May 3, 2024 Show with Geoff Thomas on “Knowing the Cross”

Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer

George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend

Jim Thorpe, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

And now, here's your host, Chris Arnson. Good afternoon,

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arnson, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Friday on this third day of May, 2024.

Before I introduce my guest and our topic today, I want to remind all men in ministry leadership that the next

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Free Pastors Luncheon is being held on Thursday, June 6th, 11 a .m.

to 2 p .m. at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania. And our keynote speaker for the very first time is

Dr. Joel Beakey, who is a founder and president of Puritan Reform Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

And not only is admission free and your lunch free, but every man who attends is going to get a very heavy sack of free brand new books personally selected by me and donated by generous

Christian publishers all over the United States and United Kingdom. Everything is absolutely free at the insistence of my precious late wife,

Julie, who launched these luncheons with me in the 1990s.

She always insisted that not one thing be charged for at these biannual luncheons.

And she wanted the time to be just purely a time of rest, relaxation, and edification and fun and fellowship and feasting for men in ministry without any ulterior motive or hidden agenda.

And she insisted that there never be a charge for these luncheons or anything that is present at the luncheons.

So if you would like to attend this event Thursday, June 6th, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. at Church of the

Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com

and put Pastor's Luncheon in the subject line. But today I am delighted to have a returning guest, definitely one of my favorite guests to interview on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

And I was thrilled to see such a huge response in social media from my listeners who are thrilled that this brother is back on the program for an interview today.

His name is Jeffrey Thomas. He was the pastor of Alfred Place Baptist Church in Aberystwyth, Wales, for over 50 years, a very historic church.

And during that time, Jeff preached through almost every word of the Bible. He received his theological training at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2011.

Jeff is a frequent conference speaker all over the world and also holds the position of visiting professor of historical theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that I just mentioned moments ago.

And he is the author of a dozen books, including his autobiography, In the

Shadow of the Rock, as well as the comprehensive volume, The Holy Spirit, and a bestselling book entitled

You Can Have It All. But today we are going to be addressing a book that he has written, published by Reformation Heritage Books, Knowing the

Cross. And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back after a long absence to Iron Trip and Zion Radio, Pastor Jeff Thomas.

Thank you very much. How kind, how exciting to be here again.

And I'm coming back, of course, two weeks time. I'm speaking once again, but four times on revival.

Yes. I want to let our listeners know about that. That is a conference being hosted by the

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals on Friday and Saturday, May 17th and 18th.

And Jeff Thomas is speaking on Friday night at 7 p .m., 8 p .m.,

and 9 p .m. And then also at Saturday at 9 .30 a .m., 10 .30

a .m., and 11 .30 a .m. And the first session on Friday night is

The Spirit of Life in You. The second session is The Sons of God, Not Slaves of Sin.

And at 9 p .m. is a question and answer session. And then on Saturday he's speaking on The Valley of the

Dry Bones at 9 .30 a .m. And 10 .30 a .m. he's speaking on No Condemnation, No Separation.

And at 11 .30 a .m. is another question and answer session. And if you want more details on this event being held right here in Pennsylvania, this is called the

Gap Bible Series. And the seminars take place at the Town Clock Chapel in Gap, Pennsylvania.

And the website to find out more details is AllianceNet .org,

AllianceNet .org. And click on Events and scroll down until you see

Gap Bible Series. And if you scroll down again, you will find the events with Jeff Thomas coming up.

And I think that is next week, if I'm not mistaken. Or is it two weeks?

I can't remember. Two weeks. Two weeks. And so I'm excited to have you on the program, as are many of our listeners.

And as I said already, we are addressing your book, Knowing the Cross. And the cross is really what separates true

Bible -believing Christianity from the counterfeits in Christendom and also from every other religion.

It is a pivotal and one of the very most vital issues addressed in the

Scriptures that offer God's children eternal life. So if you could pick up on why you wanted to write this book and just open your heart for us, as you always do.

Thank you very much. You know, the cross is given such a significant place in the

Word of God. You know, a third of the Gospels deals with one week, the last week in the life of our

Lord. It is that important for the message of why

God sent his son into the world. The climax of it all is the

Lamb of God is taking away our guilt and shame and is reconciling a holy

God to sinful men and women whose hope and confidence then is not focused in anything they can ever do to merit that.

But all that has been merited for them by our Savior, the

Lord Jesus Christ. I called the book Knowing the Cross because of my respect for an old friend,

J .I. Packer, and one of his best -selling books, Knowing God. And so I took up that theme.

You know how when he begins his ministry and is baptized by John the

Baptist, then John says of him, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And then the Apostle Paul, when he writes to the Corinthians and to the early church, he speaks to them of the message prioritized by him.

What did he speak on, first of all, when he went to a new area and introduced people to this extraordinary teacher, miracle worker, and this humble and gentle Jesus?

Well, he says, first of all, he told them how Christ had died for our sins and that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day according to the

Scriptures. So it was given a priority by him. In fact, he says he was determined not to know anything among them except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

It was a message which didn't go down well with the Greek philosophers or the

Jewish legalists, but that was his great theme, the cross of Christ our

Lord. It was a declaration. It was his good news. And good news must be shared.

It makes you grab the phone and tell what you know to your family and your neighbors.

You call your sister. I got good news, you say. And this news of Jesus' death is especially rich and hot, never out of date.

We're not in the business of giving tips or advice or a description of our feelings.

When we stand in the name of Jesus Christ behind an open Bible, we declare the good news of what

Christ achieved on the cross that is utterly relevant to every single one of our hearers, not depending on their intelligence or their age or their guilt or their innocence, but all who have ears to hear the best news of all, we speak about hope for the world.

And that's our great concern. I can say to everyone in America, I have good news for you.

Now, the message seems foolishness that he went to the cross.

He could have escaped. He could have been delivered from it by his father, but he didn't.

And that dying of Jesus is the power of God because he made him.

