I better take the time to do one important thing.
Lead some prayer.
Let's lead in prayer.
Thank you.
Come on in, I think there's room somewhere.
Here's some chairs out here.
I want you to know that I'm really honored by
your presence here today.
I realize that I'm speaking to the spiritual
giants of Brotherhood,
and I realize that, and I appreciate your presence,
and I hope I can say something that will help
you, benefit you,
and you can take something back and use it in
your home congregation.
As it was stated before, I have written this book,
The Compelling Power of the Cross.
This, to me, I think is a very important subject,
and we'll talk about this three times today.
I hope you'll come back at each and every time.
I like to have some time to answer some
questions and comments,
but now I have time for the first two sessions,
but the last session,
hopefully there'll be a lot of time for you to
ask questions and make comments.
So, anyway, the book and the field answers here
today come from this book.
There are ten thought discussion questions that
can be used in a Bible class situation.
It was really written for that situation.
Again, I want to thank Bill Young, the
Legislative Committee,
for the invitation to speak here today.
ACU is very important to me.
I have three degrees from ACU.
I have audited about 20 Bible graduate courses
over the last seven years from ACU.
I try to come down every summer and audit at
least one course.
I used to audit a lot when they were in Dallas,
but they changed the format up somewhat, so I'm
not able to go over and audit the class.
I really appreciate ACU.
More importantly, the teachers I've had have
been very influential in building my faith,
so ACU has a special place in my heart.
This book is the sum total of what I've been taught,
because I've had a lot of courses from a lot of places,
and so this is just the sum total of everything
that I've taught and put together,
but a lot of this comes from the teachers from ACU,
and I really appreciate them.
I have in my heart that one of the main
problems that we have in the church today
is a lack of motivation, and I believe that.
Why won't some Christians attend the services faithfully?
Why do you see some Christians only doing
Easter and Christmas, and that's all?
Why won't some Christians give as they've been prospered,
as the Bible instructs us to?
Why won't some Christians become involved in evangelism?
I think the reason is because they're simply
not motivated like they should be.
I'm a bottom-line guy, and the bottom line is,
I just don't believe they love and appreciate
the Lord like they should.
I think that every one of us needs a spiritual
foundation to live our lives on,
and I believe that spiritual foundation should
be and is what classes us on the cross.
There's a story told one time of a little boy
who was about to start the school,
and his mother tried and tried and tried to
teach him to tie a shoe,
and he never did learn how to tie a shoe.
On the first day he started the school, and on
that first day a little girl laughed at him
because he couldn't tie a shoe, and so he went
back home and said,
Mother, will you show me again how to tie a
shoe? And he learned.
The second day he knew how to tie a shoe. What
was the difference?
He was motivated.
Now, when we are motivated, we can do what we
should do.
This book that I have written is designed to
motivate us,
to motivate every Christian to do what they
should do.
Story told one time a little boy who
accompanied his mother to a worship service,
and the little boy was listening very
attentively that Sunday morning,
and the preacher sermon was on the cross across,
and the preacher made the crucifixion thing so real,
and the little boy really got into it and
started to weep.
And then, as the sermon went on, he started to
cry aloud.
Finally, this kind of embarrassed the mother,
and so she made the sermon and said,
Son, don't take it so seriously.
Well, the purpose of these lectures and the
purpose of my book is that
we need to be motivated to take the cross
across seriously.
It can be said that this book is a commentary
on two verses in the Bible.
2 Corinthians, if you have a Bible, you might
want to open it up,
turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 14 and 15.
2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 14 and 15.
Let's read that and look at that this morning.
The Bible says, 2 Corinthians 5 and 14,
for the love of Christ constrained the fact,
because we must judge that one died for all,
therefore all died.
And he died for all, that they that lived
should no longer live unto themselves,
but unto him who for their sake died and rose again.
Will you please notice that three times in
those two verses
Paul mentions the death of Christ, surely that
must be significant.
In these two verses, the apostle Paul sets
forth the primary motivating factor
for obedience to Christ.
And this factor is the love of Christ
demonstrated by his death on the cross.
The compelling power to do God's will is not
the Holy Spirit coming upon us
in some mysterious, magical, emotional way that
causes us to be uncontrollable
and we can't control what we're doing.
That's not biblical, that's not what the Bible teaches.
