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SO WHAT. . . AND WHY?

In last week's blog we discovered truth about the Path Of Salvation and where that path leads us. For many people the path of salvation is a "stumbling block", a reproach, simple foolishness. Why? Because eternal salvation necessitates the CROSS OF CHRIST! Jesus Christ is the author of eternal salvation; He made it possible through His death on a Roman Cross. He died on that Cross to provide for us redemption, salvation, forgiveness, freedom from sin, and eternal life rather than eternal damnation!

Even so, many people dismiss, dislike and disparage the Cross. However, it isn't only the Cross that is offensive to these people, but Jesus Himself! The Apostle Peter explained it this way, "So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, 'The Stone (Jesus) that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'. And a 'stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.' They stumble because they do not believe the Word of God (Jesus). . . ." (I Peter 2:7-8) When we see Jesus as an offense, a stumbling block, and we reject Him, we also reject His Cross. The Apostle Paul addressed this when he said, "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (I Corinthians 1:18) ". . .but we preach Christ crucified (on the Cross), a stumbling block to Jews and folly to the Gentiles." (I Corinthians 1:23) For believers our response to the Cross should be worship to Jesus, respect, total thanksgiving and a reason to praise God for Jesus' sacrificial death. His mission to save sinners and His Cross are inseparable! ". . .giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you (through Christ's death on the Cross) to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:12-14)

We live in a culture that has produced a religion that humanizes God, deifies man, and compromises sin. We find that even some churches have embraced this brand of "christianity". Rather than preaching the Cross with Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection, some churches it seems have come equipped with soft pedals from which teachers have tossed their sugar-infused taffy into the laps of congregations desperately ill from spiritual diabetes - too much sugar! So, we have believers who are spiritually ill, who will stand for nothing and fall for everything; spiritual anemia has set in. Those who are professing followers of Jesus must wake up to this truth and seek God for spiritual revival and renewal! A genuine revival WILL result in the Cross of Christ and HIS sacrificial death being elevated to their proper place in our minds, heart and life-style! We desperately need a return to the right and Biblical truth of what the Cross really stands for!

A careful examination of Colossians, Chapter One helps us in this purposeful return to the absolute significance of the Cross. First, we have THE PERSON ON THE CROSS! No question about it, the Scripture clearly identifies Jesus Christ as being the ONE who hung on the Cross for our salvation! "Jesus carried His own cross out of the city to the place called 'The Skull' which in Aramaic (language spoken in the New Testament) is Golgotha, and there they nailed Him to the cross. He was crucified along with two others, one on each side with Jesus in the middle." (John 19:16-18) We know the Person (Jesus) on the Cross to be significant because of His:

  • POSITION:

    1) HE IS GOD! "For in Him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily." (Colossians 2:9) "The Word (Christ) became flesh and dwelt among us. . . ." (John 1:14)

    2) HE IS THE IMAGE OF THE FATHER! "He is the image of the invisible God. . . ." (Colossians 1:15)

    3) HE IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH! "And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He is preeminent." (Colossians 1:18)

  • POSSESSIONS:

    1) The entire universe belongs to Jesus the Christ! "For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through Him and for Him." (Colossians 1:16)

    2) We are His possessions! We all belong to Him because we are created by Him in the very image of God; every law then of ownership declares mankind belongs to Him. Jesus also went to the Cross willingly and died to purchase our redemption. Though this is TRUE, only those who have personally received Him as Savior and Lord are His by genuine salvaton! "And you, who once were alienated and hostile, . . .doing evil deeds, He now has reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if you indeed continue in the faith, stable and steadfast. . . ." (Colossians 1:22-23)

    3) Our eternal destiny is in His control! He holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven and the power over death and hell. ". . .I am (Jesus) the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." (Revelation 1:17-18) Jesus has complete authority over life, death, the grave and eternal destiny.

  • PERMANENCY:

    "And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:17) Christ's power, authority and kingdom are not passing away, but are permanent - eternal and without end or disruption! Every individual person who has ever lived must come to grips and deal with the fact that the eternal Christ Jesus has claims and demands on our life. We can choose to dismiss this fact, dis-regard it, and disbelieve it, but our reaction and opinion do not change the fact! We cannot ignore Him, we cannot destroy Him, and we cannot change His terms of salvation and discipleship!