God made Jesus to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

So we are summoned in the Great Commission of the Son of God to bring this message to men and women.

Wesley said, Harvey, if with my latest breath I might but gasp his name, preach him to all and cry in death, behold, behold the

Lamb. And so that commission is given to us. And it's my delight and it's my challenge to you this afternoon hour that you receive this mind blowing truth.

Like a person who digs a pit to bury some rubbish and he finds a chest and it's packed with treasure.

And he sells all he has that he might get that treasure for himself. And so here in the historic existence and humbling of the

God man who died on Golgotha, here then is the

Lamb of God. And you must take a certain posture before him and say to God, Father, forgive me, because I've heard that the blood of your son can make the foulest person clean.

And that blood has become my only plea. I flee from all my sin and all my virtues to hide in the wounded side of Jesus Christ, who is my

Lord and my Saviour. All my joy is found concentrated and spelled out and experienced now in the message of the cross.

And all my sadness and shame are because of those things that he took the cruel nails and the crown of thorns and the darkness and his abandonment to reconcile you, my

God, to me and obtain divine pardon for what I've been and what

I've done. And that it took so long for me to realise this and fall before you with tears of joy and grief.

The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, it overwhelms, it breaks our hard hearts, it crushes, it melts them, it transforms them into hearts of undying gratitude and awesome anticipation that the face that was spat on for us the moment we die would be the face we will see.

And the voice that preached the Sermon on the Mount, that voice will speak to us and say,

Welcome, welcome, my brother. Welcome, my beloved one. So that from my stricken heart with tears to wonders,

I confess the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.

So the book is all about aspects of the cross of Jesus Christ, that it's an imputation of our guilt to him, that it's the humiliation of the

Son of God that we might never be humiliated, that it is a substitution and a propitiation of the wrath of a sin -hating

God. That it's redemption from our slavery and bondage to our sins, that God is satisfied by it and that death's power over us is destroyed by it.

It's the foundation, it's a new covenant in Jesus' blood, better than the covenants of the

Old Testament, and it is to be proclaimed and believed and loved by all

Christians everywhere. And when they meet the Saviour, they will cast any crown that they've had, any fame, any reward, any reputation, they will cast it before Jesus and say,

You alone are worthy of all the blessings that you have now given to me and a countless number of people.

That's the message of the cross of Jesus Christ, my Saviour.

Well, hallelujah. And why is it there are people who are outside of the

Christian faith, both those that would be openly enemies of the cross and those that are just ignorant of the

Christian faith, who say, Why on earth, if God does exist, why on earth would he require the cross in order to make sure that sinners could go to heaven when they pass away, when they die, and leave this earth?

Why was this necessary in the plan of God? Well, it's because of two factors, two attributes of God, God's holiness,

God's righteousness, God's anger with all that is tawdry and mean and cruel and debasing and foul, and God's holy justice focuses his wrath on all of that.

And God doesn't just shrug, he's not like Buddha, with an enigmatic smile on his face, as he sees the silly things that the young people are doing.

God is angry with the wicked every day, all that contradicts what he is as just and lovely and pure and kind and patient, long -suffering, gentleness.

And so here is the problem then, not just with us in our sin, but with God in his holiness and in his justice.

And the cross of Christ is essential because it does something to God himself.

It propitiates, it appeases the anger of a sin -hating

God. So that now we may plead the death of Jesus Christ as the way a holy

God has been reconciled to us. And he's given us a ministry of reconciliation.

He gives us this great word that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

God took our pain. God the Son took our condemnation.

God sent him in love into the world in order to appease his deep, deep hatred against all that is mean and unkind and cruel and debasing.

So that now God may be just and yet he may justify those who plead the merit of Jesus Christ so that they say,

Lord, you can be satisfied with me because my guilt and shame has all been imputed to your

Son, Jesus Christ. Unwillingly, he has embraced it and taken it.

And though he was enticed to cry that the crucifixion should be terminated and that God, his

Father, should send a legion of angels and deliver him, he would not come down from the cross until all the penalty of our sin was paid and that God's holy justice towards us was completely satisfied.

And that is the reason then that God in his love for us, that love that he's showing to you this day, that you are listening to the good news of Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Now, though you not lived a good life, God loves you to tell you this message of the cross.

And he's loved us believers in Jesus Christ much more than that, in that he did not spare his own son that we might be spared for our sin.

Well, we already have a listener question, and that is from Joyce in Manhasset, Long Island, New York.

And Joyce says, what was Christ really fearing in the

Garden of Gethsemane that had him sweating drops of blood? Was it primarily the physical, torturous death that awaited him, or was it the wrath of God that was going to be poured upon him by his own

Father, or was it both? Well, the humanity of Jesus is seen there.

Jesus of Nazareth, he is there, the man who has a real body.

There was no built -in analgesic painkiller when

God sent him into the world. He felt the pain of the lash and the nails.

That was our Savior. But more than that, he had never experienced the loss of God or eternity from the very beginning.

God had always been there. And then when he came into the world, he could, when he woke in the morning, know

God's presence with him. And that presence continued with him, keeping him, shedding his love abroad in his heart.

And then at the end of the day, he could thank God that he hadn't been away from him for a moment.

But in Gethsemane, he knows what's going to lie before him that next day, that he's going to experience something he has never experienced before.

And as a man, he fears and he cries.

He's going to cry, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? And only by the help of God can he drink the cup that God has given him.

And only by the strength that God supplies will he be enabled to go through those hours and taste death for us all.

The separation of his body and his soul for the first time. Those were the concerns that were on him that made him say to his friends,

I need you to come and pray with me at this time. Please help me at this time because of what lies ahead of me.

Amen. And I think that was a very good question of Joyce, because there are

Christians, or at least professing Christians, who are very repulsed by the notion that the cross was where Christ's father poured his wrath upon his son.

And they, in fact, some have even called it child abuse.

And they merely come up with other theories that Jesus died to pay a ransom to Satan, which was an error that was believed by many in the early church amongst the church fathers.

