think of the griefs and sorrows you have over your sin and That you don't know what to do with sometimes and The hurts that other people have caused you. Think of all of your griefs, all of your sorrows, every tear you've ever shed. The the things that no one ever will even know about.

And know, as you look at Christ on the cross, he's not just bearing my sins, he's bearing that too. And whatever I have felt, he is feeling on that cross. So I know now that any grief, any sorrow, any hurt that I ever feel, he felt exactly that. He carried that at the cross.

You can know that I don't know what sorrows await me. On Wednesday of this week, something may happen that leaves me shattered. But I can know whatever griefs may come, Christ has already been there, and he felt that. And so when that grief comes in that moment, I can say Christ is not only here with me now, but he was here 2000 years ago.

He visited this moment 2000 years ago, and he allowed this grief, this sorrow, this pain to be on top of Him. And so whatever I am feeling right now, he felt that at the cross. And so I'm not alone. And it's not he felt it then, but now he's in heaven and he feels nothing.

No, Hebrews 4:15, because he felt all of that at the cross, we now know we don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with us. Literally, he feels together. That's what sympathy means. Whatever we feel, he feels that together with us.

And vividly we see him on the cross and know that he bore all of the pains, all of the sorrows and the griefs that that run through my being. I want you guys this week to say that to yourself with every tear, every sorrow, every hurt, every wound. Jesus felt this. He felt this.

And as bad as this hurts, I am not alone in this sorrow. There's a final discovery and we're pretty much out of time, but You gaze at the cross and it's fun to sit there and go, wow, I'm glad he did that. I'm glad he died. I'm glad.

That Christ endured all of that because man, I'd be And he'd big trouble if he didn't. And man, look at all the treasures I find in it. But as you gaze at the cross, a hand comes out from behind the cross. And it's the hand of God the Father and he does this to you.

Come here. And he motions for you to come to the cross. And as you get closer, he says, I want you, I want you to die here also. Matthew 16:24 as Jesus is headed towards The cross ultimately he says to his disciples, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his own cross and follow me.

And the disciples, they didn't hear that and go, Man, that's a nice little pious saying. We've got to make sure to stick that in our gospel accounts later when we're, when we're writing about all this. No, they knew what he meant. He's been telling, I'm going to die.

I'm going to die. And if you want to come after me, you're going to have to take up your own cross and follow me where I'm going, and where is he going? He's going to the cross. But here's the glorious thing.

We don't just follow Jesus to the cross, we follow him through the cross, to the life and the glory that we experience on the other end of each layer of dying. If you get up tomorrow morning, And you say to God, God, what's on your agenda for me today? There's probably a variety of answers he would give you. One of his answers is this, crucifixion.

I want you, my agenda for you today is that you will experience a deeper level of crucifixion and death. And today, you're going to find evidence. You will observe evidence of my commitment to your dying. Because as you look at the cross, you observe, this is not just Jesus' death, but his death is the blueprint for my own life.

And there's so much more that could be said about this guys, but Expect to be wounded, expect to be hurt, expect to be wronged, expect to be reviled and insulted, expect to encounter situations that require death to self. And when those things happen, realize that it's the privilege that is now yours to experience crucifixion with Christ. And God wants to bring you to those moments so that on the other side of those moments of dying, you can experience true life. True life is found on the other side of death.

Anyone want to experience the power of Christ's resurrection? Raise your hand. All right, we'll close with this. All right, you want to experience the power of Christ's resurrection.

Think about it, you can only experience the power of resurrection if you die. All right, we all want to experience resurrection power, but no one wants to die. But as we look at the cross, we see that this is not just Christ's story. But this crucifixion is to be our story as well.

And the beauty on the other side, the intimacy and the glory that follows the life. is something that we hold before us and it makes us willing to die. So the 7th and the final discovery we make at the foot of the cross is that following Christ involves our own crucifixion. Let me ask you to bow your heads this morning.

We're going to take up an offering in just a moment and feel free to give as the Lord leads you to give. You can fill out your registration or comment cards, prayer requests, praise items. You put those on the, The cards and put those in the offering bags as they go by. If you've never believed in Jesus, I just would ask you, what is there not to love about a God like this?

Who has felt your every sorrow, who bore all of the sins you've committed. Every hurt that you've rendered against others. Christ even bore the hurt and the pains that others carry as a result of sins you've committed against them. He's felt it all.

What a savior. Believe in Him today and for those of us who know the Lord. May we keep this Christ and Him crucified in front of our face that we might walk straight. Father, I pray for the graduates represented in this service that you would just empower them, Lord, if they take nothing away from their time here at Cornerstone and their time that they've grown up in their homes.

I just pray, Lord, that they would take Christ and Him crucified if they can just have that and keep that before them amidst the challenges and the temptations and, and the heartaches, the brokenness, the disappointments along with the joys and happiness that and blessings that await them, if they can just keep Christ before them, they're going to be OK. Just Lord, may it be your good pleasure to just make that happen for all of these graduates, for all of us actually. That these graduates would wax strong and mighty in Christ and Him crucified and stand firm and Be champions for Christ.

On behalf of the savior who is eminently lovable.

Lord, we ask that you would receive our offerings. As our offering, we offer you our graduates. We offer you ourselves. We offer you whatever funds we put in the offering bag.

We give you our hearts, we give you our tongues. For you are worthy of it all. And we do this in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said,