This blog post is my sermon notes from a message preached by Brian Onken at Southside Fellowship on October 25, 2009. I post them here because I believe the message of the Cross is the most important message that any person could ever hear. All other blog posts come in a distant second to the message of the Cross of Christ. No counseling makes any sense outside of a right understanding of the Cross.

God is acting decisively at the Cross to work his purposes and his plans to bring all people from all nations, at all times to himself. Apart from the Cross there is no way to understand or enjoy life the way God intends. -Brian Onken (a paraphrase quote)

Prayerfully Engaging God at the Foot of the Cross

Dear Father, help me to not be like the soldiers that day who were playing at the foot of the Cross. Help me to not be like the passersby who were too busy to understand the Cross. Help me to not be like the priests who thought they understood the Cross and, thereby, missed the point of the Cross. Help me to not be like the prisoners who died beside The Cross, one of whom totally missed the point of his own death as well as the death of the Savior.

Understanding the Happenings at the Cross Through the Lens of John 3:16

❑ “Save yourself, and come down from the cross!“ He can’t because God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…

❑ ”He saved others; he cannot save himself.“ Of course he can’t because His Father so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…

❑ ”My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?“ I am forsaking you in this moment because I so love the world that I’m giving you, my one and only Son…

❑ ”Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.“ Elijah will not come because God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…

❑ ”And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.“ It had to be this way because God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…

❑ ”The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.“ Can’t you see how much the Father so loved the world by the giving of his one and only Son…

Practically Applying the Cross to My Life

❑ If no one fully understood what was going on that day, could it be that I also don’t fully understand the cross?
❑ The realities of the Cross have not fully impacted me the way they should. What do I need to do?
❑ What I see at the Cross and the people around the Cross, will help me understand the Cross. Which person or people group around the Cross best represents me? How do I need to change?

Practical Cross-Centered Prayer Requests

❑ Dear Father, help me to be defined by the Cross; may I be centered in your Son’s work on the Cross in fresh ways.
❑ Dear Father, help me to understand the Cross; that I may experience the realities of the Gospel in practical ways.
❑ Dear Father, remind me of the Cross today. Teach me how to preach your Gospel to myself each day.

Click the Links Below for Related Articles

• Mommy, Can I Take My Sister’s Punishment
• Excellent Cross-Centered Worship Music
• Convinced by Love
• Cross Gazing, Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
• Exposed by the Cross
• If I Told You I Didn’t Sin, How Would You Feel?

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Today my three-year old sinned. Because of this particular sin, there had to be some form of discipline administered to her. My five-year old came downstairs and said,

Mommy, I was just talking with Ansa and wondered if I could take her punishment for her.

Needless to say, mommy was floored. She grabbed my son, hugged him and began expressing uncontainable gratitude for this unprovoked and unexpected turn of events. Mommy asked Haydn why he wanted to do that and he explained,

You remember the other night when daddy was talking about how when one person sins and someone else takes the punishment? I was thinking I could do that for Ansa.

The night went from deserved punishment to undeserved grace.

Are You Elated!

• How are you affected by the Gospel?
• Has Christ taken your punishment for you?
• How can you model the Gospel for someone today?
• When your spouse deserves to be punished, are you willing to do to them what Christ did for you?
• Who can you forgive today?

Let the Gospel enrich your life today by forgiving someone

I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? -Matthew 18:32-33

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If you are looking for some excellent worship music, then let me make a suggestion. One of our favorite CDs is Songs for the Cross-Centered Life.

good homework assignment for counselees

If you want to keep the main thing the main thing, then the main thing you need to be focused on is the Cross of Christ.

Paul reminded us in 1 Corinthians 2:2 that he had made a decision to know nothing, but Christ and him crucified. Paul knew a lot of things. Therefore, if he considered this news to be the best news and the news he must remember first, then it behooves me to do the same.

There is no news more important than this news: Christ died for our sins. If your music selections are not theologically rich, such that they bring your heart and mind to the Cross, then I suggest you rethink your music selections.

Let your music know nothing but Christ and him crucified. Nothing is more refreshing, motivating and life changing.

From The Pastor’s Priorities, p. 133

In all our preaching, we must never lose sight of the hill called Calvary, where the Son of Man was killed in our place. Regardless of the text or topic at hand, there must be some view of Calvary in every sermon.