But Jesus Christ, being the God man, could not have been only solely fearing a physical death because there have been many thousands and thousands, countless thousands of millions of martyrs who faced equally gruesome deaths.

And some of them, even women and children, marched bravely to their deaths without even asking

God to deliver them from the fate that awaited them. So it can't be just the physical death that awaited him that caused him such anguish.

Quite so. Quite so. It is the loss of the presence and the comfort.

And God was never nearer to him. God was never more in love with his son than when he hung there, taunted by the crowds, supported by the nails.

He never loved him as much. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

But the Lord Jesus was not experiencing and feeling the love that had always accompanied him through eternity and through the 33 years he had lived.

All the comfort was taken from him and he was discovering the ugliness of sin as he was made sin for us.

His affections, his conscience, his intellect, his inmost being, his heart now experiencing the shame and the guilt of all the broken commandments, all the lovelessness that men and women have by nature.

All now imputed to him and experiencing the disdain and holy justice of God towards all of that defilement and wickedness.

And that was really what he knew lay before him.

But there was no other. There was no other good enough. There was no other holy enough.

There was no other who was God as well as man. So that the atonement has an infinite and eternal and omnipotent power to it that is then never going to lose that power till all the ransomed church of God are saved to sin no more.

So, the God -man has to that sinners like ourselves can be redeemed.

Amen. And we have to go to our first commercial break. If you would like to join us on the air with a question of your own for Jeff Thomas, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, your city and state and country of residence.

And by the way, Joyce in Manhasset, Long Island, you have won a free copy of Knowing the

Cross, compliments of our friends at Reformation Heritage Books. Make sure you give us your full mailing address in Manhasset, Long Island, New York so that cvbbs .com,

Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, can ship that book out to you at no cost to us or to you.

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And Jeff, I know that you have had quite a number of decades proclaiming the cross.

And if you could, please provide for us more reasons why people need to flee to that cross, why they need to fall at the foot of the cross and cry out to Christ for mercy, because it is our only hope.

If you could continue. Well, it's because of the wonderful achievements of the death of Jesus Christ that the

Scripture tells us about. You know how the New Testament takes pains to acknowledge that the authors,

Paul and Peter and James and Jude and the others, they owed their life changing ministries and joys and wisdom from their contact with Jesus Christ.

They were introduced to one who had all power in heaven and earth.

He had power over creation. He could speak and the winds and waves obeyed him.

He could walk on water. He could curse a tree. He could turn water into wine.

He had power over demons. The greatest case of demon possession the world has seen or ever will see in the

Gadarene demoniac. Jesus delivers him. He delivers men and women from their diseases.

Some in the last stages of incurable disease. He heals everyone.

And then he has power over death itself. He raises the widow of Nain's son and Lazarus and Jairus' daughter.

And he himself conquers death as he predicted. The challenge of what is more powerful, the preacher of the

Sermon on the Mount or death? And the resurrection of Jesus Christ shows what power and authority he has.

Yet he is the one who goes to the cross. He is the one who lays down his life.

His father is the one who doesn't deliver him from it. He delivers him when the elders of the synagogue at Nazareth want to throw him off a precipice and they can't find him because it's not the time.

And God could have sent a legion of angels to deliver him, but he doesn't.

Because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for our sins.

Without that condemnation, just and right, that Jesus Christ bears, there can be no pardon and no forgiveness.

But God now can look on Jesus Christ and can be merciful to all those whose trust was in him.

And so we say as Christians, God forbid, that we should boast except in the cross of our

Lord Jesus Christ. The message of his dying love is what we proclaim.

It is above every other message in the world that achieves man's chief end, which is to give glory to God.

We give glory to God through his son, Jesus Christ. We enjoy peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. And so you are confronted with a certain massive historical fact that our creator, the incarnate

God, was killed through being nailed to a cross nakedly, publicly, shamefully outside the city of Jerusalem two millennia ago.

What's all this about? What is its meaning? What is its significance? What does it have to say to Americans in the 21st century as to what we believe or how we are to live?

The answer is only found on the lips of Jesus.

I give my life a ransom for many. And on the words of the

Apostle Paul, one of the first Christians, God made him to be sin for me who knew no sin, that I might be made the righteousness of God.

And that is the message then that has transformed Europe.

And as it's been taken to the countries of the world, it has transformed them to the one understanding of the cross.

None can create that change except that understanding. He died as a substitute.

He died as the one to whom our guilt and shame was attributed.

He died penally. He was found guilty. And God did not, when he saw him made sin, did not withhold the judgment that sin makes.

The writer Isaiah says in the famous 53rd chapter that he made him to be sin for us.

He says that he bore our sins and God did not spare his only son.

That he might spare you who go just as you are without a plea, but plead the merit of the all sufficient sacrifice that the loving

Jesus has made for us. Amen. We do have let's see here.

We have Randall in West Babylon, Long Island, New York. And Randall said once again in the media, we've been hearing about members of the

Jewish community claiming that we who are Christians are anti -Semitic.

If we dare to point a finger at the Jews of the first century as being responsible for the death of Christ.

But if we were to deny that, would not it be a lie?

This is an obvious and true fact of history, is it not? Well, yes, but it was

Pontius Pilate, a Gentile, a Roman who just said,

I wash my hands of him. And he permitted the

Jews themselves were not allowed to crucify fellow Jews.

But it was the decision that Pontius Pilate made as well as Ananias and Caiaphas and the men they bribed to say they'd heard the

Lord Jesus blaspheme. There was a system of legalistic

Pharisaism that dominated the land. It had been in existence for about 200 years.

And that system was like all men of power.

They weren't willing for that power to be disdained and ignored.

They wanted to keep it. And so it was for them, then, the greatest wisdom that he died, that their power could be maintained.

And so it wasn't the race, but it was individuals motivated by a greed for power.

The Jewish Pharisaic scribes and priests, they were the ones then who said he must die, that we can still have the power that we are enjoying.

