Thanks Be to God Who Always Leads Us in Triumphal Procession
August 23, 2015 · 2 Corinthians
Scripture referenced 4 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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2 Corinthians 2:12-17 the main passage for the sermon, read and exposited throughout
12 Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,
13 I had no relief for my spirit, because I didn’t find Titus, my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia.
14 Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.
15 For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish;
16 to the one a stench from death to death; to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
17 For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
2 Corinthians 3:4
quoted as a preview of next week, on confidence and sufficiency being from God
4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God;
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1 Corinthians 1:18
quoted as Paul's thesis sentence about the message of the cross being foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Colossians 2:13-15
cited as the other New Testament use of the triumphal procession word, on God cancelling the debt and making a public spectacle by triumphing over rulers and authorities in Christ
13 You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;
15 having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Mark opened 2 Corinthians 2:12-17, a passage he organized around three moves: Paul's defense of a decision he made, a vivid Roman metaphor, and a short statement about what makes anyone fit to carry the gospel. The thread running through all three is that Paul is not the triumphant hero of his own story, and neither are we.
What was said
Paul begins by explaining why he left Troas even though a door for preaching the gospel was standing open there. He was supposed to meet Titus, had not found him, and his spirit would not rest. Pastor Mark was straightforward that Paul's anxiety was a real human struggle, not something the commentaries should sanitize. Paul pulled back from a good thing because of his own frailty, and he says so honestly.
That admission leads directly into the metaphor in verse 14, and Pastor Mark spent the heart of the message making sure the congregation understood what the metaphor actually is. A Roman triumphal procession was a specific, formal event: the conquering general entered the city in a chariot, enemy commanders were paraded in chains, incense burned along the route, and the general held the power of life or death over every prisoner. The congregation watched a clip from a dramatized reconstruction to make the scene concrete.
The key interpretive point was that Paul is not the general in the chariot. He is the prisoner with the rope around his neck. "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession" is not a victory cheer for the Christian soldier. It is Paul saying that his life, and the lives of those who carry the gospel, are entirely in the hands of the Victor. Christ has conquered sin, death, and every demonic power, and he holds the imperium.
What the prisoner carried through that procession was scent. Incense burned along the whole route, and Pastor Mark connected that to Paul's language about fragrance. The aroma of Christ spreading through Paul's ministry smelled differently depending on who was breathing it in. To those being saved it was the fragrance of life. To those who were perishing it was the smell of death. The message of the cross, as Paul laid it out in 1 Corinthians 1:18, is either foolishness or the power of God, and there is no middle ground between those two responses.
That leads to the closing question Paul asks in verse 16: who is sufficient for these things? Pastor Mark said you can answer it two ways, and most people reach for "nobody is." But Paul's own answer in chapter 3 is "we are," and the reason is not anything in Paul himself. The sufficiency comes entirely from God. Paul contrasts himself with preachers who peddle God's word for their own gain. What he offers instead is sincerity, a genuine belief that the message of the cross is true, and nothing added on top of it.
Pastor Mark closed with a paradox he said hit him that morning: you will only be victorious to the extent that you have sincerely surrendered to Christ. The Roman prisoner in the procession had no way to know what the general would decide. Christ has not left us guessing. He has told us what the cross is and what it requires, and the only question left is what any of us will do with that.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Paul admits he pulled back from an open door for gospel work because of anxiety about Titus. Have you ever felt pulled away from something good because of a nagging worry or restlessness? What did you do with that?
- The pastor presented the triumphal procession not as a victory parade for the believer, but as Christ being the triumphator and Paul being the one led with a rope around his neck. How does that image change the way you think about what it means to follow Christ?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 5,470 words
0:00
Here to worship and and praise. And his grace is enough. Hallelujah. Would you stand with us?
3:31
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Thank you. It's good to have the ladies back leading this morning, helping out. I have announcements, I'm sure, up there.
3:45
I'm not sure what's going to come up here though. Let's see. Monday night is the first B. We can be sure of that one. It happens every Monday night in the fellowship hall right down here and that's just a good time with meal, music, and a message every Monday night.
3:58
Carl's preaching through the epistles of John still in first John which is great. There will be a covenant ceremony that's next week, August 30. So, we've got several people to to see coming in as new members of the church and I'm glad to see that happening. So, first B Women's Study is going to be getting underway here soon. Where Deborah.
