For seven weeks leading up to Easter this year, I preached on the seven last sayings of Christ from the Cross. The goal of this series was to help people understand the true nature of the Cross, the seriousness of sin, and the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice. I wanted people to be impressed by the love and glory of God. I have linked to the videos of these sermons if you would like to hear this series too.
A Word on the nature of the Cross
Many today see the Cross as something that Christians should be ashamed of and that which needs to be softened to make it palatable to a culture whose sensitivities and sensibilities are offended by the reality of sin and divine wrath that it deserves. Some even talk of the Cross as if it is analogous to “divine child abuse.” And yet, the Scripture makes no apologies for the Cross. It makes no attempts to soften the violence and tragedy of the Cross. Rather it demonstrates in high-definition the intensity and the magnitude of the death of Christ on the Cross. It calls attention to the sinfulness of men, the innocence of the Savior, the wrath of God, and the deep love and grace of God which motivates Christ’s sacrifice—all to the glory of God. And so we dare not—if we call ourselves biblical and Christian—pretend that the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross is anything other the will of God to redeem us from our sins by dealing with His holy wrath toward us because of them. The violence and despicable nature of His death is in direct relation to the heinousness of our sin for which it atones. And so the Cross of Christ serves both as a poignant reminder of our own sinfulness and of the power, love, glory, and grace of Christ as the sacrifice for that sin. We therefore want to lift up Jesus Christ, for as Paul says, “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). For this reason, our exposition will “hearken to the words that fell from His lips while He hung upon the Cross—words that make known to us some of the attendant circumstances of the great Tragedy; words that reveal the excellencies of the One who suffered there; words in which is wrapped up the Gospel of our Salvation; and words that inform us of the purpose, the meaning, the sufferings, and the sufficiency of the Death Divine” (Author Pink, The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross, 17-18).
Rather that make the Cross palatable, we must learn from it that which is the nature of sin, salvation, and the glory of Christ. The sayings from the Cross can seem to be brief and perhaps even cryptic, but they are a profound window into the realities of the world, the danger we are in, and the possibility of forgiveness of our sin. What do the sayings on the cross show to us?
The gospel of our salvation
The majesty and excellency of our Savior
The purpose of His sufferings and the possibility of salvation