That's that's the people who put him to the cross. Now, I have said to people over the years after becoming a born again believer myself, when they bring up similar objections,

I say that Jews did indeed. It's a historical and biblical fact that they cried out for Christ's death.

They rejected him as being the Messiah. The Romans physically carried out the execution.

Jesus Christ voluntarily laid down his life as a ransom for many.

God, the Father, orchestrated this execution before the foundation of the world.

And I, as a sinner, am also responsible for his death, because if we were not sinners, there would be no sacrifice required.

And so I have even said to people, it's nothing to brag about to say that you had no involvement in the death of Christ.

Because if you completely remove yourself from responsibility for the death of Christ, then you cannot have any benefit from the death of Christ.

Am I making sense? That's very well argued.

Oh, I agree completely with what you say there. That is very important.

I mean, all the Old Testament types of the sacrificial system, the blood of heifers and pigeons and lambs and goats, that couldn't cleanse people from their sins.

They were types which were zealously maintained through the

Old Testament because they were looking forward to one day one who would come, who would be

God's Elham, who had all power and all love and the purity that he was without spot and without blemish.

And he could then achieve what only the analogous types in the

Old Testament were prophesying and looking forward to. Jesus comes and he bears our condemnation and he does it not just for the

Old Testament Jews, but he does it for the world. Behold, the Lamb of God, John the

Baptist says, he takes away not just Jewish sin, he takes away the sin of the world.

Amen. And we have to go to our midway break right now, folks. Please be patient with us. The midway break is always a little longer than the other breaks because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1

FM in Lake City, Florida, requires of us a longer break in the middle of the show because the

FCC requires Grace Life Radio to localize this program geographically to Lake City, Florida.

And therefore, they air their own public service announcements and other local things in the middle of the show, while we air, on the other hand, simultaneously, our globally heard commercials.

Please use this time wisely. Write down as much of the contact information as you possibly can for as many of our advertisers as you can so that you can more frequently and successfully contact our advertisers.

And we hope that means you buy their products and use their services and visit their churches. But when you can't do any of those things, there's one thing that every

Iron Trip and Zion Radio listener can do, if you love the show, contact their advertisers and say, thank you for sponsoring

Iron Trip and Zion Radio, and give them perhaps a sentence or two as to why this program means so much to you.

We cannot exist without the financial support of our advertisers, folks, so please contact them as often as you can.

And send in your questions to Jeff Thomas on Knowing the Cross, 631,

I'm sorry, I'm just kidding, give me my phone number, to chrisarnson at gmail .com. Don't go away.

We'll be right back. Chris Arnson of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio has had a long time partnership with our friends at CVBBS, which stands for Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.

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Chris Arnzen here, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. I strongly recommend a church

I've been recommending as far back as the 1980s, Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey, pastored by Alan Dunn.

Grace Covenant Baptist Church believes it's God's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshipped and how he shall be represented in the world.

They believe churches need to turn to the Bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship

God in spirit and truth. They endeavor to maintain a God -centered focus and to protect worship from the intrusion of carnal entertainments and distractions.

Reading, preaching, and hearing the Word of God, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, baptism, and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship performed with faith, joy, and sobriety.

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That's GCBC -NJ .org. Or call them at 908 -996 -7654.

That's 908 -996 -7654. Tell Pastor Dunn you heard about Grace Covenant Baptist Church on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

It's such a blessing to hear from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listeners from all over the world.

Here's Joe Riley, a listener in Ireland, who wants you to know about a guest on the show he really loves hearing interviewed,

Dr. Joe Moorcraft. I'm Joe Riley, a faithful Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener here in Atai in County Kildare, Ireland, going back to 2005.

One of my very favorite guests on Iron Sharpens Iron is Dr. Joe Moorcraft. If you've been blessed by Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr.

Moorcraft and Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, are largely to thank, since they are one of the program's largest financial supporters.

Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming is in Forsyth County, a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Heritage is a thoroughly biblical church, unwaveringly committed to Westminster standards, and Dr.

Joe Moorcraft is the author of an eight -volume commentary on the larger catechism. Heritage is a member of the

Hanover Presbytery, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, and tracing its roots and heritage back to the great

Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Heritage maintains and follows the biblical truth and principles proclaimed by the

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Their primary goal is the worship of the Triune God that continues in eternity. For more details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit

HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com. That's HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com.

Or call 678 -954 -7831. That's 678 -954 -7831.

If you visit, tell them Joe Reilly, an Iron Sharpens Iron radio listener, from a tie in County Kildare, Ireland, sends you.

If you love Iron Sharpens Iron radio, one of the best ways you can help keep the show on the air is by supporting our advertisers.

One such faithful advertiser who really believes in what Chris Arnton is doing is

Daniel P. Patafuco, serious injury lawyer and Christian apologist.

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Thanks for helping to keep Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Music When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the

NASB. I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, president and professor of systematic and homiletical theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Taylors, South Carolina.

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I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, President Emeritus and Professor of Systematic and Applied Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Every Christian who's serious about the Deformed Faith and the Westminster Standards should have and use the eight -volume commentary on the theology and ethics of the

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It is much more than an exposition of the Larger Catechism. It is a thoroughly researched work that utilizes biblical exegesis as well as historical and systematic theology.

Dr. Morecraft is Pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia. And I urge everyone looking for a biblically faithful church in that area to visit that fine congregation.

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For details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com.

heritagepresbyterianchurch .com Please tell Dr. Morecraft and the Saints at Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia that Dr.

Joseph Piper of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary sends you. Hello, my name is

Anthony Uvinio, and I'm one of the pastors at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Corum, New York, and also the host of the reformrookie .com

website. I want you to know that if you enjoy listening to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio show like I do, you can now find it on the

Apple's iTunes app by typing Iron Sharpens Iron radio in the search bar. You no longer have to worry about missing a show or a special guest because you're in your car or still at work.

Just subscribe on the iTunes app and listen to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio show at any time, day or night.