4:23
There she is. When is it starting, Deborah? 10:00 in the morning. Have to clarify that. 10:00 in the morning, women's study.
4:42
It's on Romans this year and it's the autumn study. So 10:00, Wednesday, September 2 is when it starts. Good deal. And for the rest of em, if you would, check your bulletins. There, we still print those things up, you know, and they try to hand em to you on the way in.
4:56
They're not just saying, here, throw this away for me, okay? It has the, it has all the pertinent stuff in it and you can put it on your refrigerator and you'll know. So, if you would, stand up and greet one another warmly and we'll all bring you back together with a song.
11:01
Hallelujah. You are great, oh God, and you are the reason why we're gathered here today. To lift your name on high, to praise you, holy one of Israel. We love you. We offer our song to you.
15:50
Amen. God, thank you for such a beautiful morning. For all that you've given lord. We give you thanks and lord, I I just thought about giving back. How do we give this day back to you?
16:04
Would you show us lord how we can give this day to you? Lord, would you put in our pathway someone that we can minister to, witness to, laugh with, cry with. Lord, would you show us how to give this day to you? And lord, this time, for the offering, we we acknowledge that you have given all that we have and we want to give back lord to see your kingdom advance and the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, would you multiply this offering to the ends of the earth?
16:34
Amen. Y'all can have a seat.
22:15
With me.
22:54
I get to preach. This is fun. Second Corinthians two twelve through 17 is where we are in scripture right now and I started to do a rehashing of everything I've done so far for visitors and for the folks who have been here every week and had to hear it every week. I'm not gonna do that. Second Corinthians twelve seventeen is where we are.
23:19
I have told you that I want for you to see this through the lens that Paul is really a loving pastor with a pastor's heart and he's expressing himself in a way that is very very open, honest, sincere, and it is not the legalist that so many of us grew up believing that he was. Just go with me on that. Okay? Trust me on that. I've got a few skeptics.
23:45
But he's gonna go through another apology, which they always say, the first thing they teach in preaching preaching classes, never apologize. I'm not very good at that. I'm sorry. Anyway, another apology. A vivid sensory metaphor.
24:02
It's very vivid. In fact, it's probably more vivid than we realize and so I hope to go into that and then, a succinct statement on sufficiency sufficiency to minister sufficiency to carry the gospel. So, that's the layout for these few verses 12 through 17. Another apology of it and by apology, I also mean, actually, it's a defense of what he did. Apologia is an a defense of what you did, why you did what you did.
24:29
So, the first part, the apology. Second Corinthians two twelve through 13 and it may seem disjointed from the rest of the passage but I don't think that it is. When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, now I remember in the first and second, beginning this first and second chapter, right in there in the in the first part, he started defending why he had not come to see them already, and it was earnest and honest and sincere. But he skips back to that for a minute and he says, when I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was open for me and the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there in Troas. So, I took leave of them in Troas and went across the GNC to Macedonia.
25:20
So, when I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, what did Paul do everywhere he went? Preach the gospel of Christ. That was the message that he had. The message of the cross is what he carried. He'd start in the synagogues and after sufficient rejection, he would go to the Gentiles or he would look for people who are open, people of peace.
25:38
When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was open for me and the Lord. It was an open door and Paul always walks through open doors, right? He pretty much does. He's always rolling on. Well, he went there and this was right before he wrote this letter.
25:56
He'd already sent them the former letter. He'd already sent them first Corinthians that we know. He'd already sent him a severe letter and then he comes to Troas and he wants to hear how the Corinthians are doing. He's supposed to meet Titus there. Titus is not there and even though he's preaching the gospel and people are accepting it, even though there was a door open for me and the Lord, my spirit was not at rest.
26:20
Have you ever been there? Have you ever been doing something but you couldn't stop thinking about something else or something in the back of your head that's going, this isn't right. I got I gotta I gotta find out what's happening with my brother Titus, my buddy, who I left in Corinth, who I sent that letter with, who I sent the other letter with, who I know is still there. Something's, I gotta, I'm anxious for to hear from Titus. So, he admits his anxiety.
26:44
Now, I've read all the commentaries. I've read this passage a bunch of bunch of times and some of the commentaries try to defend Paul's actions and baptize it and justify everything that he does because he's Saint Paul. He never could've done anything less than exactly what God had for him to do. I think what Paul saying right here right now is I am earnestly all about preaching the gospel but I've got this nagging anxiety that's drawing me away from even an open door. Now it's the good versus the best at that point.
