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"Then
delivered he Him therefore
unto them to be crucified.
And they took Jesus, and leg Him
away. And He bearing His
cross went forth into a place
called the place of a skull, which
is called in the Hebrew
Golgatha: Where they
crucified Him, and two other with
Him, on either side one, and Jesus
in the midst. And Pilate
wrote a title, and put it on the
cross. And the writing was, Jesus
of Nazareth the King of the
Jews." (John 19:16-19)
St.
Paul wrote, "the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish
foolishness; but unto us which are
SAVED, it is the power of
God." (I Cor. 1:18)
The
irony is that mankind has - by and
large - rejected the Gospel of
Christ because of it s simplicity,
and in its place substituted an
alternate gospel which is
powerless because it is not based
in truth and righteousness.
The great apostle fully understood
this.
He
stated, "For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after
wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a
stumbling block, and unto the
Greeks foolishness:
"But
unto them which are called both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of
God." (1 Cor. 1:22-23)
Again St. Paul declared, "For
I determined not to know anything
among you, save (except) Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified."
(1 Cor. 2:2)
PREACHING
OF THE CROSS WAS CENTRAL
TO ST. PAUL
To
the Jews who were tempted to
discard the simplicity of the
gospel for "law-keeping"
he writes, "Christ is become
of no effect unto you, whosoever
of you are justified by the law, ye
are fallen from grace."
"For
we through the Spirit wait for the
hope of righteousness by
faith. For in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision; but
faith which worketh by love."
(Ga. 5:4-6)
His
argument was that if we trust in
the works of the law - like
circumcision - we have then made
the "work of Christ on the
cross of no effect" and,
"Christ shall profit you
nothing." He speaks of the "offense
of the cross" which he
had to suffer because of embracing
the truth. (Gal. 5:11; 6:12) It
cost Paul everything to serve
Christ.
"But
God forbid that I should glory,
save *(except) in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world." (Gal.
6:14)
The
bottom line is that rituals,
ceremonies, keeping of laws and
following traditions do not save
souls or change lives. The
Bible says, "For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor
uncircumcision but a new
creature." (Gal. 6:15)
The
Bible says, "Therefore if any
man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are
passed away; behold, all things
are become new." (2 Cor.
5:17)
St.
Paul gloried in THE CROSS OF
CHRIST, because only through His
substitionary, all-atoning death
for the sins of the world is there
redemption for fallen man!
That is why the apostle declared,
"For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believeth; to
the Jew first, and also to the
Greek (heathen)." (Rom. 1:16)
The
Bible says, "Let this mind
be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus: Who, being in the
form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God: But
made Himself of no reputation, and
took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the
likeness of men: And being
found in fashion as a man, He
humbled Himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross."
"Where
for God also hath highly exalted
Him, and given Him a name which is
above every name: That at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the
Father." (Phil. 2:5-11)
In
this treatise, I wish to share the
teaching of God about the cross
and the blood of Jesus. I
will answer the question,
"What does God say about the
cross and what does the Cross of
Christ teach us"? The
Cross of Christ teaches us five
things:
-
What
does God think about our sins?
-
How
much God loves us
-
The
doctrine of substitution
-
Christ's
victor over Satan
-
The
Value of an eternal soul
#1
- The Cross Teaches Us What God
Thinks of Our Sins
The
Bible warns: "The soul that
sinneth, it shall die."
(Ezek. 18:4,20)
God
had warned Adam and Eve about the
sin of disobedience and the awful
consequences of such an act.
He stated unequivocally,
"...of every tree of the
garden thou mayest freely
eat: But of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eaat of it: for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die." (lit.
heb. - in dying thou shalt die).
(Genesis 2:16-17)
God's
command was definite and
irrevocable - "You
can enjoy this beautiful garden
forever, providing you obey My
commands and keep them. If
you do not, you will begin to die
and eventually return to the
ground out of which you
came."
Please
note: Ever since that fateful day,
every baby has been born with
death in their mortal bodies.
When
our first parents sinned, they
threw the entire human race into
turmoil and jeopardy. Human
kind was cascaded into physical as
well as eternal death.
In
His great mercy, God came
searching for Adam and Eve in
order to redeem them. He
asked Adam & Eve the big
question - 'WHY?' Then He
passed judgment upon them and the
earth, because of their rebellion
and sin.