Please be sure to also give it a good review and pass it along to anyone who would benefit from the teaching and the many solidly reformed guests that Chris Arnzen has on the show.

Truth is so hard to come by these days, so don't waste your time with fluff or fake news. Subscribe to the

Iron Sharpens Iron radio podcast right now. And while you're at it, you can also sign up for the reformrookie .com

podcast and visit our website and the YouTube page. We are dedicated to teaching Christian theology from a

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Doctrines of Grace to the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Leviticus, the Reform Rookie podcast and YouTube channel is sure to have something to offer everyone seeking biblical truth.

And finally, if you're looking to worship in a Reformed Church that holds to the 1689

London Baptist Confession of Faith, please join us at Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Corham, New York.

Again, I'm Pastor Anthony Avino, and thanks for listening. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,

Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read. He who never quotes will never be quoted.

He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.

You need to read. Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the

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Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And let me highly recommend a couple of items that my guest today,

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Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Before I return to Jeff Thomas, I have a few very important announcements to make.

If you love the show and you don't want it to disappear from the airwaves, folks, please go to IronSharpensIronRadio .com,

click Support, then click Click to Donate Now. You can donate instantly with a debit or credit card in that fashion.

If you prefer snail mail, sending in a physical check to a physical address the old -fashioned way at your post office, there will also be a physical address that appears on your screen when you click

Support at IronSharpensIronRadio .com where you can mail your checks made payable to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

If you want to advertise with us, whether it's your church, parachurch, ministry, your business, your private practice, like a law firm, a medical firm, or maybe it's just a special event, as long as it's compatible with what

I believe, I would love to help you launch an ad campaign soon because we're just as much in urgent need of your advertising dollars as we are in your donations.

So please send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line. Please always remember, never give your own church less money than you normally give your church on the

Lord's Day in order to bless Iron Sharpens Iron Radio with a financial gift. Never do that.

And also, if you're really struggling to survive financially, wait until you're back on your feet and more stable financially before you send us a gift.

The Bible is very clear that we are primarily to use the money with which He has blessed us, which is still His money, we're primarily to use that to provide for our church and our family, and providing for my radio show is obviously not a command.

But if you are blessed financially above and beyond your ability to provide for church and family, you have extra money for benevolent, recreational, and trivial purposes.

Please share some of that money with us if you want us to continue to exist. Go to ironsharpensironradio .com, click support, then click click to donate now.

And if you are not a member of a Christ -honoring, biblically -faithful church home anywhere you live in the world,

I may be able to help you find a church, as I have done with many people in our audience spanning the globe, sometimes even within just a couple of minutes from where they live.

That may be you, too, if you are without a church home. So please send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com

and put I need a church in the subject line. That's also the email address where you can send in a question to Jeff Thomas.

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com. chrisarnson at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence.

Let's see here. We have Bobby in North Belmore, Long Island, New York, who says in the

King James Version, Revelations 13, verse 8, says that the

Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. I don't understand that wording, and I know that some other translations word it differently.

We know that Christ actually, the Lamb of God, was slain on the cross in his third decade of life.

So how could it say the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Wow, that's a wonderful question, isn't it?

Yes. I can remember when I was a student at Westminster Seminary, going to Professor Murray with a concern to ask

John Murray, what does this verse of Scripture mean then? And he would say, well, give me some time to think about this.

And then a couple of days later, he would find me and he would talk to me about the understanding that he had, again, sharpened his mind and checked what he was going to say in the light of this study of this particular verse.

And, you know, what do we know about the

Lord Jesus Christ? Well, we know that he eternally existed. There never was a time when he was not.

When he was not wonderful in his teaching, his knowledge was omniscient, wonderful in his power.

Without him was not anything made that was made. And he was also then the great teacher who could expound and enlighten the most brilliant and the dullest in the world.

He was always that. And he always knew that he would have to come into the world and atonement would have to be made.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit were all agreed about that, that there could be no other means of forgiveness and God remaining holy and just, a hater of sin and yet one who would pardon the very chief of sinners, the most wicked man this world has seen.

And he could receive pardon and mercy only by atonement, only by the wrath of God being propitiated, only by a substitution made that was infinite and sin -bearing and that would cover the worst of offenses.

And he knew that that was to lie before him when he came in the world.

It was written in the volume of the book about him that he would be the suffering servant of God.

And Isaiah 53 speaks so powerfully that knowledge he always had.

And so he is the Lamb of God. He always has been.

He always will be. But now his wounds are glorified and they are the subject of our praise and joy for all eternity.

He will ever be the delight and theme of our thanksgiving and joy in the heaven of heavens.

So that is all known to him and all commitment that he made to his incarnation and his redemption was there from the very beginning.

The Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. Amen. And by the way, everybody who is sent in a question today has won a free copy of Knowing the

Cross by my guest Jeff Thomas, compliments of Reformation Heritage Books and compliments of Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, CVBBS .com

will actually be shipping the book out to you. And we want to thank our friends at Reformation Heritage Books for offering us a limited number of copies for our listeners today.

And we want to thank, as always, CVBBS .com for shipping out to our listeners all the items that they win, whether it be books or Bibles or DVDs or other things.

We thank you so much. Let's see here. We have

Ronald in Eastern Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. And Ronald says, we who are

Calvinists believe firmly that Jesus, without question, definitely atoned for the sins of his people on the cross.

And he finished the work of redemption on Calvary 100 percent. And therefore, he must have only died for his elect because of the fact that not everyone will be saved.

Is it wrong for Christians to say to everyone, including strangers or even openly anti -Christian strangers, that Jesus Christ loves them and died for them?

Yeah, that's a good question. And I believe what you have said concerning the purpose of the cross.

I believe that one drop of the blood of Christ is effectual to redeem and cleanse and save all that it was intended to save.

But I do believe there are cosmic consequences, that the world is groaning because of sin, that defilement is there, that men and women are made in God's image and likeness, and God shows wonderful kindness.

