The Way of the Cross (字架的道路) — Zac Poonen

The Church Built by Jesus and the Freedom of Truth

Where Jesus spoke about the church that he was going to build that's the first time that he spoke about the church. And he says to Peter On this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it Matthew 16 .18.

Now the New Testament church was not to be like that Old Testament synagogue in which the Jews gathered. And we have been considering the last few days about how the Lord Jesus has brought to us something in the New Covenant which is far superior to what people had in the Old Covenant and how we need to understand that in order to enter into those privileges.

And Jesus said that very familiar verse that when you know the truth, the truth will set you free. And that has been a very helpful verse to me to find out what is the truth. There are so many people preaching so many doctrines and everybody is using the Bible to convince people of their doctrines.

And I praise God for what Jesus said in John 8 .32 you shall know the truth, the truth shall set you free. And by that simple test I can find out what is the truth. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the spirit of truth and he will lead you into all the truth.

Jesus said when we open our lives to the Holy Spirit he leads us into all the truth. But how do we know whether what we are receiving is the truth.

By one simple test.

Is it setting me free. We spoke about grace on the first day the law brought bondage but grace sets us free. We spoke about faith. Faith always sets us free. We spoke about humility. Humility liberates us from bondage and every truth can be tested by this one test.

Is it bringing me to bondage or is it setting me free.

Is it bringing me to bondage or is it setting me free.

It's possible for us to hear wonderful truths from a preacher but we are still defeated by the same old things we were always defeated by. One of the great dangers that Christendom is facing today is the danger of increased Bible knowledge.

We may think increased Bible knowledge is a good thing.

But if that Bible knowledge does not find application in our life it's a dangerous thing. It's like food. Food is a good thing but if the food that goes into my stomach is not being digested and I eat more and more and all that is not being digested the food I eat can finally kill me.

And so it can be with Bible knowledge that I can study and study and use commentaries and concordances and helps and so many things. But I'm not being set free. I'm getting knowledge but I'm not getting the truth.

Knowledge cannot set us free. The truth will set us free. So when I study the scriptures I must long for truth not for knowledge. The devil has got knowledge he's got all Bible knowledge but he's in bondage to sin and we can become like that.

And that's a great danger because when I increase in Bible knowledge I can think that is an increase in spirituality.

But it's not.

If I'm really increasing in spirituality I'll become more and more free from sin in my life. And here Jesus spoke about the church in Matthew 16, 18. The church was not like the Old Testament synagogue.

In the synagogue they had a congregation who would listen to a preacher. But in the church it's called the body of Christ. In the human body there is no outstanding member. A body can be different sizes.

A small baby is very small and a giant is very big. A body can be different colors black, white, red, yellow. But there's one thing that's true about all human bodies big or small in any part of the world.

And that is this. There's one universal truth about the physical body that the members of a body do not fight with each other. That's why the church is called the body of Christ. These two hands of mine have been good friends for 45 years.

They've never had a fight. You believe that? It's not difficult to believe. Why can't we believe that God can build a church where people don't fight for 45 years. If it is the body of Christ my right leg has never kicked my left leg.

They're friends. They work together. If my left hand is hurt my right hand is concerned about it and works to bring healing. That is the body a concern for one another a unity. Even in a small baby the baby's hands don't fight with each other.

The important thing is not that our congregation is large. The thing is are we the body of Christ. So that's one main mark of the body of Christ. That's the church that Jesus is building. So we see the important thing is not the size of the body but the quality of relationship in the members.

And so he speaks here for the first time about the church. And he said the gates of Hades will not be able to overpower it. And then for the first time he also told the disciples about something else.

And I want you to see the connection between these two. For the first time he spoke about the church. And for the first time we read in verse 21 he spoke to his disciples about the cross.

For the first time in verse 21 he spoke to his disciples about the cross.

Let's look at verse 21 from that time.

The meaning is that he spoke about the beginning of the church and then he told his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem to be killed.

Peter said Lord forbid it, it will never happen to you. And the Lord turned and said to Peter get behind me Satan you are a stumbling block to me for you are not setting your mind on God's interest but man's.

Peter's intention was good he didn't want Jesus to suffer but Jesus said get behind me Satan we learn something from that that the voice that tells me to avoid the cross is the voice of Satan.

