Because of the Cross - Part 1

Welcome to Right Beside You in the Pulpit with Dr. Stephen Rummage! 

This episode is Part 1 of a recent sermon titled "Because of the Cross." 

Over a four-week series, we’ll focus on a single sermon—tracing the journey from initial preparation all the way to the closing invitation on Sunday morning. Each month, we’ll also gather around the table with pastors from across our state to hear insights from their unique preaching rhythms, contexts, and experiences. 

As you listen, our prayer is that you’ll find encouragement and practical help to strengthen your weekly preaching of God’s Word. 

This podcast is funded by the generous Cooperative Program giving of Florida Baptist churches.  

If you have any questions about this episode, please email stephen@flbaptist.org.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

That's where the believers in the church at Colasse had been. They had been transgressors, they had been godless, they were spiritually dead in God's sight and on their own. There was no cure for their spiritual deadness. I just want to remind us of something tonight. We cannot fix our own spiritual deadness problem.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Welcome to Right Beside You in the Pulpit with Dr. Stephen Rummage, a series geared to help strengthen your preaching of God's word and encourage us together along the way.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Hi, this is Stephen Rummage, Executive Director of the Florida Baptist Convention. Thank you for listening to this episode of Right Beside You in the Pulpit. This month, the message comes from Colossians 2, 13 through 15, and over the next two weeks, you'll hear the sermon as I preached it. As you may know after listening to the first two podcast series, the next few weeks we will follow up with a group discussion with other pastors and a deep dive into the sermon prep for this message. I know that pastoral ministry can be a journey of endurance week after week, but I pray this podcast encourages you as you approach preaching God's Word every Sunday. And now let's get into my sermon from Colossians 2, 13 through 15. It's a message called Because of the Cross. Take your Bibles. If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me, please, to the book of Colossians, chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. And this evening we're going to look at verses 13 through 15, just three verses of this text, but I want you to keep your Bible open throughout the message because we'll just be continually going back to those verses. Tonight I've given my message the title Because of the Cross. Because of the Cross. Dr. Herschel Hobbs was the pastor of First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City. In 1959, he and his wife Frances visited Japan. They went to Hiroshima and they were there not too long after World War II, and they were in that area where the first nuclear bomb had been detonated over a populated area. They went to a museum and on display there, Dr. Hobbs and his wife saw a large, remarkable stone that had once been part of the entrance to a building. The stone was completely black and charred because it had been subject to the radiation and all of the explosion of that bomb. So it was black and charred except for one thing. There on that charred black stone was the shape of a man silhouetted against the stone. The man's body had absorbed the impact of the nuclear explosion and left the outline of his body against the stone. Later on, Dr. Hobbes wrote these words. He said, That silhouette reminded me that our only security from God's wrath is to be in Christ. The only thing that stands between sinful men and sinful women and the eternal judgment of God for our sin is the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus is the dividing line for all of humanity and for all of eternity. When God measures time at the center of time is the cross. And when God looks at us, every person here tonight is either on one side of the cross of Jesus Christ or the other side. Tonight you're either on the lost side of the cross or the saved side of the cross. And tonight, if you're on the saved side of the cross, God has given you the responsibility and the joy of reaching people all around you with the wonderful message of the cross. If you're here and you've never come to the cross, if you're on the lost side of the cross more than anything in the world, tonight God wants to save you. And God wants to give you his free gift of eternal life that only comes through the cross of Calvary. The great preacher Vance Habner once said, We need men of the cross with the message of the cross, bearing the marks of the cross. The Apostle Paul was certainly a man of the cross. He testified in Galatians, may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross had captured his heart. As Paul devoted his life to proclaiming the gospel, he focused on preaching Christ and him crucified. And so we listened to his words in Colossians chapter 2, beginning in verse 13. Notice what the Word of God says, as Paul writes, and you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Praise the Lord. Will you join with me as we pray together? Lord, we love you. We praise you. We thank you for this time we've had together tonight. Thank you, Lord, for an opportunity already to praise you for the cross. Lord, I pray in these moments that you would move me out of the way and God, that you would speak a word to your people in this place tonight. Lord, reveal the cross of Jesus to us. Lord, I pray for those who are here who are unsaved or uncertain where they would spend eternity. Lord, I pray that you would reveal the cross of Jesus to them tonight. That tonight they might turn to the cross and receive at the cross your gift of salvation. Then, Father, I pray for believers in this place. Turn our hearts to the cross. That through your cross we might see our mission. That through your cross we might see your offer of forgiveness and healing and hope for us day by day. We'll give you glory and honor and praise, Lord, for all that you do. For we pray these things in Jesus' precious name. And church, if you agree with that prayer, will you say amen. Amen. I want us to look at this passage together. I want you to consider with me this question. What did God accomplish because of the cross of Jesus? This passage shows us three accomplishments, and I want us to consider each one of those as we look at this portion of God's word. First of all, I want you to see this. Because of the cross, God has forgiven our trespasses. Because of the cross, God has forgiven our trespasses. Now look in Colossians chapter 2, verse 13, and notice what the word of God says. Paul says that on the