The motivation for the Christian is the love of Christ.
That's the motivation.
Some people say, well let's turn down the lights
and let's pray that the Holy Spirit will move
us and do what we need to do.
We don't need that.
What we need is a serious realization of what
Christ is dressed on the cross.
I want you to look at verse 14 just for a
minute, want to examine verse 14.
We'll look at three points here real quickly in
verse 14.
The expression love of Christ can be either, as
you Greek scholars know,
the objective genitive or the subjective genitive.
The love of Christ, the objective genitive,
means the love that is directed towards Christ
or it can be the subjective genitive, the love
that Christ has for us.
Now most scholars take the latter position that
this is the subjective genitive.
This is Christ's love for us and I would agree
with that.
I think that is the meaning.
Christ's love for us compels us to live for him.
For the love of Christ constrains us.
Come on everybody, find a chair, come on, got
four chairs up here.
There's a chair up there, one up there.
Come on in.
So the love of Christ constrains us.
It's Christ's love for us that motivates us.
Secondly, look at the word love.
The word love is from the Greek word agape.
Agape means genuine, caring, concerned,
unselfish, goodwill,
active, unconditional goodwill towards another person,
not seeking anything in return.
How can you explain why a mother will get up at
all hours during the night to take care of her child?
The answer is simply love. She loves that child.
However, the greatest love is demonstrated when
one lays down his life for another.
In John 10:11-13, Jesus said,
I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
He that is a hireling and not a shepherd,
whose own the sheep are not,
Beholdeth the Wolf coming and leaveeth the
sheep and fleeeth,
and the Wolf snatcheth them and scattereth them.
He fleeeth because he is a hireling and careth
not for the sheep.
Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.
I lay down my life for the sheep.
And so we need to realize, brethren, when Jesus said,
I lay down my life for the sheep, he's not a hireling.
He's not doing this because he's paid to do so.
He's doing it because he loves it.
Brethren, this is not mere rhetoric.
This is not speech making.
This is the law of Christianity.
Jesus laid down his life for us because he
genuinely cares
and truly loves us.
Thirdly, look at the word constrain us.
The word constrain us, I don't know what your
version says in verse 14,
but it's from the Greek word synecho,
which is defined by several Greek lexicons as
hold together,
sustain, occupied with, or absorbed in,
urge on, impel.
Another lexicon defines it,
to hold together, to constrain, to urge, to impel.
One scholar defines it, to completely dominate,
and to hold something together so that it will
not fall apart.
This same word is translated, straightened, in
Luke 12:50,
where Jesus said, but I have a baptism to be
baptized with,
and how I am straightened, as our standard says,
constrained till I be accomplished.
The point made by synecho in Luke 12:50
is that Jesus was moved by compulsion
to fulfill his mission on the cross.
Cross love that was demonstrated on the cross
completely dominates those who truly love him.
It becomes the all-sustaining power.
It's the holding together of one's life
so that it will not fall apart.
It becomes the absorbing passion that compels obedience.
We sing the song, and one of the lines of the
song is,
thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for thee.
In this book, there's no way I can cover every chapter
in three lessons today,
but I want to share with you some of the thoughts
found in chapter four,
which is entitled The Crucifixion of Jesus.
Whenever I preach this,
I just get more compliments on the lesson,
and I think the reason is because a lot of brethren
have never heard this.
They've never heard it.
And sometimes brethren come up and shake my hand
who've never said a word to me
and say, Brother Hobbs, I really enjoy that lesson.
And I think this will move us.
Now, I don't have time to read all of this,
but in this chapter on the crucifixion of Jesus,
we start with Mark 15:25, which says,
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
Now, the New Testament does not explain
the details of crucifixion.
The New Testament does not explain
the details of scourging, which Jesus went through.
We have to go to outside sources
to find out what is meant by crucifixion,
what is meant by the scourging.
First of all, the crucifixion starts in Gethsemane.
We know that he prayed in agony, Luke 22:44.
In Matthew 26:38, Jesus said,
My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.
He prayed three times,
that if there was any way in the Father's
eternal plan
to avoid enduring the cross, that it might be so.
However, the attitude of Jesus was,
nevertheless not my will, but thine be done,
Luke 22:42.
Luke, the physician of the four gospel writers,
is the only writer who records the bloody sweat
of Jesus.
