It is the paradox of paradoxes. The cross of Christ is both the most horrific happening in the history of the world, and the most beautiful. The universe's saddest moment and happiest turn came together one afternoon at Golgotha on a single tree.

Even now, those of us with the ears to hear, and eyes to see from God-given new birth, experience at the cross a kind of sadness that is not sad. And all the more, one day when freed from sinning and its ubiquitous effects, will we find our greatest treasure in the great sadness that is not sad.

In John Piper's sermon "Why Did God Create the World?", he concludes with four important soul-application questions related to the glory of God's grace and the cross as the universe's saddest and happiest reality. Here's the challenging four-minute clip:

Other excerpts from the sermon "Why Did God Create the World?"

• God's Plan Before the Ages Began
• The Apex of the Glory of God