He causes the sun to shine upon them and their flocks to prosper, and they live a long life.

And there is kindness and graciousness, and all those are gifts of God to people who defy him.

And they are all bought, those gifts of God's mercy and kindness to all men, they're all bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, the

Son of God. I don't like the phrase, Jesus loves you and has died for you.

I don't like that phrase because it can give people some security, who as yet have no repentance for their sin and no trust in Jesus Christ.

But I do say this to all of you who are listening today. Many of you are not

Christians yet, and yet God has loved you so much that this afternoon, all over the world, but mainly in America, he has caused you to hear the greatest message it's possible for a person to hear, the best news of all, that the

Son of God became the Lamb of God and died in our place on the cross, that there might be forgiveness for all the evil and foolish things that we have done, and that we might go to heaven, saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

And God has loved you so much that he's made you tune in the radio today, as you're driving in the car or as you're sitting in your home, and you're hearing the best news.

What wonderful love God has shown to you in bringing you this message.

What are you going to do with that love? What are you going to do with the Lord of love?

What are you going to do with a message that God has particularly brought to you today?

Are you going to burn such love, or are you going to bow and confess that your heart has been too cold for too long, and that you are going to turn from this broad way, ignoring him, and start out a new life now, walking hand in hand with the

Lamb of God, trusting in him forevermore. I pray that it will. Amen.

We have Noble in Cheyenne, Wyoming, who says,

As a Christian, were you always a believer in the doctrines of sovereign grace?

And if not, if you were Arminian at one time, was there a book or books that the

Lord used to revolutionize your understanding of what took place at Calvary, bringing you more in harmony with those doctrines of grace that we cherish?

Oh, what a lovely question. Yes, I am. Very early on in my

I was converted 70 years ago in March 1954 in a little church in South Wales Valley.

And I came under conviction during the spring months, as a number of other people in the church were.

And I would walk along and I would be thinking to myself, I wonder if God will call me this

Sunday night to himself. I wonder if he will shed his love on my heart and give me assurance that I'm a child of God.

And on that second Sunday in March in 1954, I received such assurance.

And during the years that followed, I met the finest

Calvinistic people who helped me and spoke to me.

I heard Dr. Martin Lloyd -Jones preach for the first time in 1958. I read studies in the

Sermon on the Mount and thought this life is a wonderful life, a beautiful life, this holy life.

And I never realized that a man preaching the

Bible could give joy to an entire congregation, which it did when

I heard Lloyd -Jones preach. So he was a great help as a Calvinistic Methodist minister in Wales.

And then as a student, I was given a book to read,

Fundamentalism and the Word of God by J .I. Packer. And that helped me to trust in the

Bible that it was true. And then Packer wrote a foreword to a book called

The Death of Death, a Puritan work by John Owen. And Packer wrote a wonderful introduction to explain the doctrine that you have mentioned, the doctrine of particular redemption, that there were a company of people innumerable in their number from every country and nation and tribe of vast millions and millions of them, that Jesus Christ had been given by his father to come into the world to save and that he laid down his life as the good shepherd for the sheep, not for the goats, but for the sheep and saved every one of them.

And I was very persuaded reading Packer and John Owen to come to that happy conviction myself.

Praise God. And by the way, you can certainly get The Death of Death and The Death of Christ and John Murray's Redemption Accomplished and Applied and all these other great works from the history of the church and also from recent history at cvbbs .com,

Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, cvbbs .com, who sponsor this program.

Let's see here. We have Josiah in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Josiah says,

There are people that I think have an overly sentimental understanding of the cross.

Is that a possible thing to over -sentimentalize your Christian faith?

Yeah, I suppose it is. I suppose it is. I want a Christianity of affections.

The greatest commandment is to love the Lord my God, not to understand him or do his will, but to love him, that he is so lovable.

And that love has been displayed in sparing not his own son, but giving him up so freely and making him to be the substitute for us sinners.

That is love so amazing and so divine, and it should be responded to by affection and it should be preached about affectionately.

You know, you talk to boys who come to church and have no interest in the gospel, and they know the answer to questions.

You say to them, why did Jesus die? For my sins, they'll say. But there is no understanding there of what their sins are.

How defiling, how weakening, how contrary to the will of God, how hurtful to their families and their friends and to their own souls.

And that the only way that we might be pardoned and have eternal life is because of the cross work that Jesus Christ has done for us.

So no one will just blurt out, well, he died for our sins or will sentimentalize the old rugged cross.

We are too familiar with it. It came to the early church with shocking power, breaking their hearts.

They are totally depressed. They thought he was the one who was going to redeem

Israel, but he's died on the cross. So he can't be the son of God, they thought. Our response to it should be what we sing about in the great hymns.

Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. It demands a wholehearted response of affection, understanding, obedience, consecration, all those things.

Yes, let's be aware of sentimentalizing it, but let's make sure that pure and holy sentiments do present themselves in our talking to God and thanking him for what he did to his son and how he's forgiven us because of that.

Yes, I'm assuming, I don't know for certain what Josiah meant by the question, but I'm assuming it could be that there are people, famous people, and perhaps even your next door neighbor, who don't deny

Jesus Christ existed. They don't deny he died on the cross, but they view it merely as an act of humility, merely as an example that we should be willing to lay down our life for those we love, for our friends, even for strangers.

But if it's robbed of its true meaning, if it's robbed of the propitiatory aspect of it, it really has no benefit to those who are romanticizing it in such a way that robbing it of its essence.

Am I somewhere in the right category here? I'm quite sure

I agree entirely with you. You know, the liberal, the unbeliever, looks at the cross of Christ and he says, do you know what it means?

It means this man stuck to his guns. He had certain convictions, and though he was threatened with a terrible death, he believed what he believed right to the end.

And so they say, he's an example to us.

If you have a conviction, stick to it and keep it and even lay down your life for it.

Well, you can see how erroneous, how dangerous that is. You can be in the

Klan, for example, and have terrible racist views and hold them.