Did we get that? Did we get that? That voice said to Jesus that it will never happen to you. Jesus immediately knew that it was the voice of Satan.

Even though it came through the mouth of his friend Peter even though it came from the mouth of a good friend of ours.

That voice always the voice of Satan.

I need to say what Jesus said when I hear that voice. Get behind me Satan and Jesus said verse 24 he said it's not only for me this cross.

He said the cross is not only for me.

Taking Up the Cross and Rejecting Satan’s Shortcuts

If anyone wants to be my disciple.

If anyone wants to be my disciple he has to carry the cross and follow me.

And so we see that Jesus for the first time spoke not only about the cross on which he was going to die he also spoke about the cross on which his disciples had to die. And he explains this cross in verse 25 saying to avoid the cross is to try and preserve my life.

He says in verse 25 that if you want to avoid the cross is to try and preserve your life if you want to die on the cross is to give up your life. There is a thing called my life.

Which I have received from Adam my pride.

My ego, my will my own consciousness.

And that has to go to the death of the cross. But I can hear voices telling me that I don't have to go that way. That's the voice of Satan. There are only two times in the gospels that we hear Jesus saying get behind me Satan.

And it's good for us to notice. Here's one get behind me Satan when Satan tried to tempt him through Peter to avoid the way of the cross. The other time was in Matthew chapter 4 where the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world in verse 8.

And he said I'll give you all this if you bow down and worship me. What does it mean to bow down and worship Satan? That means just to be a little compromiser in your life. That means not standing true and upright for the word of God.

To compromise the principles of the word of God a little bit is to bow down to Satan a little bit. And if I bow down to Satan a little bit Satan will give me many things. I can be appreciated by people and I can get the honor of the world.

I can get honor from many believers by compromising my convictions just a little bit.

If I can compromise a little bit many believers can like me but Jesus never compromises. He never compromises. And in verse 10 Jesus said Satan go away the same words.

What does it mean here? What Satan was telling Jesus was this. He was saying you have come from heaven to gain this world for the father. Alright I'll give you all the world. But you don't have to go that hard way of the death of the cross.

In order to get it I'll show you a shortcut you just bow down to me and I'll give it to you. That's an easier way. So what was really the temptation there? The temptation was again avoid the way of the cross and try and accomplish God's purposes without the cross.

And again Jesus gave the same reply get behind me Satan. So we learn the same thing. The voice that offers me a shortcut and tells me to avoid the way of the cross is the voice of the devil here Satan came directly to Jesus.

In Matthew 16 he came through Peter. Satan may come directly to us or he may come through our fellow believers. But the temptation to compromise and avoid the way of the cross is always the voice of Satan.

Why is that? Because we saw yesterday that it was on the cross that Satan was defeated because on the cross Satan was defeated. That's what he fears. If I'm crucified with Christ and I take up the cross and follow Jesus I'll overcome Satan too.

And if he build a church of people who decide to go this way it'll be a church over which the gates of hell have got no power at all. So we see some things here in Matthew 16. For the first time Jesus spoke about the church.

And for the first time he spoke about his own cross. And for the first time he spoke about the cross on which the disciples also had to die. We can put it like this that Jesus was saying this law of the cross is the law for building the body of Christ.

The Grain of Wheat and Fruitfulness Through Death

We considered the law of faith. And the law of humility here is another law. It's described in John 12, 24. It's a law of God. What does the law of faith teach us? According to your faith, be it unto you.

The law of humility taught us that God gives his grace to the humble and that God will exalt us and lift us up only if we humble ourselves. Now here's what the law of the cross teaches us. John 12, 24.

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Now there are many ways in which Christians have tried to bear much fruit. People try to bear much fruit by activity.

But that's not the way Jesus spoke of here. And believers are always trying to think up of new plans to produce much fruit. We want to bring much fruit for God in Singapore. What is the way? There are always new methods and new ways to serve God.

All types of new audio-visual aids for spreading the gospel. New electronic instruments to help the spread of the gospel. New methods discovered in America and exported to the east. But there's still nothing better than the method Jesus spoke in John 12, 24.

In any part of the world in any time if you want to bring much fruit there is one way that's the law of the cross. You've got to fall into the ground and die. You know what that means? Think of a little grain of wheat.