Your congregation should experience the amazing and comforting sight of the crucified Savior each and every time you preach. They should anticipate the sight of Calvary in every sermon and rejoice when it comes into view, and all the more when the cross is not immediately obvious in the text.

“Where is the hill?” they should be asking. ”Where is that blessed hill on which our precious Savior died?”

We should exalt Christ’s finished work in our sermons so as to comfort the converted and to convict the unbeliever.

Spurgeon’s example should inspire us:

“I received some years ago orders from my Master to stand at the foot of the cross until he comes. He has not come yet, but I mean to stand there until he does.”

Let us stand with the prince of preachers, gentlemen. As we preach the whole counsel of God, let us keep the cross central. By doing so, we will indeed be watching our doctrine.

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The cross is the heart of the gospel; it makes the gospel good news. Christ died for us, He has stood in our place before God’s judgement seat; He has borne our sins. God has done something on the cross which we could never do for ourselves. But God does something to us, as well as for us, through the cross. He persuades us that he loves us. – Sinclair Ferguson

“To learn true humility, we need more than a redefinition of greatness; we need even more than Jesus’ personal example of humble service. What we need is His death.” –C. J. Mahaney

“Can anyone be arrogant when he stands beside the cross?” –Carl Henry

“Far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righteousness, and we can stand before it only with a bowed head and broken spirit.” –J. R. W. Stott

“Abide close to the cross, and search the mystery of His wounds.” –Charles Spurgeon

“Thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow.” –Michael Ramsey

“If you crossed Matthew Henry’s path, you would quickly realize that here was someone taking thankful notice of all God was doing for him, and doing so in an attractively joyful way that was infectious.” –C. J. Mahaney

“So make it your aim and lifelong habit, when you see someone who’s serving, to be reminded of the sacrifice of the Savior, for apart from His sacrifice there is no serving.” –C. J. Mahaney

In This Series:

1. Cross Gazing, Part One
2. Cross Gazing, Part Two
3. Cross Gazing, Part Three

“It is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God and come down after such contemplation to look into himself. –John Calvin

“Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to be saying to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.” –J. R. W. Stott

“Fill your affections with the cross of Christ.” –John Owen

“We cannot free ourselves from pride and selfish ambition; a divine rescue is absolutely necessary.” –C. J. Mahaney

“It was humanly impossible for the disciples to free themselves from their selfish pursuit of self-exaltation, just as it’s impossible for us to free ourselves from the very same sins.” –C. J. Mahaney

In This Series:

1. Cross Gazing, Part One
2. Cross Gazing, Part Two
3. Cross Gazing, Part Three

“Individuals motivated by self-interest, self-indulgence, and a false sense of self-sufficiency pursue selfish ambition for the purpose of self-glorification.” –C. J. Mahaney

“I was contending for supremacy with you.” –C. J. Mahaney

“Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him.” –C. J. Mahaney

“At every step of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend.” –J. R. W. Stott

“Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.” –C. J. Mahaney

In This Series:

1. Cross Gazing, Part One
2. Cross Gazing, Part Two
3. Cross Gazing, Part Three

The Cross also exposes me before the eyes of other people, informing them of the depth of my depravity. If I wanted others to think highly of me, I would conceal the fact that a shameful slaughter of the perfect son of God was required that I might be saved.

But when I stand at the foot of the Cross and am seen by others under the light of that Cross, I am left uncomfortably exposed before their eyes. Indeed, the most humiliating gossip that could ever be whispered about me is blared from Golgotha’s hill; and my self-righteous reputation is left in ruins in the wake of its revelations.

With the worst facts about me thus exposed to the view of others, I find myself feeling that I truly have nothing left to hide.

Thankfully, the more exposed I see that I am by the Cross, the more I find myself opening up to others about ongoing issues of sin in my life. (Why would anyone be shocked to hear of my struggles with past and present sin when the Cross already told them I am a desperately sinful person?)

And the more open I am in confessing my sins to fellow-Christians, the more I enjoy the healing of the Lord in response to their grace-filled counsel and prayer. Experiencing richer levels of Christ’s love in companionship with such saints, I give thanks for the gospel’s role in forcing my hand toward self-disclosure and the freedom that follows.

Excerpted from page 34 of The Gospel Primer

Other Articles in This Series

• If I Told You I Didn’t Sin, How Would You Feel
• The Blessing of Being the Biggest Sinner In The Room
• Future Sin
• Three Truths for Temptation

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