27:16
You know? He says, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So, I took leave of them and went to Macedonia. Now, when Paul traveled, he almost always carried people with him and if we read in Acts, if if it is the same place in Acts, it looks like he left people behind in Troas and he himself went but the gospel ministry continued on in Troas. So, I took leave of them and I went on to Macedonia.
27:43
So, where he met up with Titus, we find out from Acts was in Macedonia and that's where he wrote this letter. Second Corinthians that we are holding up today. We're looking at on the screen and that's where Titus was dispatched from there to go back and I'll tell you in a few weeks, we'll talk about why he was sent ahead of Paul but this part right here is a very sincere defense of why he did what he did and you can tell in it, he's a little conflicted about it. There was an open door but I had to pull away and it was because my spirit, not the Holy Spirit. He doesn't say that.
28:15
It's my spirit. My spirit was not at rest within me. I was anxious to hear what was going on and actually, since he's writing to the Corinthians and Titus has been with him, what he's saying is, I'm anxious to hear about y'all. So, or you guys, depending on where you're from. Second Corinthians two fourteen through 16, This vivid sensory metaphor.
28:38
Second Corinthians two fourteen. I'm using the English standard version of the Bible this morning for most everything. I'm I might swap over in a minute if the slide comes up right like I hope it will but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession. If you read that, That's comforting but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession. Now, going off of what he just said, I wanted to preach the gospel and was preaching it and they were accepting it but I was anxious and I pulled back to go to Macedonia but thanks be to God.
29:13
He always leads in triumphal procession. This sounds like but hey, I pulled away and good for me. I knew exactly what I was doing. No, he's not saying that. I don't think that's what he's saying at all.
29:25
It's but. It's a big difference. He's saying, I pulled away from the work because I was anxious because of my human frailty. I pulled back but God always leads us in triumphal procession and if you read that, it's very easy to take on a triumphal thing. Leads us in triumphal procession is the verb.
29:43
Leads in triumphal procession, I should say and if you look at the King James version, if you have the King James version, this is what I grew up on. Either King James or New King James, my little Bible that I carry with me all the time is New King James. That's what I usually use but on this verse, they blow it completely. So, that's so it, so be it. That's just the way that it is.
30:02
Now, thanks be to God which always causes us to triumph in Christ. Is that true? Now that I've said they've blown it, you're going to say, no, that's not true. That's true and so that's why this verse is translated this way because in other places, you can pick it up all over the place that Christ leads us to victory in Christ. We're more than conquerors.
30:25
We have the victory by his shed blood. All of that stuff. Yes, it's true. Thanks be to God which always causes us to triumph in Christ and make it manifest the savior of his knowledge by us in every place. That verse and a few others, I actually, this is crazy but I'm going to sing a song.
30:44
And I want for y'all to sing it with me. And there are no words that are gonna come up on the screen, which usually means nobody's gonna sing with me. But this is one of those songs that I'll sing a line, and it's call and response. I'll sing a line, then you sing a line. Okay?
30:59
And we'll see how this goes. And depending on what generation you're in, this song is gonna sound like various other songs. I'm nervous. Okay. What is that?
31:18
Some of y'all are saying, oh, that's Bo Diddley. There you go. And there are several that said, oh, it's Faith by George Michael. No, it's not.
31:35
Jesus, you're my king your life frees me to sing I will praise you all my days you're perfect in all your ways hail Jesus you're my lord will obey your word I won't see your kingdom come
32:15
Forgot that line. Not my will but yours be done. Glory
32:22
glory to the lamb you will take us into the land we will conquer in your name and proclaim that Jesus reigns hail hail, line of Judah how wonderful you are, hail hail, line of Judah, how
33:03
Amen. Sorry. Again, with the apologies. It's funny when you're doing a call and response and you mess something up, everybody else messes it up too. There's a sermon illustration in there too but not for this week.
33:17
So, that is what we typically think of when he's leading us in victory. Christus Victor. He is the victor. We are more than overcomers in him. We will conquer in his name, proclaim that Jesus reign.
33:28
Woo hoo. Us and them. It's us against them and I don't think that would that's what Paul is saying. I don't think that's what he's saying at all. In fact, the triumphal procession that verb is three imbuo.
33:45
Three imbuo is what it's and it is it is to lead around, to make a spectacle of, to lead one as a prisoner in a triumphal procession. To lead around and make a show or spectacle of triumph. Now, this is from a TV series and I can't vouch for the whole series, trust me, but I want to show this. And Renzi, will y'all switch over to that? This is a triumphal procession.
