How Did We Miss This!

Before I start, I want to say that EVERYTHING that Jesus did and said is of the utmost importance! He did everything that the Father told Him to do. He was obedient even unto death for the remission of our sins. What He accomplished on the Cross reconciled us unto our Father God and made us His children. So why isn’t Jesus’ dying on the Cross of Calvary our source of Faith? Why isn’t our faith in that which took our sin away and set us free? Now, I can hear you saying “My faith is in the Word of God. Jesus is God and in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word is God”. In the beginning before the foundation of the world, The Plan to redeem mankind was formulated; that plan is Jesus dying on the Cross of Calvary. God put in place the Sacrificial System as His way, but the sacrifices of bulls, lambs and/or rams only covered sin so that man could commune with God. All the “types and shadows” were examples of He who would come and TAKE AWAY sin once and for all! They all pointed to that which would take place at the Cross. Jesus is the source of EVERYTHING we could ever need, and the Cross is the means, the only way, we receive anything from God. No man comes unto the Father unless he goes through the Son. Well, how do we get to the Son, Jesus? We gotta go to the Cross! I have heard that some people think that Jesus dying on the Cross was a great defeat. What I don’t understand is how any Christian can think that Jesus dying on the Cross was a defeat. Just think about it… As a Christian, if you think that the Cross was a place of defeat, then how are you saved? If the Cross of Calvary was a loss, how can you ever have the victory?! If this is the truth, and it is not, we are all doomed to burn in Hell for all of eternity. How else were you saved? How was your sin debt, and we all were born into this debt; how was this debt paid for you? The wages of sin is death! This scripture in Romans 6:23 goes on to say but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The gift that God gave in John 3:16 is the giving of His Son Jesus selfless sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary; and whosoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life. What death did you put forward that was acceptable to God? Who died, in your place, so that you can be free and free from sin and death? Who would want to serve a loser? My Jesus, My Lord and Savior – ALL VICTORIES BELONG TO HIM! Whatever is His is mine. If all victories belong to Him, then I have the victory in all things through Him and what He accomplished at the Cross of Calvary which reconciled me to the Father who has everything! The Cross of Christ was the GREATEST VICTORY OF ALL TIME! Why? Because at the Cross, sin was defeated! At the Cross, Satan loss ALL authority to hold you in bondage! At the Cross, the veil was rent from top to bottom where we now have access to the Father – being able to enter into the Holy Place into the Holies of Holies. At the Cross, we became joint heirs with Jesus where we can now call God Abba Father (Father Dear Father). At the Cross, where all things Jesus has in the Father are now ours! At the Cross, where ALL of God’s Word is now “Yes and Amen”! IT ALL HAPPENED AT THE CROSS! The Resurrection was a part of the process. The Resurrection HAD to happen but was dependent on the Cross. The Resurrection, after we placed ourselves in Christ Jesus, dying on the Cross, buried in Him, we were resurrected in Him into newness of life! This had to happen and is very, very important! But there could be no Resurrection if the Cross never happened! Jesus said, ON THE CROSS, “IT IS FINISHED!” That which God had sent His only Son into the world to do had been completed! Mission Accomplished! SIN IS DEFEATED! The Cross of Christ is so important that the Apostle Paul said, “We preach Christ Crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23). Be honest, outside of Easter, when does your pastor/teacher ever mention the Cross of Calvary? Or rather, when has the topic of the sermon circled back to the Cross – All because of what Jesus did on the Cross? When was the last time you heard a sermon/teaching that reference the Cross of Calvary or that your faith should be in Jesus and Him crucified? Paul also said “The preaching/the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (perishing in their sins – spiritually dead), but to US who are saved, it is the Power of God! (1 Corinthians 1:18). The Apostle Paul went on to say “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the good news – not with clever words and eloquent speech, so the Cross of Christ would not be made ineffective (deprived of its saving power) (1 Corinthians 1:17). The Cross – God’s Plan of Redemption! Everything that Jesus did and said is of the utmost importance; everything happened as God planned it to happen, but it was at the Cross where Jesus accomplished that which God had sent Him into to the world to do – Defeating Sin! Understand that sin is so bad that God Himself had to come down to Earth to defeat it. None of us could do it, as a matter of fact, none of us was holy and righteous enough to atone for any sin, even our own. Only Jesus dying on the Cross - paying the wage of sin (death) - for EVERYONE, accomplished the plan of God! Defeating sin! ***Just my opinion. I believe Jesus died in that horrible way – in a criminal way (Criminals were hung on the cross) – because He, Jesus, died for the criminal too. He died for all the people who would commit heinous crimes; they too can be led by the Spirit of God to become a child of God. When we place our Faith in that which Jesus and Him Crucified – The Cross – having the Cross as our ONLY place of Faith, everything in God’s Word is “Yes and Amen”. Think of it like this. Because of what Jesus did on the Cross, all my needs are supplied according to His riches in glory. Because of what Jesus did on the Cross, everything I set my hands to do prospers! Because of what Jesus did on the Cross, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. When we accept God’s Plan to redeem our life, Jesus and Him Crucified, all of God’s Word is now ours. If Jesus never died on the Cross, none of what God has in His Word could be ours aka manifested in our lives. Why? Because of sin. If Jesus never died, the sin problem is still here. God cannot look upon sin nor will He abide sin. Sin is man’s problem. Jesus dying on the Cross dealt with the problem (sin) for you and me because we chose to believe! Believe what? That God loved us so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus, to die and pay the price of the wages of sin – Death! How did we miss placing our Faith in the Cross of Christ? That which got us into the Kingdom of God is the only thing that will keep us in the Kingdom of God – The Cross of Christ! If your Faith is in anything else other than the Cross – your good deeds, your church, your pastor/priest, your prayer life, your husband or your whatever… If you don’t have Jesus as the Source and the Cross as the means, then are your truly in God’s Will? To have your Faith in anything that is not Jesus and Him Crucified (The Cross), God’s Plan, is a rejection of that Plan and everything He has in His Word for us. That’s a scary thought! You’re, in a sense, saying that that which Jesus accomplished on the Cross wasn’t enough, that more needs to be done. God forbid… IT IS FINISHED! It was at the Cross that it was all done for US! The Cross of Christ is our justification (righteousness – right standing), salvation (redemption, forgiveness of all sin), and the one we forget or never knew – sanctification. The Cross of Christ is for our sanctification – how we live our lives before God daily. When we ever “Keep our Eyes of that Prize We Have in Jesus and Him Crucified” we can live daily before God in holiness and victoriously! All because of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross – where our Faith should be firmly place! How did we miss this?!