Luke 22:44 states,
and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly,
and his sweat became, as it were, great drops
of blood
falling down upon the ground.
Some have taken this as a figure of speech, assimilate,
to describe the intense mental anguish
Jesus was experiencing.
Modern scholars, however, have understood this
to mean that this is possible.
Some people have not researched the medical literature.
Under great emotional stress,
tiny capillaries in the sweat gland can break,
thus mixing blood with sweat.
This phenomenon is known as hematidrosis, or
bloody sweat.
Although this is very rare,
it is well documented by medical science.
And so, Jesus, I believe, sweat had the bloody sweat.
And obviously, this caused a marked weakness
in the body of Jesus.
Then we go to the Jewish trials.
You know, I'm sure most of you are aware of this,
that there were three Jewish trials,
and then he went through three Roman trials.
And then we come to the scourging.
Again, the New Testament does not discuss
the details of scourging.
Torture before crucifixion was the normal
course of execution
before the Romans.
Scourging or scourging was preliminary to Roman execution.
Henry Docher says that scourging usually preceded
capital punishment.
Martin Hingle states many people even died
during the torture.
Docher adds, so hideous was the punishment
that the victim usually fainted
and not rarely died under it.
The instrument used in scourging
was a sharp whip called a flagellum.
Docher says it consisted of a handle
to which several cords of leather thongs were affixed,
which were weighted with jagged pieces of bone
or metal
to make the blow more painful and effective.
To prepare a man for scourging,
the victim was stripped of his clothing.
His hands were tied to an upright post above
his head.
The back, the buttocks, and the legs
were laid bare for beating.
This procedure exposed the greatest area possible
to inflict as much pain as possible.
Now, you know as well as I do
that Huron in 253 said that they were limited
to 40 lashes.
Well, the Jews weren't doing it.
The Romans were.
And I don't think that they were going to be
limited by Roman law.
And so there's no telling how many times
they beat Jesus.
Dr. Davis, a medical doctor,
describes the details of the scourging process.
Let me read to you what he wrote.
The Roman legionnaire stepped forward
with a flagellum in his hand.
The heavy whip is brought down again and again
from the back and legs.
At first, the heavy thongs cut through the skin only.
Then, as the blows continued, they cut deeper
into the subcutaneous tissues,
producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries
in veins of the skin, and finally spurting
arterial bleeding from vessels in the
underlying muscles.
The small balls of lead first produced
large, deep bruises, which are broken open
by subsequent blows.
Finally, the skin of the back is hanging in
long ribbons,
and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass
of torn, bleeding tissue.
When it is determined by the centurion in charge
of death, the beating is finally stopped.
The half-feigning Jesus is then untied
and allowed to slump to the stone pavement,
wet with his own blood.
The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this
provincial Jew, claiming to be a king.
And then we move to the fact
that the soldiers take him and they put
the scarlet robe on him, they put a crown of thorns
in his head, and then they mock him, they spit
upon him,
and they say, hell, King of the Jews.
And then they take him away
to be crucified.
Jesus has to carry the cross,
the 650-yard journey, as you know,
he didn't carry it all the way, and that sign
of Serene was compelled to carry the cross
the rest of the way.
Most books on the subject of the crucifixion
state that the form of death began with the Persians.
However, crucifixion as a mode of
execution was used by barbarian peoples
like the Assyrians and the Scythians.
The Romans probably learned
crucifixion from the Carthaginians. Crucifixion
was remarkably widespread
in antiquity. Since it was carried out
publicly, it was a deterrent to crime.
Hingle states, as a rule, the crucified
man was regarded as a criminal
who was receiving just and necessary punishment.
There was doubtless a fear that
to give up this form of execution might undermine
the authority of the state and existing
law and order.
Crucifixion was a horrible form of death,
one of the most shameful and cruel methods
of execution. Josephus
described it as the most wretched of deaths.
Hingle says, no ancient
writer wanted to dwell on this
too long, on this cruel procedure.
Cicero referred to crucifixion
as the extreme penalty
and as that plague, and as the
most cruel and disgusting punishment.
Cicero also said the very word
cross should be far removed, not only from the
person of a Roman citizen, but from his thoughts,
his eyes, and his ears.
Dr. Davis describes
the crucifixion. The crucifixion
begins. Jesus is
offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild
analgesic mixture. He refuses
to drink. Simon is ordered
to place the patabellum on the ground
and Jesus is quickly thrown backward
and his shoulders against the wood.
