(upbeat music) We are back after a week-long break from the podcast and we have a full week ahead, Pastor John, so let's dive into the mountain of emails that never stop flowing in. Austin, a listener in Atlanta writes in, "Hello, Pastor John. "When asked about the significance of the cross, "most Christians can give the Sunday school answer "that Jesus died to save us from our sin.

"While this is a beautiful, true, and profound truth, "it can sometimes appear simple and one-dimensional. "How would you encourage me "to have an enlarged view of the cross? "How can I approach God's Word and life in a way "that continually broadens my understanding and love "for that pivotal moment in history?" - Well, I love this question and I love it because right off my front burner, the answer to the question happened to me in worship yesterday, but let me say something else before I say that.

Austin is clearly right. He's got his handle on the right way to live. He wants to go deeper and wider in the cross of Christ than he has ever gone before, and he wants that to be continually happening. So let me give three different kinds of answer to the question, how can we approach God's Word?

How can we approach life so that this deepening, widening, heightening of our experience of, understanding of, love for the cross happens? Number one, linger over and meditate regularly on Galatians 6.14 or other texts like it. Goes like this, "Far be it from me to boast, "except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now that is an astonishing statement.

Um, everything in the world has died to us, and we have died to it, it says at the end of the verse. But this statement, "Far be it from us to boast, "or glory, or rejoice, except in the cross," is really wildly exaggerated, it seems, because the Bible talks about exalting and rejoicing in and boasting in other things, like exalt in the hope of the glory of God, Romans 5.2, exalt in your tribulations, Romans 5.3, exalt and boast in your weaknesses, 2 Corinthians 12.9, exalt in other believers, 1 Thessalonians 2.19.

So what does he mean when he says, "Always boast in the cross." God forbid that I should boast except in the cross, which I take it means we should always boast in the cross. If there's any boasting, it should be in the cross. So what in the world, what in the world does that mean?

And I think it means this, all other boasting, which is right, he's got other boastings that he commends in the New Testament, all other boasting should also be a boasting in the cross. All exaltation in anything should be an exaltation in the cross. If you exalt in the hope of glory, you should be exalting in the cross of Christ.

If you exalt in tribulation, you should be exalting in the cross of Christ. If you exalt in your weaknesses or in the people of God, in that very exalting, you should be exalting in the cross of Christ. Well, what in the world does that mean? How do you do that?

In other words, I'm saying, if you boast in anything at all, it should be a boasting in the cross also. Why, how, what in the world? It's true, this is true because, think of it this way, Christians, all Christians are sinners and do not deserve anything but judgment, which means that daily, hour by hour, we are receiving hundreds of good things that we don't deserve and bad things that happen to us, which are being turned for good.

Why? Why do people who don't deserve anything good and they don't deserve to have the bad things turned for good, get so many good things and get all their bad things turned for good, why? And the answer is Christ died for us. The new covenant purchases the favor of God and poured out in all those acts of grace.

Elect sinners only receive good things because they are bought by the blood of Jesus, which means that there isn't anything that happens to us. And I'm saying this so that Austin will feel amazed at the cross because the cross is never farther away than the happy things you're experiencing or the hard things you're experiencing getting turned for good.

So that's my first response to Austin. The glory of the cross is ever present underneath as the foundation for every good you ever experience. Number two, second way of coming at this, and this is what I was talking about when I said that yesterday in worship this happened. I was singing and reading the texts that were being put up on the overhead, I mean on the screen for us, and a fresh, deep, sweet, moving, unusual for a long time, taste of the love of Christ in the cross came over me and I was so moved and thankful.

And the reason that happened was largely because of the words of the hymns. So I'm gonna say to Austin, make it your habit to sing great old hymns and good modern worship songs that are cross-centered and Bible-saturated with the gospel of Christ. And the one we sang yesterday was, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.

Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin. And then this phrase, the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure. That's really good, really good. It's freshly good. Two cures happened in the cross, wrath removed and me made pure. What a great gift in singing.

And then not the labors of my hands can fulfill the laws commands. Could my zeal, no, respite, no. In other words, if I could be as zealous as the apostle Paul 24/7, 80 years long, with tears flowing, not one bit of it could atone. Thou must save and thou alone.

Oh, that's so powerful. Nothing in my hand I bring simply to the cross. I cling naked, come to thee for dress. Helpless, look to thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. There's something about the plea of that verse. Savior, Savior, wash me.

I'm foul, dress me, I'm naked. I could just feel how shameful that would be and how dirty I am. And so the hymn with the tune gives a fresh taste and experience of the love of Christ at the cross. While I draw this feeding, and this one may perhaps move me most of all because I'm 70 years old.

While I draw this fleeting breath, when my eyes shall close in death, when I soar to worlds unknown, see thee on thy judgment throne, rock of ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. I know that at the last fleeting breath, I'm not gonna plead my good deeds.

You know, like I worked hard for desiring God. I spoke in a lot of places, blah, blah, blah. No, what a paltry, I mean, wood, hay, and stubble is just not going to be sufficient to make me acceptable at the judgment. One thing will, the rock of ages was cleft on the cross and I'm gonna hide.

So all that just to say to Austin, get a good hymn book, go online, find some hymns and sing them. And find a good church where they put together beautiful Christ exalting gospel saturated songs that heal you every Sunday. And I got one more thing to say. The third thing that I would mention is to meditate on the dozens and dozens of passages in the New Testament that talk about varied purposes for the death of Jesus.

So I wrote a book about this. Some years ago in relationship to Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, I wrote a book, 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. And that's the most concerted focus of anything I've ever written on the reasons for the cross to expand and deepen and intensify our love for what he accomplished.

And so if I could be of any help, that book is free for the download at desiringgod.org or you can get it at Amazon. But whatever you do, Austin, keep on asking God to open your eyes to the glories of the cross. And then there's no substitute for setting your eyes, putting your eyes on the word where the cross is most central.

- Thank you, Pastor John. That would be a great summer read, by the way, 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. It's one of the best John Piper books I've read. And it's free online and you can download the PDF free of charge at our site at desiringgod.org. Well, what is the joy of the Lord?

The Bible talks about this phrase in a few places. And of course, we wanna know what this joy is. We wanna possess it and we wanna share it with one another. So where can we find the joy of the Lord? John Piper will explain tomorrow when we return. I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

I'll see you then. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)