It falls down. It goes down like Jesus covered trampled by men hidden from the eyes of men and in secret under the earth it dies and cracks open. And no human eye sees it dying. No human eye sees that corn of wheat dying.

God alone sees that corn of wheat dying there. And God rewards that corn of wheat by it multiplying into 100 corns of wheat. And that's what God does for us too. We go down and hidden from the eyes of men in secret before God.

We die inwardly. And God who sees it rewards us by giving us much fruit. That's what Jesus said was the law for building the church against which the gates of hell would never prevail. That grain of wheat first of all referred to Jesus himself.

He was that first corn of wheat that fell into the ground and died. And now he calls us to go the same way. And I'll tell you something. It's impossible to build a church as the body of Christ. If we don't gather together people on this basis.

It's impossible to build a church as the body of Christ.

Christ’s Cross Creates One New Humanity

Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 2.

There's a very beautiful passage here.

It says here in verse 13 that through the blood of Christ you who were formerly far off have been brought near in Christ Jesus for he is our peace. And he has made both these groups into one and broke down the dividing wall the barrier of the dividing wall and he has abolished in his flesh the enmity.

In the last part of verse 15 it says of the two. He has made one new man and reconciled these two groups in one body to God through the cross and by the cross he put to death the enmity. That's the church.

One body. The Jews and the Gentiles two. Opposite type of people. It's very difficult for opposite type of people to become one but here it says. Jesus made them one on the cross and together he presents them as one body to God.

Brothers and sisters Jesus Christ is not going to present millions of saved souls to the father. It says here. He is going to present one body to the father not millions of individuals who have been converted.

One body. That's why an evangelism that converts individuals and leaves them as individuals is not according to the will of God. When individuals are converted they've got to be brought together and made into one body to be presented to God.

It's easy to sit as individuals. But when we sit as individuals it's a Jewish synagogue not the body of Christ that's an old testament church. In the new testament church it's one body. Now you know that there's a lot of difference.

Between a big pile of bricks and a building so many bricks are like a congregation but when those bricks are put next to each other and joined together you have a building. If those bricks are put together you have a building.

In verse 21.

It's a building it's not a pile of bricks it's a building it's a building. Some people sometimes I say I'm not afraid of anybody stealing anybody from our assembly.

Because I'm not afraid of anyone stealing a brick from this building. If my assembly there back home was just a pile of bricks then I'll have to watch it day and night let somebody come and steal a brick from here.

When I'm not looking somebody will steal a brick and that's how you find somebody going off to some other church. But if those bricks are put into a building there's no danger of anybody stealing any brick from here.

That is the body of Christ but to be put next to each other is a problem.

But to be put next to each other.

Is a problem because there is an enmity.

Between us.

Not just between the Jews and the Gentiles. Even between the Jews and the Jews. And between the Indians and the Indians. And the Chinese and the Chinese. Why? Because we've got a flesh. Because we've got a flesh.

That's why you find husbands and wives quarrel. They're supposed to be one. And they really think they're going to have a glorious time the day they get married. But very soon within one or two weeks there's friction because there's a dividing wall that comes between them because of their flesh.

A flesh in which dwells nothing. Good says here in verse 15 there's an enmity in the flesh and verse 16 says that enmity was put to death by Jesus on the cross. Now if I want to be one with this brother there's an enmity in my flesh that I have to put to death.

And there's an enmity in his flesh that he has to put to death. Otherwise we can never be one. We'll be like a pile of bricks sitting together in a hall. And a whole lot of people sitting in a hall. Listening to one person up in front is not much different from a cinema theater.

Because there also a whole lot of people sit and watch a performance up in the front. But there's no relationship between the people sitting together in that theater. But the body of Christ the church is not to be like that.

Each is related to the other. And another thing in the body of Christ. We don't have special friends. This hand doesn't have any special friends in the body. It's friends with all the members of the body.

And that's how it is in the body of Christ.

And that's how it is in the body of Christ our nature is that.

We like to be with those.

Who are like-minded.

If I'm an intellectual I like to be with intellectuals. If I'm a graduate I like to mix with other graduates. If I'm a simple type I like to mix with a simple type of people. And in India we find people gathered together on the basis of language and community, they all belong to the same community.