34:12
It's Hollywood's remake but it's certainly not any smaller than a Roman procession That is the king of Gaul All of the Gallic peoples and Julius Caesar has conquered them. He let him live on the battlefield so that he could bring him back to Rome. This is just a little character study, letting you know that this guy doesn't care about the parade. But he's the only one. So there are musicians, white oxen draped in laurel and carrying the spoils of war and the highest ranking prisoners of war.
35:30
That's basically a gallows with that prisoner, the king of Gaul. This is a soldier who fought in the battle that conquered these Galatians, these Gauls, and then enters with four white horses drawn in a chariot. The victor or the triumphator, the triumphator. In this case, it's Julius Caesar. The guy on the cart behind him is actually a slave, And those slaves held a wreath of laurels over their head as a crown, but he also whispered to him, you are not a god.
36:11
You are a man. Want him to remember that he was fallible at this point anyway. It's a hail the conquering hero. He has on armor, but that probably is a historical inaccuracy because they typically laid down their arms and their armor outside of the city gates. What they were coming to proclaim was peace that Rome had spread its peace abroad even further.
36:51
So now the triumph fader or the triumphator Victor gets to say what happens to this guy. And he has the imperium. He has the right to decide whatever he wants to at this point because he's the sovereign. That's actually the sign for killing, to show his power, to show that. Now in this passage, Paul is not the guy in the chariot that has won.
37:40
Paul is not even the slave in the chariot that's whispering that you're a man. Paul is not even one of the spectators alongside. He's the guy with the rope around his neck. He's in his life is in the hands of the victor. His life is in the hands of the triumphal one.
37:57
And it's a very, very vivid sensory thing for everybody that was here in Paul because Corinth had been conquered by Rome. Quite a bit before that now, but it's a a mix of a group of peoples. It's a a big mix, and lots of them had been in Rome and had been a part of one of these and would have known the sights and the smells and everything. They in order to be declared a triumph or in their order for a triumph for procession to be declared, the men on the battlefield had to send word back to the senate of Rome that the conqueror, the guy that was in charge, had killed at least 5,000 men in battle. The the group had killed 5,000 men.
38:43
They had so completely decimated them that they were able to come back home, all of them. They didn't leave any troops behind because the war was over. So, they're coming back home to peace and they would drop their arms outside of the city and they would say, we're coming back in peace and these peoples belong now to the Roman peoples. So, anyway, that's pretty heavy. This thing about to take one and lead him as a prisoner in that triumphal procession Paints a very very different picture than that fun song I was singing.
39:20
Like, we will conquer in this. We will. You can get that from other verses and when we hit those, I'll preach it that way. I promise but the myth, I want you to get the metaphor right here for what Paul saying in this part. He's saying, thanks be to God that he he in Christ always leads in triumphal procession.
39:37
There is a continual triumphal procession for Christ, always. He deserves it. He has conquered. What has he conquered? Well, there's another place that says that.
39:47
I already use that for the benediction. Okay? He's conquered all the demonic powers. He's conquered Satan. He's conquered death, hell, and the grave.
39:54
He has conquered, period. But it's up to him to say what the rules are, right? It's up to him in his imperium, in his sovereignty, he can say, who lives and dies. And he can say what the rules are for doing that. So he is always leading in triumphal procession.
40:15
Now, that guy going through even though he was going to be condemned, that brought glory to Caesar. In his death, it brought glory to Caesar or had Caesar chosen, I believe you and I believe that you will serve Rome and me. He could have let him live. They're pretty brutal. Not a whole lot of that going on.
40:40
Through us, he spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. Now, what did Paul carry with him everywhere? The knowledge of Christ. Everywhere he went, that's what he did. Everywhere he went, he carried the knowledge of God and being made at one with him with Christ.
40:57
So, through us, he spreads the fragrance and when he mentions fragrance, now, you can't smell. This is not smell a vision but when you see these things and you see smoke rising, they would burn spices and incense and different things and there were specific scents that were specifically for triumph and they would heap them on so that everybody would remember that smell. Now, if you're If you're the triumphator, the victor, and you're smelling it smells like victory. I thought of apocalypse now. Robert Duvall's, you smell that?