You should be ashamed. You should be turning from them and disassociating yourself from them.

Or you don't say, well, he stuck to his guns. Many people have got convictions that are totally unacceptable to God.

And so, yeah, let's make sure that our convictions about the cross of Christ are biblical and sober and discerning and God -honoring.

So can both be true? against him, that there was no possibility of a just trial.

And in that regard, then, Christ was victimized by his opponents.

But of course, he was the Lamb of God before the foundation of the world, as we've been reminded again this afternoon.

And from the very beginning, the seed of the woman was going to bruise the head of Satan and he himself was going to suffer in the conflict, although emerging victorious at the end.

And so the victim became Christ, the triumphant Lord of Lords and King of Kings reigning forever and ever.

Amen. And obviously, on an earthly sense,

Jesus was indeed murdered and he was innocent.

The only innocent person ever executed, the only fully innocent person ever executed, although there obviously have been people who have been wrongly executed who did not commit the crimes they were being charged with.

But he was the only perfect person to ever been executed and he was murdered.

But at the same time, as we've already said, he laid down his life willingly and also the father himself orchestrated this execution.

So if people refer to him as a victim, they have to be careful that they are not conveying the idea that Jesus's death was beyond his control.

Am I right? Yeah, that's right. And we have to go to our final break right now.

And if you also want to join us with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. As always, give us your first name, at least your city and state and your country of residence.

Don't go away. We'll be right back. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries here.

If you've watched my Dividing Line webcast often enough, you know I have a great love for getting Bibles and other documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity.

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That's PTLBibleRebinding .com. When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the NASB.

I'm Pastor Nate Pickowitz of Harvest Bible Church in Gilmont and Ironworks, New Hampshire, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Rich Jensen of Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, New York, and the

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Here's a great way for your church to help keep Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew

Bibles tattered and falling apart? Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com, that's nasbible .com to place your order.

This is Pastor Bill Sousa, Grace Church at Franklin, here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.

Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially. Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers, which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work of our

Lord Jesus Christ. And of course the end for which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org, that's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our

Sovereign Lord, God, Savior, and King, Jesus Christ, today and always.

Greetings, this is

Brian McLaughlin, President of the SecureComm Group and supporter of Chris Arnzen's Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Program.

SecureComm provides the highest level of security systems for residential buildings, municipalities, churches, commercial properties, and much more.

We can be reached at securecommgroup .com, that's securecommgroup .com.

But today I want to introduce you to my Senior Pastor, Doug McMasters of New High Park Baptist Church on Long Island.

Doug McMasters here, former Director of Pastoral Correspondence at Grace TU, the

Radio Ministry of John MacArthur. In the film Chariots of Fire, the Olympic gold medalist runner

Eric Liddell remarked that he felt God's pleasure when he ran. He knew his efforts sprang from the gifts and calling of God.

I sensed that same God -given pleasure when ministering the Word and helping others gain a deeper knowledge and love for God.

That love starts with the wonderful news that the Lord Jesus Christ is a Savior who died for sinners, and that God forgives all who come to Him in repentance, trusting solely in Christ to deliver them.

I would be delighted to have the honor and privilege of ministering to you if you live in the Long Island area, or Queens, or Brooklyn, or the

Bronx, in New York City. For details on New High Park Baptist Church, visit nhpbc .com.

That's nhpbc .com. You can also call us at 516 -352 -9672.

That's 516 -352 -9672. That's New High Park Baptist Church, a congregation in love with each other, passionate for Christ, committed to learning and being shaped by God's Word, and delighting in the gospel of God's sovereign grace.

Armored Republic exists to equip free men with tools of liberty to defend God -given rights against the twin threats of tyranny and chaos.

If you own a rifle to resist tyrants and criminals, then you should own body armor and a med kit for the same reasons.

A rifle stops evil, but body armor and a med kit keep you in the fight and preserve your life.

Armored Republic is a body of free craftsmen united to create tools of liberty. We are honored to be your armorsmith of choice.

Civilian ownership of body armor is about increasing decentralized power and, by comparison, reducing the advantages of centralized power.

The danger of centralized power is often represented by the word king. As Americans, we hate the word king applied to any mere man.

We are Armored Republic, and in a republic, there is no king but Christ. Arm yourself with tools of liberty at ArmoredRepublic .com.

Hi, this is John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona. Taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnson and the

Iron Sharpens Iron podcast. I consider Chris a true friend and a man of high integrity. He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions, while always defending the key doctrines of the

Christian faith. I've always been happy to point people to this podcast, knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray.

I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide. This is a day of great spiritual compromise, and yet God has raised

Chris up for just such a time. And knowing this, it's up to us as members of the body of Christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances.

I'm pleased to do so, and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting

Iron Sharpens Iron financially. Would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?

I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris, if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com,

where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com. I'm Dr.

Tony Costa, Professor of Apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary. I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love.

Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Corham, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jansen and Christopher McDowell.

It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God, like the dear saints at Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Corham, who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in His Holy Word, and to enthusiastically proclaim

Christ Jesus the King and His doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island, and beyond.

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love, as I have.

For more information on Hope Reformed Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.

That's hopereformedli .net. Or call 631 -696 -5711.

That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Corham, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with, or switching to, the

NASB. I'm Dr. Joe Moorcraft, pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Anthony Uvino, founder of thereformrookie .com

and co -founder of New York Apologetics, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Tim Bushong of Syracuse Baptist Church in Syracuse, Indiana, and the NASB is my

Bible of choice. I'm Eli Ayala, founder of Revealed Apologetics and staff member with the

Historical Bible Society, and the NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Josh Miller of Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Joe Bianchi, president of Calvi Press Publishing in Greenville, South Carolina, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jake Korn of Switzerland Community Church in Switzerland, Florida, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com, that's nasbible .com to place your order.