Like these, there are many dividing walls between people and on the cross Jesus has destroyed all these dividing walls. There is nothing that need come today between me and my wife. There is nothing that need come between me and my brother if I have understood the way of the cross and that is to fall into the ground and die.

And then our relationship will bear fruit Jesus said in Luke 9 .23.

If anyone wanted to come after him he said this if anyone wants to come after me and that applies to all of us if we want to come after Jesus this is the only way let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Daily Self-Denial Rather Than Religious Routine

To deny myself means to put myself in the last place.

Not to put myself in the first place like all the children of Adam do. Not to put myself in the first place like all the children of Adam do but to put myself in the last place like we considered yesterday and then.

What should I do. Take up my cross daily. When I was a young Christian I just got converted. They told me the other believers there in the assembly there are four things you must do you must read your bible everyday you must pray everyday you must come to the meetings and you must witness for Christ.

These are the four most important things. These are good things. These are good things. But I want to tell you you may be surprised in the bible there is not a single sentence.

That says I must read the bible everyday. This is a good habit but it does not tell me to do this. There is not a single bible that says I must pray everyday.

It says I must pray often.

There is not a single bible that says I must pray for how many minutes. This is a good habit.

But it is not written anywhere in the scripture. It is good to witness to other people everyday but there is no verse that says I must do it everyday. But the one thing that Jesus said we must do everyday nobody told me to do.

What was that Jesus said. Jesus said you have to die everyday. I wish 25 years ago somebody had taught me that as a young Christian.

That is what Jesus said. If anyone wants to come after me there is one thing he has to do everyday. That means 365 days of the year everyday. I have to do this if I want to follow Jesus. Here it is in verse 23 to take up my cross daily.

If I do that and you do that we can build the body of Christ together. And then I can follow him. Take up my cross and follow him. Now comes the big question if I want to take up my cross and follow him then he must also have taken up his cross before me.

Because to follow him means to walk in the same footsteps that he walked in. And he can't tell me to take up a cross. If he doesn't have a cross himself. Some people say we have to take up Jesus' cross.

No, just read it carefully. It says we have to take up our own cross. Jesus took his cross. I have to take mine. What does that mean? That is a very important question to understand this. Then only I can follow in his footsteps.

Admiring Jesus Versus Following His Example

Now there is a lot of difference between admiring Jesus and following him. For example we know that Jesus when they spat on his face and pulled the hairs from his face he never said anything. He loved them in return even when they unjustly tried him and crucified him.

He said, father, forgive them. That's wonderful. And I can sit and meditate on that. I say, lord, how wonderful. Oh, how much you loved. And that's good. I admire him. But I must realize that I have also got to follow him.

That if somebody spits on my face I have got to react in the same way as Jesus did that if someone treats me unjustly I have got to behave just like Jesus did that whatever other people may do to me I must forgive them.

Then we won't be complaining so much about the way other people are treating us. I remember once somebody was complaining to me about the way other people were treating him. So I asked him. I said, brother, have they crucified you yet?

No, he said, they haven't crucified me yet. Oh, I said, well then you've got a long way to go because they crucified Jesus and he never complained about the way other people treated him. And here, we've got a few mosquito bites and we're complaining.

It's amazing how little things we complain about. That's because we haven't understood the way of the cross. Jesus never complained when other people treated him evil. And when we take up the cross we have no complaints against people.

I can say this by the grace of God. Now for some years I have no complaints against any human being. I have seen the way of the cross. And when you see the way of the cross all your complaints disappear.

No more complaints against people. But if I'm only admiring Jesus then I think of how he lived. But I never think that I have to follow him in that way. And part of the reason for this is this that I always have subconsciously a feeling that it's not really possible for me to follow Jesus.

I'd say when he was God and there are a lot of things he could do which I can't do. That's true. We know that he is God. That's why we pray to him and worship him. We honor him equally with the Father.

We honor him equally with the Father. But when he walked on this earth it says in Hebrews 2 .17 he was made in all things just like his brethren. It's an amazing verse. He wasn't made like all the children of Adam.

But he was made like us. His born again brethren in how many things.

Hebrews 2 .17 says in all things and there I need to re-educate my mind according to the teaching of scripture so I need to put my mind in the teaching of scripture. He came to this earth.