The legionnaire feels for the depression at the
front of his wrist. He drives a heavy
square on nail
through the wrist and deep into the wood.
Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats
the action, being careful not to pull
the arms too tightly, but to allow some
flexion and movement. The
patabellum is then lifted in place at the top of
the sites, and the title is reading
Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews is
nailed in place. The left foot is
pressed backward against the right foot
and with both feet extended, toes
down, the nail is driven through the arch of each,
leaving the knees moderately flexed.
The victim is now crucified.
As he slowly sags down
with more weight on the nails and the wrist,
excruciating fiery pain shoots
along the fingers and up the arms to
exploding the brain. The nails in
the wrist are putting pressure on the median
nerves. As he pushes himself
upward to avoid the stretching torment, he
places his full weight on the nail through his
feet. Again, there is the Syrian agony
of the nail tearing through the nerves
between the metatarsal bones of the feet.
At this point, another phenomenon
occurs. As the arms fatigue,
great waves of cramps sweep over
the muscles, knotting them in deep
relentless throbbing pain.
With these cramps comes the inability to push
himself upward. Hanging by his arms,
the pectoral muscles are paralyzed
and his intercostal muscles are unable to act.
Air can be drawn into the lungs
but cannot be exhaled.
Jesus fights to raise himself in order to
get even one short breath.
Finally, carbon dioxide builds
up in the lungs and the bloodstream and the cramps
partially subside.
Spasmodically, he is able to push himself
upward to
exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.
Hours of
this limitless pain,
cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps,
intermittent partial
asphyxiation, Syrian pain
his tissue is torn from his lacerated back
as he moves up and down against the rough
timber. Then another agony
begins. A deep crushing
pain deep in the chest as the pericardium
slowly fills with serum and begins
to compress the heart.
It is now almost over. The loss of
tissue fluids has reached a critical level.
The compressed heart is struggling to
pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood
into the tissues.
The tortured lungs are making a frantic effort
to gasp in small gulps of air.
The markedly dehydrated tissues
send their blood of stimuli to the brain.
The body of Jesus is now an
extremist and he can feel the chill of death
creeping through his tissues. His mission
of atonement has been completed.
Finally, he can allow his body to die.
With one last surge of strength, he once
again presses his torn feet against the nail,
straightens his legs, takes a deeper
breath, and utters his seventh and last cry,
Father, into thy hands, I
commit my spirit. The word excruciating
in English, we think of meaning very
intense pain. It comes from the
Latin word which means
literally out of the cross.
So when we talk about
excruciating pain, we're talking about pain
out of the cross.
The drawing
of Christianity
is the cross. In John 12
32, Jesus said,
If I be lifted up from the earth
will draw
all men unto me.
He's talking about a physical being lifted
up. Examine the Greek text, if you will.
What does he mean by that?
The very next verse tells us,
verse 33.
John 12:33 says, But this he said,
signifying by what manner of death
he should die.
So what draws people to Jesus?
It's his death. It's a cross.
Jesus said, If I be lifted
up from the earth, I will draw
all men unto me.
He was talking about his cross. Verse 33
very plain and clear.
Now back to our text, 2 Corinthians 5.
Three times in two
verses, Paul says that Christ died.
Surely that's significant.
Paul is emphasizing the
drawing power of the cross.
We are pulled and drawn to Christ because of what
he suffered and endured for us.
There's a story told one
time of a farm that caught on fire.
And it burned a lot of acres and
burned some buildings and so forth. And after
the fire, the owner was walking through
his property, examining the losses.
And he came across a dead hen.
And he took his foot and boot
and lifted the hen
over and out from under
that dead hen came
out from under that little hen came
six or seven yellow
little chicks alive.
They were living. The mother
hen was dead. Well the farmer knew exactly
what had happened. When the fire
approached, the mother hen
took her wings and covered
the chicks. And she took
the full brunt of the fire
on herself. She died
in order that her chicks
might live. Well in
a spiritual sense, that's exactly
what Christ did for us
on the cross.
The apostle John says that Jesus
was the perpetuation for our sins
and not for ours only, but also
for the whole world.
Lost the
page here, excuse me.
There's also a
story told in the Civil War.