"And
the Lord God said unto the woman,
"What is this that thou
hast done?" And the
woman said, "The serpent
beguiled me, and I did eat."
And the Lord God said unto the
serpent, "Because
thou hast done this, thou art
cursed above all cattle, and above
every beast of the field; upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and dust
shalt thou eat all the days of thy
life:
"And
I will put enmity between thee and
the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed; it shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel. Unto
the woman He said, I
will gratly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception; in sorrow thou
shalt bring forth children; and
thy desire shall be thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee."
"And
unto Adam He said, "Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice
of thy wife, and hast eaten of the
tree, of which I commanded thee,
saying, Thou shalt not eat of it:
cursed is the ground for thy sake;
in sorrow thou shalt eat of it all
the days of thy life; Thorns also
and thistles shall it bring forth
to thee; and thou shalt eat the
herb of the field; In the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread, til
thou return unto the ground; for
out of it wast thou taken: for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return." (Genesis
3:13-19)
GOD
PRONOUNCED A CURE UPON THE SERPENT.
It would lose its ability to
walk and would have to crawl and
eat dust. Scientists now
believe that at one time serpents
walked upright. He would put
enmity between the human race and
serpents. In a USA survey it
states that 98% of Americans hate
snakes more than any other animal.
That
enmity was a type of pre-picture
of the battle pitting Satan and
his minions against God and His
children.
Then
God dropped a bombshell. He
revealed a great truth hidden from
before the foundations of the
world. He would send a
redeemer!
This
was the first mention of the Coming
Messiah! His own Son
would be incarnated (become a man)
in order to suffer, bleed and die
to save us. He would redeem
the human race through the
sacrificial death of His Son, on
the Cross. As a type of that
ultimate sacrifice, God killed an
innocent animal shedding its
blood, to atone for Adam and Eve's
sins. And from the skins, He
made clothes to cover them;
GOD
PRONOUNCED A CURSE UPON THE WOMAN
And
unto the woman He said, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow and
thy conception: in sorrow shalt
thou bring forth children; and thy
desire shall be to thy husband and
he
shall rule over thee."
During
my world travels, I have observed
how men treat their wives.
In most pagan cultures, wives are
like a piece of property.
They are inferior to men and
cannot even eat with their
husbands or sons. And
females are often aborted before
birth, due to their little
value! Ungodly,
chauvinistic, over sexed men often
marry four wives or more. (I once
met a Muslim man in Kenya who had
65 wives.) Often such a man is
able to accuse his wife - rightly
or wrongly and have her put to
death on false charges. Or
divorce her on the spot!
It
is not uncommon for mothers to
choke their young daughters to
death, because of the unjust
Hindu caste system which would
bankrupt a poor family with
several daughters.
Only
Jesus Christ gives women liberty
through the glorious gospel which
was purchased by His shed
blood. Only the gospel sets
women free.
Among
all the world's religions, only
Christianity treats women with
respect and honor, as a special
creation of God, through the New
Birth!
"For
ye are all the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus. For
as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither bond nor
free, there is neither male or
female: for ye are all one in
Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:26-28)
GOD
PRONOUNCED A CURSE UPON THE GROUND
"And
unto Adam He said, "Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice
of thy wife, and hast eaten of the
tree, of which I commanded thee,
saying, Thou shalt not eat of it:
cursed is the ground for thy sake;
in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all
the days of thy life; Thorns also
and thistles shall it bring forth
to thee; and thou shalt eat the
herb of the field;"
(Genesis 3:17-18)
Because
of Adam's sin, there would be a
curse upon the ground. Man
would not enjoy the fruit of his
work. Thorns and thistles
would come forth to plague him as
he tilled the earth to eke out a
living. "In
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all
the days of thy life."
THEN
GOD PRONOUNCED A CURSE UPON MAN
"In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread, til thou return unto
the ground; for out of it wast
thou taken: for dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou
return." (Gen. 3: 17-19)
Man,
who was created for immortality
would die and return to the
dust. God drove Adam and Eve
out of the Garden of Eden and kept
its gates guarded with a flaming
cherubim, lest man would enter the
Garden and eat the fruit of the
TREE OF LIFE and live forever in
their sins. Thus, He
salvaged the human race from being
lost forever with the same fate as
Satan, the liar.
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