41:32
I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smells smells like victory. Not to the rest of the guys around it, didn't it? To one, it smelled like victory but to the other, it smelled like death and so he goes on from there and says, well, that's the good news about Jesus. It's what Paul spreads everywhere he goes and it's the fragrance of Christ.
41:52
It's not Christ. It's the message of Christ. Verse 15 says, for we are the aroma of Christ to God. He sent Jesus for a purpose to redeem men, right? To redeem men and women, boys and girls, to redeem mankind.
42:10
He sent Christ with that purpose and when someone accepts Christ, they're the aroma of Christ to God. We, Christians, are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance of death to death, to the other, a fragrance from life to life. That's a that's an intensifier, the life to life and death to death. But he's saying it's the same smell.
42:40
It smells like Christ. Sacrificial living, sacrificial giving, sacrificial is what Christ did. That's what Paul is following him and doing and he's saying that that we're the realm of Christ to God among those who have been saved and among those who are perishing and for those of y'all who've been around for a while and you've seen the slides, y'all remember this and I used it in the same form we had it the first time around. When we started first Corinthians, it's about the second or third message. First Corinthians 118 says, for the message of the cross, that is Christ, perfect life, and his sacrificial death on the cross.
43:20
It is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. That's Paul's thesis sentence for the whole of first Corinthians. I think it's his thesis sentence for most everything he does. He carries the message of the cross and without that, he's just a man, just Paul. But he's the aroma of Christ to God if he carries that message and that message of the cross to those who are perishing is mere foolishness and we all know somebody who think, what difference should that make to me?
43:53
Man, dying on a cross two thousand years ago makes no sense. Foolishness. But they are the ones who are perishing because that's the way. He is the victor. He is the triumphator.
44:03
He is the he has the imperium. He has the right to rule. He is the sovereign, and he says that if you believe in me, you will be saved. That's what you have to do. So had the guy on the cart known what he had to do, what he had to believe in order to be saved, what would he have done?
44:21
He might have gone to his death anyway or he might have done it. To those who are being saved, it's the power of God, not just for salvation but for sanctification and for increasing levels of godliness and closeness with your creator, almighty God. So, it's either death or life. That's the message of the cross and it splits on those two. There's not a rod in the fence on this.
44:41
This either death or life. So, where the realm of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance of death, a stench of death, and to other, a sweet fragrance, aromas of life. And then he goes into that last section, a little statement about sufficiency. Now, who is sufficient for these things?
45:06
Who's sufficient to carry the message of the cross? Well, there are two ways I think you can answer that question right off. One of em, nobody is. Nobody is sufficient to carry this message because we all fall short of the glory of God. Don't matter who you are.
45:22
Don't matter. You're you fall short and you're going to come up short. Well, Paul's already admitted that he fell short. He had a he had a gospel mandate in front of him and he pulled back because of his own human frailty and anxiety. Have you ever done that?
45:35
I have. Nobody is. Nobody is sufficient for this or you could answer it. We are and it's fun to read commentaries because some believe so vehemently one way or the other. Either nobody is, which Paul goes on to say in chapter three, I might get to that in a minute, actually.
45:54
Yeah, I did. Chapter three. This is a preview next week. Chapter three verse four says, such is the confidence that we have through Christ. That's the only place that we have confidence.
46:04
The only way we have confidence is through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient within ourselves to claim anything as coming from us but our sufficiency is totally and completely 100% from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant. So, Paul is saying, not nobody is. He's saying we are and we are because of one thing, because Christ has made it that way. We are. I think that's what he's saying.
46:32
Who is sufficient for these things? And it's very easy to go with the nobody is when it starts off for we are not. But read the sentence. It says, for we are not peddlers of God's word. We are not like so many.
46:47
Do you hear that tone? The people that are there that are the super apostles Paul will call em later are preaching a health and wealth gospel that says, suffering is not necessary. They are preaching victory in Christ but not necessarily suffering or surrender. We are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God. That's someone who believes the message of the cross sincerely.
47:17
And in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. We're trying not to do anything but that. I try not to do anything but that on Sunday mornings. We in complete sincerity, I believe this message is true and that's all I have to offer you. I can't say what your path is gonna be.
47:37
Eventually, Paul was beheaded. Right? I can't say what your path is gonna be. I don't know what struggles you lie lie and wait for you. I don't know.
47:47
On the mission field or here in Jackson, I don't know. But as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. So, another apology from Paul which is his defense but he's really just telling what happened. I I had to get out of there. A vivid sensory metaphor.