    Second, there is THE PURPOSE OF THE CROSS! On the Cross Jesus provided the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is a big word, not used in most conversations, but it has a strong, Biblical meaning! It simply means "satisfaction". Biblically, it means that Jesus Christ, in His perfect life and atoning grace and through His substitutionary death, completely satisfied the wrath of God against our sin and against us as sinners. A couple of terms used here need clarification. "Substitutionary" just means that Jesus became the substitute for each of us, taking our sin and the punishment we ourselves deserve. He died the sinners' death so that we can receive Him and live with Him for eternity! The "wrath of God" means the righteous anger and judgment of God against rebellion and disobedience (sin) that we ALL have committed. This wrath of the completely holy and righteous God must be satisfied; He can not, will not and does not tolerate sin! We'll either suffer His wrath for our sin or we'll surrender our lives to Jesus who suffered "God's wrath" in our behalf! Question! Which one do we choose? God's wrath is described as "a divine response to the wickedness or sinfulness that is totally incompatible with God's holy nature." It is the consequence of rejecting God's love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, will, and it does signify God's just and righteous punishment for evil deeds. Jesus paid the debt we owed so we could be free from the debt we could not pay. Jesus' death on the Cross appeased or satisfied God's wrath and offered eternal salvation to those who choose to believe and trust in Him! The term "wrath" might sound like a human emotion, but in the context of the nature of God, it is more about "a righteous and holy response" of a holy God to sin and unrighteousness, not a petty or vengeful outburst of anger.

    So then the Cross provides the purchase of our eternal salvation. The purchase price was outrageous; it cost Christ to leave heaven and become human flesh; it cost Jesus a beaten and broken body and the outpouring of His blood - His literal death!

    Andrae Crouch wrote a powerful song; here are some of the lyrics:

    "The blood that Jesus shed for me, Way back on Calvary. The blood that gives me strength, From day to day; it will never lose its power. It reaches to the highest mountain, it flows to the lowest valley; the blood that gives me strength, From day to day, it will never lose its power."

    As another Gospel Song says,

    "Down at the cross, Where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied, Glory to His name! I'm singin' glory to His name!"

    We may not like talking about blood and dying, or the Cross; we may turn a "deaf ear" and we may dismiss it all, but truthfully you and I can NEVER be saved from sin and have eternal life without the Cross and the blood of Jesus Christ! "Atonement" means the "blood sacrifice of Jesus" that provides forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation with God and eternal salvation! Let's break the word down to this: AT ONE MENT (at-one-ment). It is bringing God and the repentant sinner to being "at one" in relationship because of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross.

    Third, we find THE POWER OF THE CROSS!

  • POWER FOR PARDON: He (Jesus) "made peace by the blood of His Cross, and you, who once were alienated and hostile. . .doing evil deeds, He now has reconciled in His body of flesh by His death. . . ." (Colossians 1:20-22) No political, military or financial power can pardon our sin. Not even the Church or the Clergy can pardon our transgressions. It takes the Power of the Cross!

  • POWER FOR PURITY: We have been reconciled to God by Jesus' death, "in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him. . . ." (Colossians 1:22) This means a holy heart and a holy life-style, fully possible right now as we personally accept the Cross and Jesus' death on it.

  • POWER FOR PERSEVERANCE: ". . .continue in the faith, stable and steadfast (grounded and settled), not shifting (straying) from the hope of the gospel. . . ." (Colossians 1:23) We persevere and can find spiritual victory in every situation because of the Power of the Cross!

    Today, many things are bidding for our allegiance. Possessions call deafeningly loud, position and prestige bid high, popularity beckons to many, and to whom has not pleasure whispered promising delights? Amid these temporal clamorings, I want us all to know there is only ONE Eternal Value - The Cross of Christ! It is firm in its foundation, secure in its structure, and eternal in its existence! This is the answer to SO WHAT AND WHY.

    Are we then living in awe and surrender to HIS CROSS?

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God has blessed me with a long and fruitful ministry! I have over 40 years in pastoral ministry, retreat speaking, Evangelism, teaching and Christian Radio broadcasting.

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