In a northern Civil War
camp, there were two soldiers,
southern soldiers, that were incarcerated
in prison. And one soldier
was an older soldier who had a family and
children back home. And he wanted to go back
and see his
children. And he just couldn't wait until the
war was over. He had to
try to escape.
And so he tried to escape, but he was
caught. And the sentence was
he had to die. He had to die.
He had to be hanged. There was
a younger soldier
in the prisoner of war camp who didn't have a
wife, who didn't have a family. And he
said, may I take
that man's place? And
the officer said, well somebody has to face
the crime if you want to take his place, go ahead.
So sure enough, the
younger soldier took the man's place and was hanged
instead of the older soldier.
Several weeks later, the war was
ended. And the man got to go home
and be reunited with the family. And I just
think of the reunion that they had.
This man was so grateful,
so appreciative of what this younger soldier
did for him. It took him several years to do it,
but finally he went back to where this man was
buried. And he put
a headstone where he was buried
and he wrote these words.
He died that I might live.
In a spiritual sense,
Jesus did the same thing for us.
John 15:13, greater love
hath no man than this, that a man should lay down
his life for his friends.
The song says, out of
the Ivory palaces into a world
of woe, only his great
eternal love may my
Savior go. We need to realize
that Jesus took our place. He didn't have to do
that. It's you and I that deserve to be
crucified. It's you and I that deserve to be punished.
And Jesus took our place.
Over and over again in the New Testament,
the Bible emphasizes the
vicarious nature of the death of Christ.
Listen to some of these verses.
Romans 4:25,
who was delivered up for our
trespasses. 1 Corinthians
15, 3, Christ died for our
sins. 2 Corinthians 5,
21, him who knew no sin
he made to be sin on
our behalf. Galatians
1, 4, who gave himself
for our sins. Galatians
2, 20, who gave himself up
for me. Ephesians 5:2,
Christ also loved you and gave himself
up for us. Ephesians
5, 25, Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for it.
1 Thessalonians 5:10, who died
for us. 1 Timothy 2:6,
who gave himself a ransom for all.
Titus 2:14,
who gave himself for us
that he might redeem us from all iniquity.
Hebrews 2:9,
he should taste of death for every man.
Hebrews 9:26, but now
once at the end of the ages
hath he been manifested to put away
sin by the sacrifice
of himself. 1 Peter
2, 24, who his own
self bore our sins in his
body upon the tree.
1 John 2:2, and he is the
perpetuation for our sins and not for ours only
but also for the whole world.
Here's a poem that I found
as a student working on a bachelor's
degree at H.T.U.
It came from Jesse P. Sewell's
Outline Book of Thurman.
I'd like to read it to you.
As a lamb to the slaughter my savior was
led with the thorns in his
heart and the thorns on his head.
By his stripes I am healed
by his death I now live
and he died at my sins
he might fully forgive.
In the garden of sorrow he suffered for me
in the cold judgment Hall
he was sentenced for me
in the midst of the mob he was nailed to
the tree and in love he was
willing to die there for me
in this wonderful savior no fault
could be found but through Envy
they led him to Calvary's mound
O forgive them he cried
ere in anguish he died and
he loved to the end my dear
Lord crucified.
When we look at the death of Christ we see
that it was voluntary.
No one forced Jesus to do this.
In Matthew 27 many
that passed by railed on him when
Jesus was on the cross they made fun of him
and they said if thou art
the Son of God come down from the cross.
The chief priests
scribes and elders also mocked him saying
he saved others himself
he cannot save let him come down
now from the cross and we will believe
him Matthew 27:42.
The point that we've got to see
the point that must be stressed
is that Jesus did not come
down from the cross because he could not
it was because
he would not.
You know he could have called down
twelve legions of angels
from Heaven and destroyed the ones
responsible for crucifying him according to
Matthew 26:53 but if he had done
that we would still be
in our sin would still be lost.
Many people have
died for others but the death
of Christ is so far superior
to any other death because
the Son of God was without sin
Hebrews 4:15
1 Peter 2:22 1 John 3:5
Jesus voluntarily
died for our sins. He left
the glory that he had in Heaven
to die for us according to Philippians 2.
In John 10
17 18 Jesus said
therefore doth the father love me
because I lay down my life
that I may take it again. No one
taketh it away from me but I lay it down
of myself. I have power to lay it
down and I have power to take it again.