48:07
Do y'all did you get it now? Do you do you feel like you got what that was? Even historical inaccuracies may be there. It really was about peace for the Romans. They thought that they were leading a real peace.
48:19
It's a peace at the end of a sword. What Christ offers is real peace. That's what he's offering. And he's made the way, and he's told us what it is. If we just look at the first part, I mean, the the first and the last part, the another apology and the succinct statement on sufficiency.
48:37
If we look at that, it reminded me of this little thing that we came up with at Easter. First b. That's y'all. First Baptist. Downplaying the Baptist.
48:45
First b. First b. Be who you are. Don't deny it. Don't try to feel like, okay, I gotta gussy up a little look a little better.
48:55
Be real. Behold. Behold. I'd say behold this. Behold what this presents, sanctify us by your truth, lord.
49:06
What this presents about Christ and believe. That matter the order. That's why I put first on all of em. First, first, because if you believe, it will force you to behold And if you're honest with yourself, men, women of sincerity, it'll force you to be real. You're not gonna baptize everything you do and super sanctify everything you do as if everything you did was right.
49:32
If you believe that, you're wrong. John says you're wrong. Jesus says you're wrong. And then just be. Be who you are in Christ.
49:41
So I felt like those first two got us back to this little thing. But the belief part of it is summed up that vivid sensory metaphor. Julius Caesar gave the king of Gaul no way to be saved. He did not know what whether he would live or die. He didn't know.
50:00
But Christ has given us this through Paul, through others, this is it. The message of the cross is what it is and that's the way. If God is the creator, he calls the shots. If Christ is the victor, he has the thumbs up or the thumbs down, right? And he's told us what it is and his word is true.
50:21
So, the message of the cross is this, Jesus Christ took the penalty for sin on the cross. He took the penalty for sin on the cross. He lays out a very real invitation for you as to whether you will allow your sin to be nailed to that cross. It's a very, very real invitation and the message across is this, If you get in the whole sovereignty of God and human responsibility conundrum in your head, what you do with it says whether you were elect or not. Okay?
50:53
Just lay it out there. It is an invitation. It's very real. But what you do with it, the cross is the dividing line. I want to go back to this.
51:04
This is a huge paradox and it's the paradox of the Christian life, I think. It's the the paradox of the Christian life. You will only be victorious to the extent that you have sincerely surrendered to Christ. That one might come back up again. That to me just hit me like a ton of bricks this morning.
51:25
Like, we can we can walk in victory because Christ has purchased our pardon and he has done everything necessary to save and sanctify us. But we can't walk in victory if we will not surrender. So, if there's something in your life that you just haven't given to him, you haven't given it over, he has done this. He's been here. He's shown the way.
51:53
Alright. That's the benediction. Y'all can slide that one to the very end, and I think that that is the very end. So, would y'all stand up and we're gonna sing another song? I told somebody ahead of the message today that Charles Finney and a bunch of guys during the great awakening would have an anxious seat and anxious seat, they would let things hang and he would stare into people's souls and call em out if he knew what sin they were involved on and he would call em out.
52:19
I I I can't do that. But I can say that I believe that we're all involved in something that we ought not be. I believe that we probably are all struggling with something that we ought not be. Whether it is just that anxiety and you see Paul still used by God. Just be honest about it.
52:41
Be sincere about it and surrender it and get it up under the cross. Alright, we're going to sing Cornerstone together. I've got a the other place that they use sorry. Blake, if you wanna pull that last slide up, the other place that this word is used and all throughout antiquity, it means nothing but this triumph for possession like I tried to present it here today. And the direct object being one thing or the other but it's the one that's being led like that guy with the rope around his neck, okay?
56:53
Now, this is the other place that it's used in the New Testament. Colossians two thirteen to 15, my generation, my my version, yeah. And all y'all. All y'all. Who are dead in your trespasses.
57:06
God has made a life. And has made you at one with him having forgiven us, me and you. All of our trespasses by cancelling the debt that stood against us with its legal demands. If anybody says substitutionary atonement is not in the Bible, disagree with them. It's all over the place.
57:25
Stood against us with our legal, its legal demands. This, he set aside, nailing it to the cross. God himself disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public spectacle by triumphing over them in Christ. Actually, one more little grammar note. That last word is either in Christ or in the cross.
57:45
It's either neutral or masculine. So, it's either in Christ or in the cross. I think both. In Christ or the cross, go in triumph. Amen.
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