Chris Arnzen here. I am forever grateful to Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service for their generous financial support of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

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Now shipping worldwide. Welcome back. Folks, I also want to remind you that this program is paid for in part by the law firm of Buttafuoco &

Associates. If you are the victim of a very serious personal injury, accident, or medical malpractice, please call my friend

Dan Buttafuoco, attorney at law anywhere in the United States at 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, or visit his website 1 -800 -NOW -HURT .com,

1 -800 -NOW -HURT .com. Make sure you mention Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And I also want to remind you one more time, if you haven't done so yet, if you're a man in ministry leadership, you are invited to the next

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Free Pastors Luncheon featuring guest speaker Dr. Joel Beakey of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This is a free event, and not only is admission and lunch free, but you will receive a heavy sack of free brand new books personally selected by me and donated by Christian publishers all over the

United States and the United Kingdom by attending. Everything is free, so if you want to register, send me an email to chrisarnzen at gmail .com

and put Pastors Luncheon in the subject line. That's Thursday, June 6th, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m.

at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania. That's chrisarnzen at gmail .com

is where you send your free registration. And I know, Jeff Thomas, you are a friend and admirer of Dr.

Joel Beakey, are you not? Yes, indeed. Yes, we've preached in one another's churches, and I've taught in his seminary, and I've read his books and his fourth final volume of his systematic theology 3000 pages altogether.

Wonderful. I'm looking forward to getting back soon. And in fact, his publisher,

Reformation Heritage Books, the publishing ministry that he founded, published Knowing the

Cross, the book that we have been addressing today by Jeffrey Thomas. I want to make sure, Jeffrey, that you summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners today about the cross, because it is such a vital subject with infinite consequences.

Well, I hope you've been thoughtfully listening and beginning to understand what

Jesus was saying when he said that no man can come to the Father but by him, that he alone is the way and the truth and the life.

Do you understand now how he could insist on this, that the only way to heavenly life is through dying love of the

Lamb of God? No one else could pay the price of sin. He alone could unlock the door of heaven and let us in.

Only he has the key, only by him. Mohammed and Buddha and the gods of the

Hindus didn't give their lives that we might be saved. The Lord Jesus must be the savior or we are forever lost.

What I'm asking of you now is this, to bring your intellect to this word of the cross and believe it.

Bring your intellect to the Gospels and read

Mark's Gospel through and savor the final chapters that describe his dying love for us.

This is the historic existence and humbling of the

God -man who died on Golgotha and I'm saying cling to it.

Admit yourself to it. Come from where you are and place your hand, as it were, on the head of the

Lamb of God and take it to the throne of grace.

And when God says to you, well, why should I let you into my heaven?

You will say three words, because of Jesus.

That's the only reason. That blood has become my only plea.

And now you flee from all your sins and all your virtues to hide in the wounded side of Jesus Christ, your

Lord and Savior. And all your delights, your richest joys are experienced in the word of the cross and all your sadness and shame are because of the things that you have done and that it took cruel nails and a spear thrust and darkness and abandonment to reconcile yourself to God and obtain divine pardon for what you've done.

The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ overwhelms. It breaks our hard hearts.

It crushes. It melts them. It transforms them into hearts of undying gratitude.

Hearts of awesome anticipation of seeing that face that was spat upon for us, that bore the crown of thorns for us, whose dying love took our condemnation.

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain,

I count but loss and poor contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my

God. All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood.

See from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow, mingle down.

Did e 'er such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine? That were an offering far too small.

Love, so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

And from my stricken heart with tears, two wonders I confess, the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.

Oh, I hope that you all can come there. The safest place in all the world is

Calvary. The only name to plead before the throne of the

Holy God is the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. May you stand there and plead that, and may we all meet one day at Jesus' feet.

Good night to you now, and thank you for listening. Hallelujah and amen. And what, when you said, when we stand before the throne and hear, why should

I let you in, the answer that you gave so passionately and simply because of Jesus, it reminded me of my mother, my precious mother at 70 years old.

Right now, that's only eight years older than I am, right now. When she was 70 years old, dying of pancreatic cancer, she had been a

Roman Catholic her whole life. She was very superstitious in many ways her whole life, but the

Lord got a hold of her and transformed her before she departed this earth.

And I was sitting by her bedside in the hospital and I said to her, Mom, you have lived such a wonderful life of selflessness and generosity and humility.

You have been a very religious woman. You are well known in the town we live as being just a sweet and kind and gentle woman.

Your children love you and can't even think of anything over which to criticize you. Has any of that been a reason why you will enter heaven when you leave this earth?

And she said, absolutely not. I said, really, why? And she said, Jesus died for my sins.

That's the only reason why I'm going to heaven. And I said, yes, but don't these other good things that you've done, aren't they going to help you to get to heaven?

And she said, no, that would be like the religious leader who prayed in the temple and he bragged about all the things that he did.

And he bragged about not doing the things that are sinful.

And he he said he thank God that he was not a wretched sinner like the tax collector who was in the temple praying as well.

And the tax collector bowed his head, beat his breast and said, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. And my mother said,

Chris, I am that tax collector. And I almost fell off my chair. And yeah, and our mutual friend, who's also now in heaven,

Peter Jeffries, was visiting the United States at the time. And he visited my mother for a half hour alone and he emerged from her sick bed and he said to me in his thick

Welsh accent, I don't know what you're worried about. Your mother's going to heaven. She's born again. So very good.

I want to thank you so much, Jeff, for doing such an extraordinary job. I want to remind our listeners, you can find out more about Knowing the

Cross by my guest at HeritageBooks .org. You can also order that book at CVBBS .com,

CVBBS .com. And please do not forget about the conference, the seminar two weeks from now featuring

Jeff Thomas on Friday, June 21st and Saturday, June 22nd here in Gap, Pennsylvania.

Go to AllianceNet .org, AllianceNet .org. I hope you all have a blessed and safe and happy and Christ honoring weekend and Lord's Day.

I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater Savior than you are a sinner.