In all things otherwise he could not be an example for me to follow him. Otherwise it's no use telling me to follow him. We can give an example if an angel comes to this world and he takes me to the swimming pool and he flies across the swimming pool from one side to the other and he says to me follow me.

And I get into the pool and I go down. I say I can't follow you because when I go here I'm pulled down. You're not pulled down. The law of gravity doesn't work on you. You're an angel. All I can do is sit by the side of the pool and admire you as you go up and down.

But I can't follow you. But supposing that angel could take upon himself a body like mine and be pulled down by the law of gravity.

Like I am and when that angel gets into the pool he's going down and then he swims and he teaches me put your hands like this and your legs like this see what I'm doing.

Now follow me and I say yes, now I can follow you.

Because you're facing the same pool downwards that I'm facing then you can be pulled down then I can do what he did.

And overcome that law of gravity in the water. And that's how it was the son of God if he had come here and never felt the pull of temptation that we feel everyday. If he had never felt the pull of temptation he could never be an example for me.

I could say Lord.

I admire your life.

But I can never follow it but if he could feel the pull of temptation that I feel downwards everyday.

But if he could feel the pull of temptation that I feel downwards everyday and he overcame it.

Then he can be an example for me. That's why we read he was made like his brethren in all things.

Then in chapter 4 verse 15 it says that he was tempted in all points just like we are.

It says we don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. Now if Jesus could not feel the pull of temptation he could not sympathize with our struggle in temptation. Just like that angel could not sympathize with the law of gravity pulling me down.

But because Jesus came like me one of his brethren in every way and he was tempted. How? It says you are exactly like me. All points. And he didn't drown in that pool. He overcame. He overcame that downward pull.

Applying Christ’s Victory in Moments of Temptation

And there he tells me follow me for 15 years of my.

Christian life I used to sing follow follow I will follow Jesus.

Anywhere everywhere I will follow him. Anywhere I will follow him. But I never knew how to follow. How do I follow. I didn't understand. It was just a nice chorus to sing.

And you have a nice feeling when you think that you are following Jesus but it wasn't practical in life.

Till one day God opened my eyes to see this truth that he was made like his brethren in all things.

And he was tempted like me in all points.

I said praise God then if he could overcome I can also overcome then in the moment of temptation if I am tempted to lust in my thoughts I can say Lord Jesus you were also tempted like this when you were on the earth exactly like I am being tempted right now and I see how you must have fought it.

How did you resist it. Put that desire to death in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now Lord.

Here I am your disciple. I also want to take up my cross at this particular moment.

And in the power of the Holy Spirit put this lust to death. Put this lust to death. Then I can follow Jesus. But in that moment when I am tempted to lust and no believer is watching me and I lust with my eyes then I come to the meeting and I say follow.

Follow. I will follow anywhere.

It's just a lot of rubbish because out there in the street when I was tempted I didn't follow Jesus.

And at some other place when I was tempted I got irritated. Instead of dying to myself and following Jesus there at another place when I was tempted I got irritated and not like Jesus.

So I see that following Jesus is a good thing in this area in the area of temptation we are tempted in so many ways. If you have children like I have.

I have four boys as they have grown up. I have seen I have been tremendously tempted through them tempted to be irritated.

And to be impatient if your parents you know what I mean they do all types of things in the house and I am tempted to get irritated to beat them in anger and I say Lord Jesus you were tempted. You didn't have the same circumstances as me you didn't have a home and children like I have.

But you were also tempted to be irritated with people like I am being tempted right now. And Lord Jesus you were faithful you never gave in to that temptation. You fought it and put it to death. Now Lord here I am.

I want to follow you I want to take up my cross here. There is something in me that wants to get irritated with my children. There is something in my heart.

That wants to get irritated with my children.

I am going to use the power of the Spirit.

To put that to death.

And then our victory.

Becomes a reality in our life.

Striving Against Sin and Receiving Grace

If we don't take up the cross we won't win. We have to die to win. This is how Jesus won verse 3 and 4. Consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

And you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

Jesus fought against sin. How far did he strive against sin to the point of shedding blood here it says.

You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. You are tempted to lust.

You resist it two or three times and the fourth time you give in to the lust. No, you haven't resisted to the point of shedding blood. But Jesus was different. He strove against sin till blood. He never sinned.