lost side of the cross, we were dead in our trespasses and the uncircumcision of our flesh. It says you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. Just notice the words that Paul uses there. The Bible says we were dead in our trespasses. In my Bible, I've underlined that word trespasses. The word trespass here means the same thing it means when someone puts up a no-trespassing sign on their property. It means that there is a line that has been established, and if you step over that line, you've trespassed. It's no secret. We have trespassed. I have trespassed. My sweet wife has trespassed. Our son and daughter-in-law have trespassed. Our little sweet baby girl, I'd put her picture, our little granddaughter's picture, I'd put her picture up on the screen, but she's so beautiful, she will distract you from the rest of the message. Such a precious little baby girl. But can I tell you something about her? One day, when she gets old enough to do so, she will trespass. By the way, my family is not alone in trespassing. You have trespassed. You have overstepped God's boundaries. You've stepped over the lines that He has drawn for you. You have broken God's law. The Bible says we're dead not only because of our trespasses, but also because of the uncircumcision of our flesh. The word uncircumcision there carries the idea of a deep-rooted, inborn, sinful nature. To be uncircumcised is a picture of complete alienation from God. Because of our trespasses, because of our spiritual uncircumcision, the Bible says we once were dead. Not weak, not sick, not confused, not mixed up, dead. Death here means separation. Unsaved people, the Bible says, are spiritually dead. Unsaved people are separated from God. Now, they have human life, they have biological life, and yes, their lives are precious to the God who made them in his image, but on the lost side of the cross, you are dead. You don't have life, you don't have spiritual life, you don't have resurrection life, you don't have eternal life. And that's where the believers in the church at Colossae had been. They had been transgressors, they had been godless, they were spiritually dead in God's sight, and on their own, there was no cure for their spiritual deadness. I just want to remind us of something tonight. We cannot fix our own spiritual deadness problem. I looked at my my hands this morning and I noticed little spots, little little puncture marks all over my hands. And it reminded me of something that I did before I left Florida at the beginning of the week. Michelle told me, she said, Stephen, we've got to go out. It got colder than it normally gets where we live there near St. Augustine. And she got colder. And we have we have palm trees, a couple of palm trees in the front yard. And those palm trees, the branches on the palm trees were dead. Graveyard dead. Now, if if a palm branch is dead, you can talk to it, it'll still be dead. You can paint it, it'll still be dead. You can water it, still be dead. You can fertilize it, still be dead. You can pray for it, it'll still be dead. So the only cure for dead palm tree branches is what we did the other day. We went out there and we cut off those branches, and that's why I've got those little puncture wounds, because there's there's little spikes there. I had to cut off those dead branches. Listen, you can't bring a dead branch back to life, but can I tell you something? It'd be easier to do that than to bring somebody dead in trespasses and sin back to life. We can't do that on our own. On the lost side of the cross, I am dead in my trespasses, but on the saved side of the cross, I am fully forgiven. Praise God for that. In fact, the Bible says in verse 13 that we have been forgiven. The word that Paul uses there in verse 13 for forgiven is built on the Greek word for grace. It means to be kind to someone, it means to show someone undeserved favor. And notice what the Bible says: it says, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having shown us kindness and grace and forgiveness for all of our trespasses. The Bible goes so far as to say that because of the cross, we can be given not just of some of our trespasses, but of all of our trespasses. I love that little word, all. That word makes all the difference. God didn't have to put that word there. He could have simply said, having been forgiven of our trespasses, but that's not what he says. He says, having been forgiven of all of our trespasses. If it just said having been forgiven of our trespasses and not all of our trespasses, I might read that and think, well, Lord, now you may be able to forgive this sin in my life. And you may be able to forgive this sin in my life. And you may be able to forgive this sin in my life. But God, look way back over here. I've got this sin. And I don't even like to think about this sin. I don't even like to go back there in my mind and even think that I committed this sin. I don't even like to think about this trespass. Lord, I know you can forgive this, this, and this and this, but what about this and what about that? I don't even like to think about those. But God has wiped away all of those excuses, and He has said, He has forgiven us through the cross of all of our trespasses. Praise God for that tonight. There's nothing in your past, there's nothing in your present, there's no deep dark secret, there's no sin that's so horrible that God will not forgive it through the cross of Jesus. Because of the cross, all trespasses can be forgiven. When I begin to wonder how God is going to receive someone who sinned as much as I have, who stepped over the line as many times as I have, I look to the cross. I look to the cross. I look to where Jesus died for me. And that's the only way I expect to be forgiven. It's the only way I expect to be received. It's the only way I expect to get into heaven. Because of the cross, God has forgiven our trespasses. Amen. Because of the cross, God has forgiven our trespasses, and because of the cross, God has canceled our sin debt. Praise the Lord. As you're listening and have a question, we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at info at flbaptist.org. That's info at flbaptist.org. Also, please subscribe to this podcast so that you'll automatically get the new weekly episodes. I look forward to continuing through God's Word next week as we listen to the rest of this message. Thanks for listening today, and remember, we're right beside you.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Thank you for listening to today's episode of Right Beside You in the Pulpit with Dr. Stephen Rummage. This podcast is made possible through your faithful cooperative program giving. For more resources, ministries, and upcoming events in Florida Baptist life, visit flbaptist.org.