This morning we took a look at Jesus explanation as to why He came into the world in Mark 10:45. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” The Christmas story is full of images that remind us that the shadow of the cross looms over the manger, and the only way to truly understand Christmas is to see this truth. In the sermon I reference John Stott’s book, the Cross of Christ and shared a few quotes. Leaving them here too so you can read over them.
“Before we can see the cross as something done for us, we must see the cross as something done by us”
“For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be.”
“God could quite justly have abandoned us to our fate. He could have left us alone to reap the fruit of our wrongdoing and to perish in our sins. It is what we deserved. But he did not. Because he loved us, he came after us in Christ. He pursued us even to the desolate anguish of the cross, where he bore our sins, guilt, judgement and death. It takes a hard and stony heart to remain unmoved by love like that.”