This commandment received I from my father.
The only physical reason Jesus
was crucified was because he allowed
it to happen. He was willing
to do that. He went willingly and voluntarily
because of his love
care and concern for us.
The death of Jesus was also rational.
In the old testament when an animal
was to be sacrificed the animal had
no voice or decision in the
matter. The animal could not think, reason
or decide or choose whether or not it wanted to be
killed. However Jesus made
a rational voluntary choice
to die for you and for me.
There's an ancient story
told of Damon and Pythias.
How many heard that story? Would you raise
your hand? Some of you? Very few?
Well good. Let me tell it to you. It's a very interesting
story. Brother Weldon Bennett, my third
son is named after brother Bennett. He taught here
for years and he taught at Alvin Cruz
University Dallas
so he told me this story.
There's an ancient story told about
Damon and Pythias. These were two
very close friends who lived in Greece.
And they had a relationship much like
David and Jonathan did. As
David expressed about Jonathan in
2 Samuel 1:26.
Thy love to me was wonderful
passing the love of women.
Pythias was accused
of disloyalty and condemned
to die. Damon loved Pythias
so much that he went to the king and
volunteered to stay in prison for Pythias
while Pythias went home
to see his wife and his children and
he hid things in order because he knew he was
going to die.
The king said it would be
permissible but only for a set time
and if Pythias did not return
then Damon would
have to die.
The story came that the time was approaching
and Pythias still had not
returned. With only a few hours
remaining Pythias did still not come
back. The king taunted
Damon and said yeah that's the kind
of friend you have. One
would sacrifice anyone to save himself.
You're just a patsy.
You're just a sucker. The time
came for the execution and they tied Damon
up. He still had complete
confidence in Pythias and
the time of execution arrived and they were
ready. Well just at that point
Pythias came running out of breath
and said he was ready to take his
place and die. When the king
saw this he ordered his men to
untie Damon and let
them both go free. The king said
I would give my whole kingdom
if I had just one friend
to love me like that. Now
the lesson we can learn from this story
is that you and I not only have a friend
who would have voluntarily died for us
we have a friend
who did.
What does the cross
compel? From
1 Corinthians 4
11-13 and 2 Corinthians 11
22-27 we learned
that Paul was stoned.
He was beaten five times with
39 stripes. He was beaten
three times with rods. He went
hungry. He went thirsty.
He was reviled. He was persecuted.
He was made as the fifth of the
world etc etc.
In Galatians 6:17 Paul said
for I bear branded on my
body the marks of Jesus.
What gave the
apostle Paul the motivation
to endure such hardships?
He said in 2 Corinthians 5
14-15 it was the love
of Christ that
constrained him. Christ's love
for Paul motivated and compelled him
to endure these sufferings.
Now I believe with all my heart
it's the same realization
of what Christ has done for us on the cross
should motivate us
to do what's right.
In 2 Corinthians 5:15
Paul said and he died for all
that they that live
should no longer live
unto themselves
but unto him who for
their sakes died
and rose again.
The cross
has a compelling power.
It has a constraining power
a motivating power.
And it urges and constrains those who truly
appreciate what he did
to live unto him.
We're not on this earth
to do as we please. We're here
to live for Jesus and do whatever
he wants us to do. And this gives our
life a new outlook a new dimension
new direction. Peter says
because Jesus died for our sins
we are to live under righteousness
1 Peter 2:24
and we are to live to the will of God
1 Peter 4:2
Solomon clearly taught this
in Ecclesiastes 12:13
he said
this is the end of the matter all that's been heard
fear God and keep his commandments
for this is the whole duty
of man. The whole purpose
of our existence is to fear God and keep
his commandments. We're not on this earth
to please ourselves.
Now I'm not saying we shouldn't have a good time
and enjoy some things because the book of Ecclesiastes
certainly teaches that we should
but the bottom line is
we're on this earth to do the Lord's will
not our will.
In John 8:29
Jesus said for I do always
the things that are pleasing to him
Romans 15:3 says
for Christ also pleased not himself
Jesus came to this earth
not to do his own will but to do the will
of the Father. Listen to these verses
here's what Jesus said
John 4:34 my need is to do the will of
him that sent me and to accomplish his work
John 5:30
I seek not mine own will but the will
of him that sent me
John 6:38 for I am come down from
Heaven not to do mine own will but the will
of him that sent me
we're told in 1 Peter 2:21
to follow the example of Jesus
we all need to ask ourselves
what does Jesus
want me to do?
how can I please God?
what are the commandments that he wants me to keep?
you know we were taught in vacation Bible school
that you know there's an all seen eye
and that we you know this little light
of mine you know we sing those songs
but they're deep in me we need to live
how the Lord would want us
to live. In conclusion
to this lesson this morning
we need to remember that it's
Christ's love for us
that motivates us compels us
urges us to live for him
to do what's right it's not always easy
to do what's right brethren we're going to
talk about that at the last session
today on 3-30
we should be compelled by
his love for us to return that love
we must always reflect
on the cross and focus on his means
Jesus wanted his death remembered
when he issued the Lord's
supper he said this do
in remembrance of me
every time we remember the Lord's Supper
we remember his death
the emphasis the focus of the New Testament
is on his death not his birth
and that should be the motivating
factor to do
the will of the Lord
I'm through
anybody have any questions or comments?
got more time left than I thought alright
he asked me
so I will the word
propitiation is found in 1 John
2.2 the revised standard translated expiation
isn't that right the American standard of King James
says propitiation
it's from the Greek word
and that word is the same Greek
word found in Romans 3:25
and it's also found in
so the word
propitiation comes from Greek word
which has two basic meanings
and whichever meaning
we're taught both make good sense and I would preach
both one it means a covering
and it
has that emphasis there
in the Old Testament and so when Jesus
died he covered our sins
it's just like that
hen that took the full blunt
of the fire
the mother hen covered the little
chicks she covered them
she took the full brunt she died
but the chicks underneath lived
well in that same sense that's what Jesus did
for us he died for us that we
might live so the word propitiation
has it in a sense of meaning
coverage it also has the concept
of satisfaction Jesus
died to satisfy
the requirements for salvation
God who is all holy righteous
we'll talk about this in the second lesson
God who is all holy righteous and just
cannot wink at sin
he cannot just ignore sin
a just judge is going to punish
the guilty and free the innocent
and he has to deal with this sin he can't
just cover it up well in order for him
to cover it up there has to be
a replacement a satisfaction when Jesus
died he satisfied the requirements
for our salvation
so if you've been taught satisfaction amen
if you've been taught covering amen
now the word propitiation is expiation
you propituate
people you expiate things
when Jesus
died on the cross he propituated
God in the sense that he satisfied God
that he took care of the sin problem
Hebrews 9:26 so he satisfied
the requirements he satisfied God
he propituated God the father
but he expiated sin in the sense
that he took care of the sin problem
you expiate things you propituate
people so it really doesn't
bother me if you use a revised standard
and use the word expiation or use the American
standard of King James and use the word propitiation
doesn't bother me a bit
I think we have too much problems
in the day about translations
if we just go back to the original we don't
have any trouble
question comment
John on that point
I know in Vietnam when we were
in Tennessee when I was training
specialization like you've done for this I
would lay out
seven to nine translations including
three English by the time
I got through I knew what the passage said
that's a good way to do it
good point anybody
else got a little more time left than I thought
I didn't think
I was going to have enough time to get this in
anybody have any questions or comments
y'all been an excellent class this morning
any questions
about the book or anything
I can't help
but encourage you to try to buy the book
you don't want to help
a poor preacher
the book is on sale in the Bennett
gymnasium and
it retails for $7.95
if some of you churches would like to buy
it for Bible classes you'll see me
I'll try to give you a special
discount if you're going to use it if you're
going to buy in
quantity and use it for classes
I'd be glad to help you out on that
the name of the book
is the compelling power of the cross
you know
everything I'm going to say today basically
is in the book
some of the things that the brother asked me
I didn't have that in the book
but almost everything I'm going to say today
is in this book
anybody else have any questions or comments
anybody else
yes Sir
can I keep this
anybody else
question or comment anybody
I debated on that
on the second lesson
to either do chapter 3 or chapter 6
in my book
I'm going to talk a little bit about that
at the end
I will deal with it some
in the second lesson
that's part of it question
well I think it goes both ways yes
oh that's right right
one last question
that's okay any question comment anybody
thank you for your attention hope to see you back
at 11:00 God bless you
thank you for coming